AI at work
Lawyers
AI is good at the reading and the first draft: summarising a long judgment, turning facts into a notice, explaining an order to a client in plain words. It is bad at remembering the law. Give it the text; never ask it for authority.
AI in India’s legal sector
Namita Viswanath, partner at IndusLaw
One of India’s leading technology lawyers on what AI is already doing in Indian practice, what it cannot do, and where the risks are (19 minutes).
Three tools to learn first
Everyday tools from Google, on the phone you already have. Learn these three and most of this page follows.
Gemini Notebook
formerly NotebookLM
One notebook per case: the plaint, the written statement, the orders and the judgments you rely on. Ask for a timeline of events or the points of conflict between the two sides — each line linked to the page it comes from, which is exactly what you need to check.
Open Gemini NotebookGemini
with Canvas
Ask for a first draft of a notice or a client letter, or a short deck for a client meeting in Canvas.
Open Gemini- Works offline
Gemma on your phone
in Google AI Edge Gallery
Client-confidential drafting on your own phone, with no upload — useful in court corridors with no signal, too.
Open Gemma on your phone
New to these? Start with the short guide to all three, with a tutorial in Hindi and a note for Jio users.
Three things to try this week
- 1
A case notebook, with every line traceable
In Gemini Notebook, make a notebook for one matter and upload the pleadings, the orders and the judgments you rely on — downloaded from the court’s website or Indian Kanoon.
In the notebook, ask: 1. Give me a dated timeline of the events, from all the documents. 2. List the points where the plaint and the written statement disagree. 3. For the judgment [name], give a one-page brief: question of law, what was held, and the reasons — with the paragraph each point comes from.
Check: Every line has a small number — click it and read the passage. Gemini Notebook only quotes what you uploaded, but it can still misread it; the click is your check.
- 2
Old section, new section
Since 1 July 2024 the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act are the BNS, BNSS and BSA, and the numbers moved. AI mixes the two up constantly — so make it show its working against the text you give it.
Here is the text of IPC section [number] and the text of the BNS chapter I think replaces it. Tell me which BNS section corresponds, quote both, and point out any word that changed. If they do not match, say so. [paste both texts from India Code]
Check: Read both sections yourself on India Code. Never take a section number from the AI’s memory — that is where the mistakes are.
- 3
Explain an order to your client
Clients leave the court not knowing what happened. Paste the order and ask for a short, plain explanation you can send or read out — in English, and in Urdu if that is easier for them.
Explain this court order to my client, who is not a lawyer, in under 150 words: what the court decided, what happens next, the next date, and what they must do before it. Then give the same explanation in simple Urdu. [paste the order, with the client’s name removed]
Check: Check the next date and every deadline against the order itself. Have someone who reads Urdu well read the Urdu before it goes to the client.
In Kashmir
The High Court here has already ruled on AI citations
- On 6 June 2026 the High Court of J&K and Ladakh (Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal) found wrong and unverifiable citations in a trial court’s order, and directed every judicial officer in the UT to verify any AI-produced citation from an authoritative source before using it. Expect the same scrutiny of what you file.
- The law here changed twice in five years: the Ranbir Penal Code gave way to the IPC in October 2019, and the IPC to the BNS in July 2024. AI trained on older text quotes all three. For any J&K matter, first fix which law applied on the date of the events.
- Many state laws were repealed or adapted in 2019 and after. When AI cites a J&K Act, check on India Code, which also carries J&K’s own Acts, that it still stands in that form.
- Older revenue papers — jamabandi, girdawari, intiqal — are often in Urdu. AI can give you a working English reading to understand a file faster; a proper translation is still what goes on record.
Keep the trust
Give it the judgment, never ask it for the law. Then open every citation yourself.
Asked to “find cases on this point”, an AI produces citations that look perfectly real — right-sounding parties, plausible numbers, confident paragraph references — for judgments that do not exist. It cannot tell you which ones it made up.
- The real case: on 2 July 2026 the Supreme Court set aside NCLT and NCLAT orders in the Essel Infraprojects insolvency because they rested on fake, AI-generated precedents — and held that citing such judgments without verification is misconduct by an advocate.
- Read every authority in the original — SCC Online, Manupatra, Indian Kanoon or the court’s own site — before it goes into a draft.
- Remove the client’s name and identifying details before pasting anything into a general chatbot. Your duty of confidentiality does not pause for a tool.
The rules, in a line each
- Supreme Court, 2 July 2026: zero tolerance for unverified AI-generated precedents; citing one is advocate misconduct. The Bar Council of India was asked to frame norms.
- High Court of J&K and Ladakh, 6 June 2026: every AI-produced citation must be verified from an authoritative source before use in an order.
- Kerala High Court (July 2025), the first High Court AI policy, for its district judiciary: no AI for findings, orders or judgments, and every citation checked by a person.
Tools
Examples to try, not recommendations. Where the data is sensitive, prefer the ones that keep it on your own computer.
For reading and drafting
Where to check — the real sources
- Indian Kanoon
Search Indian judgments and statutes, open to read.
- SCC Online
Reported judgments, now with its own AI research assistant.
- Manupatra
Indian case law and statutes, with AI search.
- India Code
The official text of every central Act, as amended — where section numbers are settled.
- High Court of J&K and Ladakh
Cause lists, orders and judgments of both wings.
Open source, built in India
- OpenNyAI Open source
An open mission (NLSIU Bangalore, Agami, Thoughtworks and others) building open-source legal AI for India, including the Aalap legal assistant model.
- IndicTrans2 Open source
AI4Bharat’s open translation model for all 22 scheduled languages — Urdu and Kashmiri included. Needs technical help to run.
More Indian legal AI
- CaseMine (AMICUS)
Indian, UK and US case law with an AI research assistant and a citator that flags overruled judgments.
- LexLegis.AI
A legal model trained on Indian legal documents: cited case search, document insights and drafting.
For Urdu and Kashmiri papers
- Google Lens
Photograph an Urdu revenue extract or an old order to get a working English reading and copyable text.
- Bhashini
Government translation across Indian languages, Kashmiri among them — for understanding, not for filing.
Watch next
This Lawyer Used Legal AI Every Day for 2 Years. Here’s What Works
Denisa Kopandi, senior associate (on Rok Popov Ledinski’s channel)
A working lawyer’s routine for contracts, due diligence and research — and her verification ritual for not getting burned by invented answers (2026, 48 minutes).
Aalap: An AI Assistant Transforming Legal Functions in India
Thoughtworks
How an Indian team built an open legal assistant from scratch, and how they tested whether its answers could be trusted (35 minutes).
Go further
- How to use ChatGPT and Claude for legal research and drafting in India
iPleaders
A step-by-step guide written for Indian practice, built on the same rule: give the model the source.
- Supreme Court sets aside NCLT judgment for relying on AI-generated citations
Bar & Bench
The July 2026 ruling, reported in full.
- J&K High Court: AI cannot replace judicial verification
LiveLaw
The June 2026 judgment from Srinagar, and its directions.