The Stanford Legal Design Lab is proud to announce a new initiative funded by the Gates Foundation that aims to bring the power of artificial intelligence (AI) into the hands of legal aid professionals. With this new project, we’re building and testing AI systems—what we’re calling “AI co-pilots”—to support legal aid attorneys and staff in two of the most urgent areas of civil justice: eviction defense and reentry debt mitigation.
This work continues our Lab’s mission to design and deploy innovative, human-centered solutions that expand access to justice, especially for those who face systemic barriers to legal support.
A Justice Gap That Demands Innovation
Across the United States, millions of people face high-stakes legal problems without any legal representation. Eviction cases and post-incarceration debt are two such areas, where legal complexity meets chronic underrepresentation—leading to outcomes that can reinforce poverty, destabilize families, and erode trust in the justice system.
Legal aid organizations are often the only line of defense for people navigating these challenges, but these nonprofits are severely under-resourced. These organizations are on the front lines of help, but often are stretched thin with staffing, tech, and resources.
The Project: Building AI Co-Pilots for Legal Aid Workflows
In collaboration with two outstanding legal aid partners—Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) and Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma (LASO)—we are designing and piloting four AI co-pilot prototypes: two for eviction defense, and two for reentry debt mitigation.
These AI tools will be developed to assist legal aid professionals with tasks such as:
- Screening and intake
- Issue spotting and triage
- Drafting legal documents
- Preparing litigation strategies
- Interpreting complex legal rules
Rather than replacing human judgment, these tools are meant to augment legal professionals’ work. The aim is to free up time for higher-value legal advocacy, enable legal teams to take on more clients, and help non-expert legal professionals assist in more specialized areas.
The goal is to use a deliberate, human-centered process to first identify low-risk, high-impact tasks for AI to do in legal teams’ workflows, and then to develop, test, pilot, and evaluate new AI solutions that can offer safe, meaningful improvements to legal service delivery & people’s social outcomes.
Why Eviction and Reentry Debt?
These two areas were chosen because of their widespread and devastating impacts on people’s housing, financial stability, and long-term well-being.
Eviction Defense
Over 3 million eviction lawsuits are filed each year in the U.S., with the vast majority of tenants going unrepresented. Without legal advocacy, many tenants are unaware of their rights or defenses. It’s also hard to fill in the many complicated legal documents required to participate in they system, protect one’s rights, and avoid a default judgment. This makes it difficult to negotiate with landlords, comply with court requirements, and protect one’s housing and money.
Evictions often happen in a matter of weeks, and with a confusing mix of local and state laws, it can be hard for even experienced attorneys to respond quickly. The AI co-pilots developed through this project will help legal aid staff navigate these rules and prepare more efficiently—so they can support more tenants, faster.
Reentry Debt
When people return home after incarceration, they often face legal financial obligations that can include court fines, restitution, supervision fees, and other penalties. This kind of debt can make it hard for a person to get to stability with housing, employment, driver’s licenses, and family.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, over 10 million Americans owe more than $50 billion in reentry-related legal debt. Yet there are few tools to help people navigate, reduce, or resolve these obligations. By working with LASO, we aim to prototype tools that can help legal professionals advise clients on debt relief options, identify eligibility for fee waivers, and support court filings.
What Will the AI Co-Pilots Actually Do?
Each AI co-pilot will be designed for real use in legal aid organizations. They’ll be integrated into existing workflows and tailored to the needs of specific roles—like intake specialists, paralegals, or staff attorneys. Examples of potential functionality include:
- Summarizing client narratives and flagging relevant legal issues
- Filling in common forms and templates based on structured data
- Recommending next steps based on jurisdictional rules and case data
- Generating interview questions for follow-up conversations
- Cross-referencing legal codes with case facts
The design process will be collaborative and iterative, involving continuous feedback from attorneys, advocates, and technologists. We will pilot and evaluate each tool rigorously to ensure its effectiveness, usability, and alignment with legal ethics.
Spreading the Impact
While the immediate goal is to support LAFLA and LASO, we are designing the project with national impact in mind. Our team plans to publish:
- Open-source protocols and sample workflows
- Evaluation reports and case studies
- Responsible use guidelines for AI in legal aid
- Collaboration pathways with legal tech vendors
This way, other legal aid organizations can replicate and adapt the tools to their own contexts—amplifying the reach of the project across the U.S.
“There’s a lot of curiosity in the legal aid field about AI—but very few live examples to learn from,” Hagan said. “We hope this project can be one of those examples, and help the field move toward thoughtful, responsible adoption.”
Responsible AI in Legal Services
At the Legal Design Lab, we know that AI is not a silver bullet. Tools must be designed thoughtfully, with attention to risks, biases, data privacy, and unintended consequences.
This project is part of our broader commitment to responsible AI development. That means:
- Using human-centered design
- Maintaining transparency in how tools work and make suggestions
- Prioritizing data privacy and user control
- Ensuring that tools do not replace human judgment in critical decisions
Our team will work closely with our legal aid partners, domain experts, and the communities served to ensure that these tools are safe, equitable, and truly helpful.
Looking Ahead
Over the next two years, we’ll be building, testing, and refining our AI co-pilots—and sharing what we learn along the way. We’ll also be connecting with national networks of eviction defense and reentry lawyers to explore broader deployment and partnerships.
If you’re interested in learning more, getting involved, or following along with project updates, sign up for our newsletter or follow the Lab on social media.
We’re grateful to the Gates Foundation for their support, and to our partners at LAFLA and LASO for their leadership, creativity, and deep dedication to the clients they serve.
Together, we hope to demonstrate how AI can be used responsibly to strengthen—not replace—the critical human work of legal aid.