Interview with Antonio Spiezia, founder of LegiSimple

We had an opportunity to do an interview (written format) with the founder of LegiSimple, Antonio Spezia, talking about his startup’s focus on the legal domain as well as some ethical considerations, and AI governance:

Questions about the Startup & Services:

Q: Can you share the story behind Legisimple? What inspired you to create an AI-based platform for the legal sector?

Antonio: I noticed a high turnover rate in junior legal roles and wondered why. After speaking with solo practitioners and lawyers at large firms, I realized that the mentally demanding nature of being a lawyer isn’t for the faint-hearted. Further research revealed that many lawyers are stressed because they still have to handle tedious, repetitive tasks, which takes time away from two things: court preparation & serving their clients. Surprisingly, many still rely solely on Word. After weeks of brainstorming and discussions with legal professionals, LegiSimple was born.

Q: What specific legal services does Legisimple provide, and how does AI enhance these services compared to traditional legal practices?

Antonio: Let me set this up in bullet points

• Jurisprudence: Instead of a manual search, our model will search the most relevant outcomes based on the facts given and provide the 3 top results.
• Drafting: Draft any legal proceedings or use a template and our model will fill the data.
• Review: Ask our model for any pain points, weaknesses, or grammar
• Articles: Ask for help on which article to reference
• File Management: No need to waste time searching for clauses, cases or contracts just ask our model to look for them.

It’s different in the sense that we offer these solutions while moving away from the cloud and keeping all the data local.

Q: How does your AI system handle complex legal issues like contract analysis, case research, or compliance?

Antonio: Think of it this way, when you ask a highly intelligent colleague for help, they can significantly contribute to your work and offer valuable insights. However, even the brightest minds can occasionally make mistakes. The same principle applies to LegiSimple. While our AI models are designed to assist and enhance legal work, we recognize that they aren’t infallible.

To ensure the highest level of accuracy, we’re implementing a variety of safety protocols. These include advanced prompting techniques, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) implementations, and careful temperature allocations, among others. These measures are in place to minimize errors and maximize the reliability of our AI, ensuring that it consistently provides the best possible support in the legal field.

Q: Who is your target audience (law firms, individuals, corporate legal teams), and how does your service specifically cater to their needs?

Antonio: Our target audience includes law firms, corporate legal teams, and individual legal practitioners. The model caters to each of their individual needs and we maintain a high level of flexibility if they want the system organized and structured in a different way or format.

Q: Can you explain how Legisimple’s AI solutions integrate with existing legal workflows and systems?

Antonio: Our system is designed to fit right into whatever tools or workflows lawyers are already using. Whether they’re automating tasks or analyzing documents, LegiSimple makes it easy to keep doing things their way, just with a lot more efficiency and accuracy. We’re all about making sure our AI works for them, not the other way around.

Questions about Ethical Considerations & Risks:

Q: The legal sector handles sensitive and confidential data. How does Legisimple ensure the privacy and security of this data when processed by your AI systems

Antonio: At LegiSimple, the most important aspect of our approach to privacy and security is that our AI systems are hosted locally on what we consider an AI server. This setup ensures that all sensitive legal data remains within a controlled environment, providing an extra layer of protection. In addition to local hosting, we use advanced encryption for data both in transit and at rest, and we comply with the strictest data protection regulations. Our commitment to local hosting on dedicated AI servers, combined with rigorous access controls and regular audits, ensures that client-lawyer confidentiality is fully safeguarded.

Q : AI bias is a growing concern, especially in areas like law that impact people’s lives (both civil and criminal). How do you mitigate bias in your AI models

Antonio: We’re fully aware of the risks that AI bias can pose, especially in the legal field where decisions have significant impacts on people’s lives. To mitigate bias in our AI models, we take a proactive approach. This includes using diverse and representative datasets during training and implementing regular audits to identify and correct any biases that may arise. Additionally, we involve legal professionals in the process to provide human oversight and ensure that the AI’s decisions are fair and just. By combining these strategies, we work to minimize bias and uphold the integrity of our AI systems.

Q: Could your AI’s legal recommendations or predictions be used in ways that might undermine justice or fairness? How do you address such risks?

Antonio: Just because you Google and see a unicorn doesn’t mean it’s real — our AI is similar in that way. While it can provide valuable insights and recommendations, it’s important to remember that it’s a tool meant to assist, not replace, human judgment. We’ve built in safeguards, including clear disclaimers, to remind users that the AI’s outputs should be critically evaluated by legal professionals. This helps ensure that its use remains ethical and aligned with promoting justice, rather than undermining it.

Q : How transparent is Legisimple’s AI decision-making process? Can users understand and challenge the AI’s outputs?

Antonio: LegiSimple’s AI decision-making process is designed to be fully transparent. We believe that users should not only be able to see how decisions are made but also understand the reasoning behind them. Our system provides clear explanations for the AI’s outputs, breaking down the factors and logic that led to each recommendation or prediction. This transparency allows users to critically evaluate the AI’s decisions.

Q : What measures have you implemented to ensure accountability when AI-based legal tools make mistakes or provide incorrect guidance?

Antonio: To ensure accountability when our AI-based legal tools make mistakes or provide incorrect guidance, we’ve implemented several key measures:

• Human Oversight: All AI outputs are reviewed by legal professionals who have the final say in decision-making. This ensures that any errors made by the AI can be caught and corrected before they impact the outcome.
• Transparent Auditing: We maintain a clear audit trail of all AI decisions, allowing us to track how conclusions were reached and identify any issues. This transparency helps in diagnosing and addressing errors quickly.
• Error Reporting & Feedback Loops: We’ve integrated error reporting and feedback mechanisms that allow users to flag any questionable outputs. This feedback is used to continuously improve our AI models and prevent similar mistakes in the future.
• Disclaimers & User Training: We provide disclaimers that remind users the AI is a tool to aid in legal work, not a substitute for professional judgment. We also offer training to ensure users understand the system’s limitations and how to effectively use it.

Questions on Governance & Regulatory Compliance:

Q : The legal landscape varies by jurisdiction. How does Legisimple ensure compliance with different regulatory frameworks and laws across regions?

Antonio: LegiSimple ensures compliance with different regulatory frameworks and laws across regions by designing our AI systems to be adaptable and region-specific. Here’s how we do it:

• Local Legal Databases: We incorporate region-specific legal databases and continuously update them to reflect the latest laws, regulations, and precedents in each jurisdiction.
• Customizable AI Models: Our AI models can be tailored to align with the specific legal requirements of different regions. This allows us to adapt to the unique legal landscapes of various jurisdictions.
• Legal Expert Involvement: We collaborate with legal professionals who have expertise in different jurisdictions to ensure our AI’s outputs are accurate and compliant with local laws.
• Regular Updates: We regularly update our AI systems to stay current with changes in laws and regulations, ensuring that our solutions remain compliant as legal landscapes evolve.

Q : How do you ensure your AI system remains up-to-date with changing laws and legal precedents?

Antonio: We keep our AI system up-to-date with changing laws and legal precedents by using automated monitoring tools, and retraining our models with the latest information. Legal experts review these updates to ensure accuracy, and we also integrate feedback from users to address any gaps. This approach ensures our AI always reflects the most current legal standards.

Q : Does Legisimple comply with any external standards or certifications regarding AI governance, and how do you maintain ethical oversight over the platform’s development?

Antonio: Yes, LegiSimple complies with recognized external standards for AI governance, including data protection and ethical AI guidelines. We adhere to industry best practices and certifications to ensure our platform meets high standards of responsibility and accountability.

Q : What role do legal professionals play in overseeing or auditing the AI’s outputs? How involved are they in the decision-making process?

Antonio: Legal professionals are deeply involved in overseeing and auditing LegiSimple’s AI outputs. They review and validate the AI’s recommendations, ensuring that the final decisions align with legal standards and ethical considerations. Their expertise is central to the process, and they play a key role in regular audits of the AI’s performance, helping to identify and correct any potential issues. This approach ensures that human judgment remains at the core of the legal process.

Future Vision & Governance Insights:

Q : As AI continues to evolve, what ethical challenges do you foresee in the legal tech space in the short term as well as in the long term?

Antonio: In my eyes, the biggest ethical concern and solution is to avoid using ChatGPT for sensitive and confidential data. What’s funny is that the biggest Legal Tech players a ChatGPT API (in other words a wrapper) and I’m not sure if the firms realize the effects it might have on their data and business in the future. An example of this was show cased a few months ago (see below).

We address this issue by giving lawyers access to our model that no large tech company has access to train on the data. A good example is saving a file on your desktop instead on Google cloud or Onedrive.

In the long run, LLM utilization will be a tremendous benefit for the legal profession. Speed, efficiency, and accuracy will be at levels never seen before. If used correctly, the legal society as a whole will advance.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely my own and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, or positions of my employer. Any opinions or information provided in this article are based on my personal experiences and perspectives. Readers are encouraged to form their own opinions and seek additional information as needed.**