The Evolving Role of AI in German Dispute Resolution
30 January 2025
In Germany, as in many other countries, the promises of generative AI have been widely promoted by Legal Tech providers. This raises the question: are the long-awaited efficiency gains finally within reach? The answer, as expected from a lawyer, is: it depends.
The German judiciary is generally open to the use of AI as expressed in a position paper published by the presidents of the higher regional courts and the Federal Court of Justice in May 2022. There is hope that the use of AI can be particularly useful in the handling of mass claims or highly standardized claims such as air passenger rights cases. There have been several AI pilot projects that tie in with this idea, such as "OLGA" (an acronym for Higher Regional Court Assistant, Oberlandesgerichtsassistent) developed by the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court. OLGA is an AI tool that focuses on appeals in diesel emissions cases. This tool classifies cases by comparing them to previously decided appeals to help judges make preliminary assessments. However, there is no widespread or standardized use of AI tools across the judiciary, and this is not expected in the near future.
The efficiency gains that come with the use of AI tools have also been recognized by many law firms. Legal Tech tools now play a crucial role in technology assisted document review as well as in automatically extracting and organizing information, assigning it to relevant proceedings, and cross-referencing factual data. It is also increasingly common to use AI tools such as Harvey as a thought partner in brainstorming ideas when determining a dispute resolution strategy.
The legal framework in Europe for the use of AI tools is established by the Artificial Intelligence Act ("AI Act"), which entered into force on 1 August 2024. This act introduces EU-wide minimum requirements for AI systems, with the level of regulation increasing in accordance with the perceived risk. The first set of obligations will become effective in February 2025, with additional obligations being phased in thereafter.
The AI Act classifies AI systems which assist judicial authorities in researching and interpreting facts and the law and in applying the law to a concrete set of facts as "high-risk". This means that risk management systems must be established to address the risks of potential biases, errors and opacity. As a basic principle, the AI Act emphasizes that the use of AI tools can support the decision-making of judges, but final decision-making must remain a human-driven activity.
Beyond this, there are no specific national regulations governing the use of AI in Germany's legal profession. However, lawyers in Germany must pay attention to criminal law and professional regulations when making professional secrets accessible to third parties, such as cloud-based AI applications. Germany does not have specific national court regulations requiring lawyers to disclose whether AI was used or to verify the accuracy of citations and arguments. However, a lawyers' professional duties arguably already encompass the responsibility to submit correct statements regardless as to whether AI was used in preparing any court documents.
As the use of AI tools in disputes becomes increasingly common and accepted, we expect to see more use cases, and that the legal framework will adapt accordingly.
