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While GenAI dominates the conversation around technology’s impact on the legal profession, JurisTechne’s CEO and founder says explainable AI is quietly emerging as a trusted co-pilot for lawyers – supporting them across all aspects of their work.
At the rapidly evolving crossroads of technology and law, legal professionals are increasingly embracing explainable AI (XAI) as an essential ally – one that’s revolutionising how lawyers sharpen their strategies and master their craft like never before.
Speaking with Lawyers Weekly, Mona Chiha, JurisTechne CEO and founder, revealed how XAI is not only transforming the practice of law but also empowering legal professionals to rethink their work, emphasising that this isn’t just a passing trend but a game-changing paradigm shift reshaping the future of legal strategy.
Mapping legal reasoning with clarity
With the countless responsibilities and the complex web of information lawyers must quickly absorb, Chiha noted how traditional legal processes can easily become clouded.
“As a lawyer, you’re trained to track the threads: material facts, legal issues, reasoning, orders and how they interact across jurisdictions, courts and roles. But the sheer complexity of that chain, especially in large or evolving matters, means vital links can be obscured,” she said.
She explained that XAI offers a practical and powerful solution to some of the most strenuous and time-consuming aspects of legal work, offering a clear, visual, and analytical roadmap of the legal reasoning process.
“XAI maps out how material facts connect to legal issues, how those issues anchor into the reasoning of a judgment, and how that reasoning leads to an order. It highlights the specific parts of a decision the judge weighed most heavily, which area of law was applied, how that aligns with your role as counsel or solicitor and how it fits within the limits of your jurisdiction,” she said.
Mona Chiha emphasised that across all areas of legal practice, this kind of technology “isn’t just useful, it’s transformative”.
Testing legal arguments – before the real test
The JurisTechne CEO emphasised that one of the most powerful and immediate ways lawyers can harness XAI in their daily practice is by using it to sharpen and elevate their legal arguments before ever stepping into the courtroom.
“Lawyers can use XAI to rigorously test the strength of their legal arguments by tracing how material facts connect to legal issues, how those issues align with judicial reasoning and how similar arguments have played out in specific jurisdictions,” she said.
She explained how this capability frees lawyers from navigating legal reasoning in the dark, uncovering critical insights they might never have found otherwise.
“XAI illuminates the logic behind likely outcomes, helping legal professionals identify weak links, anticipate counterarguments and assess whether their case structure aligns with established legal reasoning,” she said.
But it’s more than just confirming what’s already known, as Chiha stressed that the real power lies in revealing what’s been overlooked.
“This clarity allows lawyers to simulate alternate scenarios, sharpen negotiation strategy, and communicate risk more transparently to clients,” she said.
Chiha distilled this emerging practice of testing legal arguments into four practical lessons for legal professionals eager to integrate XAI into their workflow:
Don’t just know the law, map the legal reasoning chain: “Start every matter by tracing the full path: material facts → legal issues → reasoning → orders → jurisdiction. Use tools like XAI to visualise how these links have interacted in similar past decisions. This helps structure your arguments more strategically and spot gaps early,” she said.
Use data to validate your intuition: “XAI allows you to test against real patterns (unlike generative AI (GenAI) models that hallucinate) in case law. If you’re confident an argument is strong, run it through an XAI model to see if the legal reasoning aligns with judicial outcomes. Let it confirm or challenge your assumptions before the stakes are real.”
Stress test multiple scenarios: “Lesson: Don’t prepare one version of your argument. Use XAI to explore counterarguments and variations. What if the court sees this differently? What if one fact is excluded? How has this area of law evolved? This builds agility into your strategy and makes you negotiation-ready.”
Thinking like a judge: “XAI helps you shift perspective. Use it to examine your argument as if you were the judge: What factors would you weigh? What precedent would you follow? What doubts would you raise? This reflective process sharpens advocacy and reduces blind spots.”
A trust-building tool in a distrusting age
The rapid rise of GenAI has left many legal professionals uneasy, with much of the criticism focused on a fundamental issue: trust. However, Chiha pointed out that the very concerns lawyers have with GenAI are exactly what XAI is built to resolve.
“While GenAI has sparked concern about trust erosion due to its opaque reasoning, risk of hallucinations and lack of verifiability, XAI (which is a completely different model to GenAI) is designed to address precisely those issues,” she said.
What truly sets these two AI tools apart, Chiha explained, is the level of visibility XAI provides into the reasoning behind the outputs it generates.
“The core difference lies in transparency and traceability. GenAI often provides outputs without a clear path back to legal sources or logical foundations, making it difficult for lawyers, clients, or courts to confidently rely on its reasoning,” she said.
“In contrast, XAI systems are intentionally structured to make their logic visible by showing how a conclusion was reached, what facts were weighed, which legal authorities were considered, and what assumptions underpinned the analysis.”
In a profession built on precedent, ethics, and accountability, Chiha highlighted that the level of transparency offered by XAI – especially when compared to the opacity of GenAI – not only preserves the trust that’s essential in legal practice but also actively helps restore it.
“This transparency transforms how trust is built. For courts, it means that the insights produced by XAI are auditable and open to scrutiny, preserving procedural fairness and reinforcing, rather than undermining, the lawyer’s ethical duty of candour,” she said.
“Ultimately, while GenAI can feel like a black box, XAI functions more like a glass box: it invites inspection, withstands challenges and supports a culture of reasoned, evidence-based practice. In a profession built on reason, precedent, and responsibility, XAI doesn’t erode trust, it helps rebuild it.”
Preparing for a ‘paradigm shift’
Looking ahead, Chiha doesn’t view XAI as a passing trend but as a transformative force that is fundamentally reshaping legal strategy – one that legal professionals must embrace before they’re left behind.
“XAI is not a trend, it’s a paradigm shift. It amplifies legal professionals’ judgements, sharpens reasoning and enables the practice of law with greater clarity, confidence and strategic foresight. The firms that prepare their people, not just their processes, will define what modern legal excellence looks like,” she said.
So, what should law firm leaders be doing right now?
Chiha offered a roadmap for legal leaders to unlock these benefits that XAI can offer right now:
Invest in AI fluency, not just tools: “Focus on building AI literacy among your team, not just software adoption. Lawyers must be trained to understand how XAI reaches conclusions, what limitations are in models like GenAI, and how to interpret outputs responsibly,” she said.
Shift mindset from static advice to dynamic strategy: “Encourage your team to view legal strategy as something iterative and testable. XAI isn’t just a research tool; it’s a sandbox for strategic thinking. Start building habits around scenario modelling and risk simulation.”
Embed XAI into the matter life cycle: “Use XAI not just at the research or advisory stage, but throughout the matter life cycle: case assessment, client onboarding, litigation prep, and even post-matter reviews. This builds consistency and adds measurable value.”
Update your professional and ethical frameworks: “Develop internal guidelines for AI use that emphasise explainability, bias detection, client transparency and ethical oversight. Stay ahead of regulators by setting your own standards of accountability (I’m happy to share the JurisTechne one, just send me an email).”
Create cross-functional strategy teams: “Pair legal minds with data experts (not prompt engineers), AI ethicists, and technologists. The future of legal strategy will be interdisciplinary, and firms that embrace this now will lead the market later. Learn more about algorithmic law by following my Substack.”
