Robert Ambrogi Blog
A new generative AI product for immigration lawyers announced today is designed to help them conduct research, draft and summarize complex legal documents, and engage with potential clients through a chat interface.
Called Visalaw.ai Gen, the product has been developed as a collaboration between the company Visalaw.ai, the technology affiliate of the immigration law firm Siskind Susser, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the national bar organization of more than 16,000 immigration lawyers.
The product is being previewed beginning today at AILA’s annual conference in Orlando.
Developed using OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model, Visalaw.ai Gen will answer lawyers’ research questions based on a legal library of major primary law materials and several leading books in the field, including the 4,000 page Immigration Law Practice and Procedures Manual — also known as the “Cookbook” — written by Siskind Susser partners Greg Siskind and Ari Sauer and published by AILA.
The developers say that this allows the product to deliver comprehensive immigration law research, providing answers backed by authoritative resources from a trusted, expert knowledge base. Among the materials contained in the knowledge base are immigration law cases, statutes and regulations, government manuals, federal agency materials, U.N. documents, and several books and guides.
The product also provides lawyers with a private research library where they can upload their own documents for querying and summarization and a separate chat feature that allows lawyers to ask questions via GPT-4 but without worrying about exposing confidential information.
“Immigration law is an incredibly complex, high-stakes area of law. The outcomes of cases can alter lives and impact the economy,” Benjamin Johnson, AILA executive director, said in a statement. “Generative AI is one of the most groundbreaking technologies in our lifetime, and AILA is excited to be collaborating with Visalaw.ai to harness this new technology to empower our members and to expand their capacity to meet the ever-growing need for legal advice and representation.”
According to a Visalaw.ai blog post, the platform will ultimately consist of three related products:
- Visalaw.ai Gen, a GPT-based legal research and summarization tool, built on a rich library of immigration content.
- Visalaw.ai Engage, a client-facing chat interface, which previously existed under the name Visalaw.bot, that uses generative AI to allow law firms to screen potential clients and gain insight on legal pathways available to them.
- Visalaw.ai Draft, providing lawyers the ability to draft complex legal documents such as cover letters, petition letters, and memos.
The blog post says that the Gen product will be available for purchase beginning Aug. 1. The Engage and Draft products remain in development. Those interested in more information can add their name to a waitlist.
“We’re proud to be at the forefront of technology’s integration into immigration law,” said Josh Waddell, a co-founder of Visalaw.ai. “By leveraging the powerful GPT4 model, we’re giving immigration lawyers the tools to navigate complex legal landscapes efficiently and accurately.”
The Cookbook was also at the center of a partnership announced last October between Visalaw.ai and the legal technology company Fastcase to develop an immigration case management and document automation platform.