Jun 2, 2026 – 5.00amThe law can be a bit like a foreign language, with its strange words, Latin terms and hyper-specific phrases. It takes years of study to become fluent. For the lay person, understanding all this legalese is hard enough: speaking it is nigh impossible.Until today. Thanks to two teams of Melbourne legal experts and computer scientists, there’s now a kind of Google Translate for law, which lets ordinary people use their own words when looking for pro bono legal help. It’s a major win for access to justice, and it’s all powered by AI.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles
Legal jargon buster helps those who need justice the most
For their carefully designed AI intake tool, legal charity Justice Connect, along with Melbourne University, have won this year’s community engagement prize.












