Opportunities and Advantages of the Legal Development Networks’Chatbot LawLink for Free Legal Consultation

Publication date: March 12, 2025

Author: Yuliia Bilyk, Communications Manager at the Legal Development Network

Free professional legal consultations in just a few minutes — this is a real service available to all Ukrainians in Ukraine and abroad through the LawLink chatbot, developed and maintained by the Legal Development Network. Unlike AI-based alternatives, this chatbot operates in an open question-and-answer format. As a result, users receive comprehensive answers to their legal inquiries and may not even realize they are communicating with a bot rather than a live expert lawyer. Additionally, the chatbot offers several other advantages and opportunities, which we will discuss further.

LawLink: The First Free Legal Consultation Chatbot with Open-Ended Responses

Anyone who has ever used a chatbot knows how frustrating the experience can sometimes be: you have to follow a “yes-no” decision tree or select from a list of options before the system provides (or fails to provide) the expected answer. With the LawLink chatbot, the process is much simpler: you write a detailed open-ended question and receive a comprehensive response.

“With the LawLink bot, communication is as simple as talking to a person — there’s no need to navigate through numerous options just to ask a question or obtain information,” says Dariia Kovalchuk, Director of Legal Services at the Legal Development Network.

How this is achieved: Rehina Barkhan, the Invited Specialist, Chief Legal Designer of the LawLink bot, and representative of the NGO “Legal Innovations” explains:

“We maintain a unified knowledge base, which is analyzed by a Large Language Model (a type of machine learning for natural language processing) to provide answers. As a result of that, users receive comprehensive responses, while administrators can easily introduce new topics, expand knowledge, and update the chatbot’s database.”

This means that the bot is convenient both for users and administrators, which opens up great prospects for further improvement, expansion of capabilities, partnerships, and access platforms.

LawLink_bot Provides Contextual Assistance

Currently, LawLink_bot operates on Telegram and will soon be available on Facebook, Viber, and the Legal Development Network’s website https://ldn.org.ua. The bot currently contains complete legal information on four topics:

• Compensation for property damaged during the war;
• Land lease;
• Inheritance matters;
• Child support.

“Each topic covers 40-60 different consultations, each approximately 150 pages long in A4 format with an 11-point font size. This information has been thoroughly processed by our lawyers, who aimed to cover all aspects, even the smallest details that may be directly or indirectly relevant to our potential users’ inquiries,” explains Dariia Kovalchuk.

For each of these topics, the bot provides contextual assistance.

“The bot takes into account all additional details included in your query, such as marital status, social category, or benefits received,” notes Rehina Barkhan. “So, the more details a user provides, the better the chatbot can formulate a response, considering all nuances. It works like a real lawyer: the more openly you present your case, the better assistance you receive.”

A Chatbot You Can Trust, Featuring Verified and Updated Data

Overall, LawLink is like ChatGPT, but better. While ChatGPT sources information from across the entire internet, LawLink_bot relies exclusively on expert-approved sources integrated into its system and validates data through a specialized protocol.

Rehina Barkhan jokingly refers to LawLink_bot as “a ChatGPT that became a lawyer.”

“Many articles referenced by ChatGPT may come from Russian-language sources or translated English-language materials. It does not recognize context or filter which laws should take precedence over outdated legal articles written by unknown authors. ChatGPT uses everything available on the internet, and we know that old articles are never deleted, data is not verified, and the expertise level of the authors remains unknown. Meanwhile, the LawLink_bot database is exclusively compiled by professional lawyers who have gathered up-to-date information verified by legislation and legal practice,” says the Chief Legal Designer.

Additionally, LawLink_bot provides current data considering legislative changes and judicial practices. It also generates ready-to-sign documents in response to user inquiries — users simply sign, print if necessary, and send them to the appropriate recipient.

External Experts Can Contribute to the Chatbot’s Development

The strategic goal of the Legal Development Network for 2025 is to expand LawLink’s database and engage lawyers who are ready to handle inquiries that the bot has not yet been programmed to answer. Lawyers from the network’s member organizations have already completed training on working with the chatbot and preparing written legal consultations, participated in test assignments, and received feedback from the legal designer. At the same time, LawLink_bot is open to external experts.

“We will be glad to welcome legal professionals from both the private and public sectors, with diverse experience and specializations, to our team. In the future, we also hope to find partners among legal aid providers in Ukraine who could enhance our bot with their expertise and expand its reach across their communication platforms,” says Dariia Kovalchuk.

LawLink_bot is an innovation in the field of free legal assistance and is ready to help anyone at any time. Reach out and quickly resolve issues that have been accumulating for years.

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