However, there are “many barriers” for family lawyers to obtaining second opinions, they said. 

“Even for lawyers in larger firms for whatever reason it can be hard to access your colleagues. Junior lawyers, in our experience, can feel a level of anxiety in asking a senior partner for an opinion, from fear of looking like they asked a stupid question,” they said.

In the face of such a quandary, Ms Durand and Ms Halteh have created Future Case, a prediagnostic tool aimed at assisting lawyers practising in the family law space.

The platform offers lawyers using it access to Anni, whom they described as “a virtual colleague whose mind has been programmed with a bank of past case law so she can help lawyers predict the likely range of outcomes in a family law property matter”.

Lawyers may know the law, they said, but it can be and is comforting to have assurance of your starting and end points.

“Anni works to emulate how a real-life colleague would give you a second opinion about a matter. For example, you might wander into your colleagues’ office and explain the bare bones facts of a matter in “family law short hand” wanting to check if you are on track. Future Case helps support lawyers in that they can access that check in anytime on their devices,” they said.

Such challenges around the lack of secondary opinions are likely to become more pertinent for family lawyers as we head towards a post-pandemic world, Ms Durand and Ms Halteh mused, given increased social isolation and flexible working arrangements. 

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“Working from home has brought many benefits in terms of a wider spread understanding of more flexible working arrangements. On the other side, social isolation has meant it can be harder to access our colleagues to bounce off ideas or share and reflect on differing opinions,” the pair submitted.

This said, there have also been opportunities to grasp: “The major opportunities have been borne out of the greater acceptance and reliance on technology. It took a major pandemic for the Family and Federal Circuit Courts of Australia, for example, to lodge applications online, to appear at direction and mentions via Microsoft Teams. Conciliation conferences and meetings with family consultants have successfully taken place electronically,” they noted.

“Many firms have been able to downsize expensive office space, acknowledging that employees are still able to meet targets from home. Co-working and virtual spaces have been fantastic for collaboration and it was over Friday night drinks at Clarence workplace that the idea for the Future Case collaboration was born.

“Lawyers should best adopt new technology where possible to automate processes to provide clients with better service and cost savings. We see it as an exciting time for collaborations and newer ideas in the legal industry. We are able to reach and make new connections like never before.” 

Looking ahead, Ms Durand and Ms Halteh said that they hope to create a community via the founding members of Future Case.

“Although Anni was programmed according to past outcomes in Trial matters in the Family Court, the next stage in developing Anni’s mind is that we want to collect (anonymous) data from our members about the outcomes of their matters outside of court,” they noted.

“For example, what are parties settling for at settlement conferences or mediations, behind closed doors? In the Family Court of Australia, 75 per cent of matters filed do not reach a trial and only 16 per cent require judgments. We are really excited for members to go on the journey with us, so we can track subtle changes in the law over time and trends not just in how matters are decided at Trial but outcomes in settlement that legal practitioners assist in negotiating.”

More broadly, the pair continued, such considerations raise the question: where is the space that the law exists?

“Usually, we do think of it as outcomes at trial, that is, case law. However, we think that law can develop at the level of a gesture in how lawyers approach matters and how these approaches spread and are taken up by other lawyers. This in turn will assist in identifying settlement trends created by clients and family law practitioners during the course of their daily practice,” they said.

Earlier this month, Immediation founder Laura Keily outlined, on The Lawyers Weekly Show, practical ways that legal professionals can work towards becoming legal tech founders.