Artificial Intelligence and Law: A New Epoch for Legal Systems

(An MRC Legal Perspective’ August 2025)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved rapidly from being a technological curiosity to becoming a structural force in the way economies, governments, and institutions function. The legal profession, often considered conservative in its evolution, is now standing at a crossroads where algorithms and human judgment must converge.

For law firms, courts, businesses, and policymakers, the central question is no longer “Will AI affect law?” but rather “How profoundly, and under whose terms?”

1. AI as the Engine of Legal Transformation

Legal practice has traditionally been labour-intensive, dependent on extensive research, drafting, and layered advisory. AI introduces a paradigm shift:

• RegTech and Compliance: In regulated sectors like finance, healthcare, and data-driven enterprises, AI is already automating compliance audits and real-time monitoring.
• Predictive Case Modelling: Algorithms can analyze years of judicial data to project litigation outcomes, creating new dimensions of strategy.
• Document Intelligence: AI platforms can parse millions of pages in seconds, highlight inconsistencies, and identify contractual risks with unprecedented speed.
• Property transfer, sales, leasing, and mutations to ensure legally sound transitions of ownership.

This does not replace the lawyer. Instead, it reframes the lawyer’s role from manual problem-solver to strategic navigator who interprets technology-driven insights through the prism of law, ethics, and justice.

2. The Ethical and Jurisprudential Dilemma

The adoption of AI in law is not merely operational; it is also philosophical and constitutional.

• Bias and Fairness: An algorithm trained on past judicial data might reinforce historical prejudices. How does the system ensure that Article 14 of the Constitution, equality before law and equal protection of laws within the territory of India, remains inviolable in the age of machine learning?
• Autonomy and Accountability: If an AI-powered tool recommends a legal course of action that harms a client, where does accountability lie, the developer, the lawyer, or the firm?
• Transparency: Legal reasoning thrives on transparency of argument. Can “black box” algorithms that cannot fully explain their decisions coexist with jurisprudence that demands reasoned justification?

These dilemmas make it clear that AI in law is not just about efficiency, but about legitimacy and trust in the justice system.

3. AI as a Subject of Law, Not Just a Tool

While AI is reshaping how lawyers work, it is also becoming a subject of regulation itself. Globally, jurisdictions are crafting frameworks to govern the ethical use of AI, ranging from the EU AI Act to India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

Emerging areas include:

• AI Governance and Compliance Law: Crafting corporate policies that align with evolving regulatory standards.
• Intellectual Property: Determining ownership of AI-generated inventions, designs, or creative works.
• Tort and Criminal Law: Establishing liability when AI systems cause harm, from autonomous vehicles to algorithmic fraud.
• Human Rights and AI: Safeguarding privacy, dignity, and due process in automated decision-making.

Thus, AI is simultaneously a tool of law and a field of law.

4. The Indian Context: Challenges and Opportunities

India presents a distinctive canvas for AI-law integration:

• A massive, diverse population generates enormous data, which fuels AI development.
• Courts are burdened with significant backlog, where AI-based judicial assistance could aid efficiency.
• Yet, socio-economic disparities and digital illiteracy raise concerns of access, fairness, and exclusion.

The Information Technology Act, Data Protection Act, and upcoming digital regulations will require interpretive clarity from courts and compliance strategies from businesses. Law firms like MRC Legal must be prepared to stand at this interface of technology, regulation, and constitutional values. Moreover, a complete overhauling of the existing framework of Laws may be required for containing the risks of A.I. by vested interests and Non- State Actors.

5. The Future of Legal Practice with AI

MRC Legal envisions the next decade of practice to evolve around three axes:

• Augmented Lawyering – Lawyers who can work alongside AI tools will dominate complex advisory and litigation strategy.
• New Practice Verticals – AI governance, data ethics, algorithmic liability, and digital rights will become mainstream areas of counsel.
• Redefining Justice Delivery – Courts themselves may adopt AI for case management, translation, virtual hearings, and even drafting model orders. Lawyers must anticipate these changes to remain effective advocates.

Conclusion

Artificial Intelligence is not an external disruption to law—it is becoming woven into its very fabric. The profession has a dual responsibility:

• To harness AI as a means of delivering faster, sharper, and more accessible legal services.
• To guard against its misuse, ensuring that technology does not erode constitutional principles or human dignity.

At MRC Legal, we believe the real test is not whether AI can replace lawyers, but whether lawyers can redefine themselves in the age of AI—as custodians of justice in a digital civilization.