The Procedural Law Unit presented at AIDA2J 2026 workshop on the importance of AI-Assisted Litigants in Civil Justice
The Procedural Law Unit team participated and presented in the AIDA2J 2026 Workshop, held as part of the 21st International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law (ICAIL), with an accepted paper titled ‘AI-Assisted Litigants in Civil Justice: Procedural Competence, Intermediation and the Right to be Heard’. The co-authors are Dr Nicolas Kyriakides, Ioanna Theodosopoulou and Eva Manolova.
The workshop ‘Artificial Intelligence for Access to Justice, Dispute Resolution, and Data Access (AIDA2J)’ took place on 8 June 2026 in Singapore at Singapore Management University (SMU) in a hybrid format. It brought together researchers, practitioners, legal technologists and policymakers to examine how artificial intelligence can contribute to access to justice, dispute resolution, legal data infrastructures, and the responsible use of AI in justice systems.
The paper was presented online by research associate Eva Manolova on behalf of her colleagues during Session 2 ‘Legal Reasoning, Participation and Trustworthy Legal AI’, chaired by Quinten Steenhuis. The session explored questions at the intersection of legal reasoning, participation and the trustworthiness of AI systems in legal contexts.
The paper further examines the emerging discrepancies that self-represented litigants or pro se litigants face when using commercial AI tools as an alternative to professional assistance, such as legal aid or a consultation. Specifically, the paper proposes a pan-European, AI-powered, tool that will serve as an informative platform for first-instance civil proceedings to pro se litigants. Its aim is to bring a uniform guidance of how a proceeding can be approached, providing verified and up-to-date regulations that can help self-represented litigants to approach a legal matter, preserving the importance of legal professionals and procedural competence, including the right to be heard.
The contribution reflects PLU’s broader research interest in civil procedure, access to justice and the institutional implications of emerging technologies. It also highlights the need to assess AI in self-represented litigation not only as a matter of technological efficiency, but as a procedural justice issue affecting participation, fairness and meaningful access to courts.
Through its participation in AIDA2J 2026, PLU contributed to an international discussion on how legal systems can integrate AI-supported tools, while preserving core procedural guarantees and maintaining trust in civil justice. PLU extends its thanks to the AIDA2J organising committee for hosting a timely and important workshop, and for creating a valuable forum for interdisciplinary exchange on the future of AI, access to justice, and civil justice systems.
