Legal troubles leave client with less time: The unseen struggles of clients in legal battles

Due to the ongoing nature of the client’s legal case, she has opted to omit her name from this article. She is being referred to as “J”

Spending her first day off in weeks trawling through paperwork wasn’t exactly how J expected her Friday to go. She thought the most stressful part of her rental dispute was the ongoing issue with her landlord, but between the back and forth she has been spending with her landlord, and the multiple meetings with her lawyer, J is getting tired.

“Sometimes I think of settling out of court with how exhausting it is. Every day I get back from work and I don’t even have time to unwind…every time I find a document they ask for; I find out that I needed two more… It’s exhausting,” - J

J’s lawyers gave her a list of things they’d need from her, various pieces of evidence including photos, receipts, and emails, but she still had difficulties piecing together what she needed.

“I didn’t want to bother my lawyer…they always seem so busy, and I didn’t want to send emails back and forth…It felt like that time I walked into the wrong class in university. I couldn’t really follow a lot of the terms.” J says.

“I’m not surprised she was confused about the process of litigation.” says Nanette Kwong, an experienced litigation lawyer. “Evidence is its own subject in law school. A law student has to spend a long time learning the procedures and what evidence is admissible in court.”

Kwong says that lawyers explain these matters to the client, but it often leads to further delay and extra costs.

“A firm would have a plethora of previous cases to use as examples…it would take a long time to explain these cases to her, to talk about the similarities and nuances of each case, and end up costing her more money and time,” said Kwong.

Kwong says that building a knowledge base of a firm’s prior case examples for a chatbot to use would be immensely helpful for both parties. It would help the law firm meet the needs of an understandably very stressed-out client. The chatbot could be equipped with the knowledge base and provide further resources to educate the client to explain why the court expects to see these things. Instead of having to wait for a lawyer to meet and explain this, a chatbot can do the job much quicker.

“It would have the benefit of being able to work around the clock. I’d be surprised if her lawyers would take a late call after hours. An AI powered chatbot wouldn’t have this downside, it saves time on both sides to have one.”

J has grown extremely busy because of the litigation process, she had to adjust her work schedule to accommodate night shifts since her lawyers can’t meet with her after a typical workday.

“I’ve had to flip my schedule upside down. I’m not used to working nights, but I have to since my lawyers can’t meet after work hours.”

J says it has affected her social life a lot, she has no more time to spend with her friends and family since the case has been her top priority for a while. “It eats into most of my time now, it’s on my mind all the time since I’ve had to move things in my life around for it.” she says.

“I would use a chatbot. It’d never sleep right?” J laughs, “I’d feel better about not bothering my lawyers, and I’d probably finally get to have a peaceful night in.”