Citizens’ Gavel Unveils Legal AI For Access To Justice

To enhance easy access to justice for Nigerians through technology, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) committed to social justice and legal advocacy, Citizens’ Gavel, has launched the first Legal Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform in Nigeria.

The launch, which took place in Lagos, was tagged, “AI For Justice: Highlighting the innovative use of AI in the legal sector and Its potential to revolutionise access to Justice”.
At the event, a Lagos-based lawyer and the operations head of Citizen Gavel, Oluwafemi Ajibade, said the legal AI was designed to provide better access to justice for vulnerable people and help them resolve their legal issues.

Ajibade said the AI tool, named ‘PODUS’, prioritises cases related to emergencies, police extortion, brutality, fundamental rights issues, illegal arrest, and illegal detention, and it is trained to guide litigants towards the appropriate assistance.
He also said the purpose of the AI tool was not to take away work from lawyers but to complement and ease their work.

The lawyer said, “For example, every professional atmosphere in Nigeria is being shut down by technology. For example, we don’t have enough lawyers, and we don’t have enough doctors to cater to everybody. For legal problems, the AI tool we are deploying is to help lawyers reduce their workload.

“I want them to see it from the perspective that it helps reduce the workload. It helps to tailor their work to that very professional aspect that they have always rendered by taking away the need for maybe all this legal advice and small issues that might occur that someone can maybe fix on their own or something like that.”
He said using the platform does not replace the need for a legal practitioner, who can help with documentation and represent a person in court.”

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In his opening remarks, the team lead of Citizens’ Gavel, Nelson Olanipekun said, “The AI for Justice represents a noteworthy advancement in our mission to empower Nigerians in confidently navigating the legal landscape and accessing legal resources through AI technology.’’