Reforming Civil Justice in Pakistan through AI: A Critical Study of Legal Technologies and Their Impact on Access to Justice

Abstract

Pakistan’s civil justice system suffers from chronic delays, procedural complexity, and limited access to affordable legal remedies. These weaknesses undermine public confidence in the rule of law and disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Global developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and legal-technology (LegalTech) innovations have begun to transform justice delivery through data analytics, online dispute resolution (ODR), and automated document systems. This study explores how such technologies can be responsibly adopted to reform Pakistan’s civil justice sector without compromising constitutional guarantees of equality, fair trial, and due process. Employing a doctrinal and socio-legal methodology, the paper evaluates the potential of AI-driven tools to enhance six dimensions of access to justice availability, accessibility, affordability, timeliness, quality, and enforceability. Comparative lessons are drawn from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia to inform Pakistan’s reform trajectory. The article proposes an AIRT model Accountability, Inclusion, Rule-of-Law Safeguards, and Targeted Scope and outlines a three-horizon roadmap for incremental implementation: (1) pilot projects and data-standardization, (2) scaled analytics and integration, and (3) judicial decision-support with oversight. The findings suggest that AI can significantly improve procedural efficiency and transparency