Most people read through lease documents without paying attention to the fine print or sign an employment contract without reading the terms. Others rely on their lawyers when things become serious. This may be due to the difficulty of the legal language.
A 2022 MIT study that analyzed 3.5 million words of legal contracts found that they are packed with “center-embedded” clauses. Such clauses overload working memory. Also, research published in 2023 revealed that lawyers themselves preferred plain-language versions of legal documents and rated them as equally enforceable. The problem here is in the way the language is written. This is the gap that an AI legal research platform was designed to bridge.
Why Legalese Is a Functional Barrier
Incomprehensible legal language has a cost. Research by University of Utah linguistics professor Scott Jarvis found that native English speakers comprehend long, complex sentences containing legal terminology with less than 50% accuracy. Comprehension declines further when it comes to legal contracts. Studies referenced by language access advocates indicate that a significant portion of American adults read at or below a fifth-grade level, while many legal documents are written at a college-graduate reading level or beyond.
This is the reason people sign agreements they don’t understand, miss filing deadlines buried in dense procedural language, and forfeit rights they did not know they had. As a result, a non-compete clause hidden in a fifteen-page employment agreement or an arbitration provision tucked into a service contract can change someone’s life without them grasping how.
What AI-Powered Translators Can Do
Platforms like Verdict translate dense legal language into something that ordinary people can understand. They draw on a broad library of court opinions, legal topics, jurisdiction-specific document templates, and curated Q&As. The Verdict AI legal research platform lets users describe what happens in plain English. Tools in this category support users in the following ways:
- Plain-language case research. Court opinions are distilled into understandable summaries grounded in precedent.
- Term definitions in context. Legal vocabulary is explained as it functions inside the specific document or situation at hand.
- Document analysis. The implications of a contract clause, notice, or letter are assessed before responding.
- Template drafting. Forms written in language are calibrated to be clear without sacrificing legal precision.
- Procedural guidance. Clear explanations of what filing deadlines and rules of evidence require are available.
A Case That Captures the Stakes
The 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case Dickerson v. United States reaffirmed the constitutional foundation of the Miranda warning. This warning is the legal text that most native English speakers cannot comprehend when read aloud. The Court’s ruling preserved a protection that many of the people it is meant to protect cannot understand in the moment it is delivered. AI in the legal sector can translate this language into something usable.
