The Indian legal system is overwhelmed with legal issues. Millions of cases are pending, the courts in India are understaffed, and legal research takes hours—sometimes days—just to find relevant precedents. Lawyers often rely on junior associates or manual searches through SCC Online or Manupatra databases.
A company called Caseway in Ireland/Canada is changing the way legal research works. It’s a legal technology company that processes millions of court decisions in seconds. Instead of spending hours reading through judgments, lawyers get case summaries and cross-referenced decisions instantly. Some see this as the future of legal research, while others worry about AI replacing traditional legal methods.
Would a platform like this work in India?
The Reality of Legal Research in India
Finding case law in India isn’t easy. The Supreme Court and High Courts publish judgments online, but searches aren’t always efficient. If a lawyer works in a lower court, access to legal research tools can be even more limited. Often, the lawyer or paralegal must go into the courthouse to read through legal cases and make photocopies. It sounds like something from the last century…
If we could have an AI company in India that indexes Indian judgments and provides instant summaries and cross-references of related cases, it could be a game-changer. It could reduce legal research time, level the playing field for smaller law firms and people who can’t afford lawyers, and make legal research more affordable.
Getting artificial intelligence into India’s legal system wouldn’t be simple. The idea sounds great—instant case law summaries, cross-referenced judgments, and a research process that doesn’t take up half the day. But turning that into something lawyers, judges, and firms use? That’s another challenge entirely. Many judges and politicians are not thinking about artificial intelligence, and India is falling behind in this regard.
Case Law In India
For starters, who own case law in India? Caseway in Canada has said they pull information from publicly available court decisions, but legal databases are fragmented in India. Some are government-controlled, others sit behind expensive paywalls. Would it even be allowed if an AI company tried to scrape and index judgments? I have no idea what would happen.
Then there’s the question of whether courts would take artificial intelligence-generated legal research seriously. Judges still rely heavily on printed books and manual searches. If a lawyer walked into an Indian courtroom with an argument based on AI summaries, would it hold weight? Or would the judge expect them to back it up with traditional case law research? Adoption would be slow, and Indian lawyers are skeptical of automation.
Money is another factor. Caseway charges $49 monthly in Canada, which works for law firms already paying thousands for Westlaw. However, in India, where solo practitioners and small firms dominate, pricing must be lower. Software research won’t be widely adopted if it isn’t affordable. It probably couldn’t be more than $15/month USD. It’s unclear if Caseway could afford to offer their software at this price range.
Is AI Legal Research Accurate?
And even if the technology worked perfectly, accuracy would be a problem. Indian case law is complex, with regional variations and judgments in multiple languages. A system built for Canada wouldn’t work out of the box. It would need serious retraining on Indian legal data, and mistakes in legal summaries could have real consequences in court.
It could be a game-changer if someone or a company pulled it off. Indian lawyers could speed up research, courts could resolve cases faster, and self-represented litigants could find the necessary information. But for software legal research to work in India, it wouldn’t just need good technology—it would require legal industry buy-in and partnerships with the courts. Otherwise, it would be another promising idea that never really takes off.
Success would depend on partnerships with the judiciary and legal industry. Without buy-in from the courts, it would be just another startup promising disruption without delivering real change.
So, should a company like Caseway be established in India? It could address data access, pricing, and legal adoption hurdles, transforming legal research. However, whether India is ready for software legal research is another question.