Law firm launches AI tool to translate legal documents into plain English

Dimitar Dimitrov is a content and engagement coordinator at LawCareers.Net

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Kent-based law firm Manak Solicitors has launched an AI-powered tool designed to translate complex legal documents into plain English, including versions styled for Generation Z (Gen Z) users to Baby Boomers.

The firm’s Legalese Translator allows users to upload documents such as employment contracts, tenancy agreements and court judgments, which are then summarised in simplified language using a range of tones. Alongside a standard option, users can select from ‘Gen Z’, ‘Boomer’, ‘Sassy’, ‘Corporate speak’ and ‘TL;DR’ (too long; didn’t read), with some outputs incorporating emojis.

One example, using the tool’s ‘sassy’ setting, described the snail-in-the-bottle case Donoghue v Stevenson: “Honey, pull up a chair because we are talking about the literal mother of all lawsuits. This is the ‘Snail in the Bottle’ case, and it changed the world because one woman decided she wasn’t going to let a slimy stowaway ruin her life without a fight.”

Head of marketing at Manak Solicitors, Ben Frost, said the tool was intended “to help people understand what they are reading” rather than serve as a novelty.

The AI tool’s launch coincided with research published by Manak Solicitors last month, which found that 54% of 1,000 UK consumers had experienced at least one negative consequence due to confusion around legal terminology. The report, which was conducted by researcher Censuswide, found that common consequences of this confusion included stress or anxiety (18%), wasted time (16%), financial loss (12%) or signing documents they later regretted (12%).

Frost explained that the tool is “an opportunity to put things in laymen’s terms, so they can pull out the key information”, adding that the firm had invested in developing and maintaining it to ensure users “get value from it”.

More than 75 people used the tool in the 10 days following its launch, according to Frost, with feedback described as “very good”. The Boomer tone has been the most popular so far, despite many of the firm’s website users being from Gen Z.

The tool was built using ChatGPT, with Frost saying it was trained to be “siloed from the rest of the world”, meaning uploaded data is neither retained nor visible to the firm or third parties. He stressed that the tool provides “simplified explanations” rather than “automated legal advice”.