Task Triage · For judges · Free
A judge’s day
The four questions, in order
- Question 1. Would the task put case material into a tool your court has not approved for it, or put sealed, restricted or family-court material into any AI tool? If yes: do not give it to AI.
- Question 2. Does it call for your own decision, finding or reasons? If yes: do not give it to AI. It may support you, but you decide, and every judgment is yours.
- Question 3. Would you be using AI to check AI’s own output? If yes: do not give it to AI. Check against an authoritative source instead.
- Question 4. Otherwise, ask whether the result is quick and easy to check against a source you hold. If yes: give AI the first draft and read it. If not: use AI for leads only, and verify every point against the documents or an authoritative source before relying on it.
This is a practice framework, not a rule of law or of professional ethics. Your regulator’s rules and your employer’s policy always come first. No outside law and no tools are needed: apply the four questions to each task.
1.Improve the grammar and layout of a practice-direction notice for court users. It contains no case details.
2.Draft a plain-language leaflet for the public on what to expect when attending court, using no case details.
3.Summarise a 300-page agreed bundle to decide which parts to read first.
4.Ask for authorities that might bear on a procedural point, to look up yourself.
5.Translate a public foreign-language document to get the gist while preparing.
6.Draft a neutral chronology from facts the parties have agreed in writing.
7.Paste a sealed family-court report about a child into a free public AI service to get a summary.
8.Decide whether a witness is credible.
9.Issue a judgment drafted by a tool after only skimming it.
10.Ask the AI to confirm that a case cited by one of the parties really exists.
11.Ask the AI what the typical sentence is for this offence and use the answer as your starting point.
12.Turn your own hearing notes, with names removed, into a list of points to raise at the next hearing.
13.Produce a template letter for routine case-management directions, with names left as placeholders.
14.Ask the AI to flag passages where a party’s skeleton argument may misstate a case, then check each flagged point in the judgment yourself.
Professional skills training. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace the rules of your regulator or the policy of your employer. It is not accredited by any court, regulator or professional body.