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Kern County AI Legal Research

Learn how to use AI for legal research in Kern County.

How to Use ChatGPT 4.0, Google Bard and Claude.ai for Legal Research In Bakersfield, CA

The Next Generation of  “Access To Justice” Tools For Consumers: 
ChatGPT, Claude.ai, & Googe bard

If you’ve read any news lately, you have heard about how generative AI tools like ChatGPT will change how America works.

AI tools like ChatGPT 4, Claude 2.0, and Google Bard have tremendous potential to streamline legal research and change how consumers handle their routine legal affairs.

But these tools are also prone to mistakes in their current incarnation. So how do you use a tool that's only right "most" of the time?

Here you'll learn:

  • How to word your prompts to minimize the chance of wrong answers
  • How to ask the same question of several tools and compare their answers and look for inconsistencies
  • How to get it to think outside the box and warn you about things you're not asking about
  • How to ask it to try again if you think the answer might be wrong.
  • What things NOT to try!
    • These tools are adept at making up bogus case law that does not exist. 
    • Some tools know their limits and are smart enough not to attempt an answer, 
    • But some confidently assert absolute fiction and invent cases, judges, and statutes that don't exist!!

Custom-vetted prompts for learning about law and procedure in your region on the following topics:

We've run and tested and tweaked prompts to get useful answers. Learn what we've learned in using these tools. We'll give you tips on how to research different areas of law.

And learn where these tools don't do a very good job.

But that may change sooner rather than later at the rate this technology advances.

Categories of Prompts

 

This LLM (Large Language Model) technology is still new, and its capabilities have only recently hit a level where it's proving to be a genuinely useful tool. And the pace of improvement is increasing faster than most people had predicted. And they're not finished. It should be interesting.

As of this writing (July 2023), here are the three main tools we tested: 

  • ChatGPT 4 is much better than ChatGPT 3.5 on questions about law and procedure.
  • Google Bard can do a capable job of summarizing recent changes announced in the law, like the frequently changing status of student loan law,
    • which you can then research further or ask Bard to go into depth.
  • Claude.ai is an alternative to ChatGPT 4 and hasn't been fully ripened, and may not be ready for prime time.

Which is better? Claude versus ChatGPT 4?

At this point, ChatGPT4 is a clear winner in most cases.

Well, as one example, when asked for a bio of myself:

  • Claude.ai came up with an elaborate bio; unfortunately, 95% WRONG.
  • ChatGPT 3.5 also got 80% WRONG.
  • Chat GPT4 got it 98% RIGHT. 

The Limits of Generative AI Tools and How To Overcome Them

In this section, you'll learn how to use ChatGPT 4.0 to help you access the legal system and government in ways you never could before.

And we’ll show you several ways to guard against the risk of a bogus answer, which can happen, if you’re not careful with how you word your prompts.

ChatGPT is a powerful missile. You have to be careful where you aim it.

And you'll need to do some rudimentary checking of the answer it gives you.

It's not hard. We'll show you how. more...  

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5 Tips For Using ChatGPT 4.0 To Research Local Law and Procedure

1. It's all about the prompts, about the prompts...

ChatGPT is only as smart as you prompt it to be. 

  • If you ask a general question, you'll get a general answer.
  • If you ask a specific question, you'll get a specific answer.
  • But if you ask a specific question that it doesn't know, it may give you an answer anyway and it may well be wrong. 

So it's important to ask questions that make sense and are in sufficient detail to get quality answers, and even then, you have to check them.

How you ask the question matters a lot. The more you phrase your question using legally precise terminology, the more likely you will get a good response.

2. Always ask for "citations," and be clear about whether you mean URLs or statutes, and then check to see if the citations are real

One tip is to ask for citations, which sometimes will give you just a URL to a website. If you want citations to California law or statutes, it's better to spell that out. If you want both, say so. more...  

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ChatGPT Prompts for Bankruptcy and Debt Collection Law & Procedure In Kern County, California

What's This?

ChatGPT is a  powerful tool, capable of giving consumers a wealth of useful information -- or a bunch of malarky if you don't use it carefully.

In this article, we'll share with you the prompts that work best for researching bankruptcy and debt and credit law and procedure that applies to  Bakersfield, CA. 

We can't guarantee you'll get accurate results, but we're pretty sure that if you copy and paste these prompts into ChatGPT 4.0, you'll get useful results to speed up your research. 

The prompts are grouped by "use cases,"... that is, situations you might want to research.  

ChatGPT 4.0 Prompts on Debt and Bankruptcy Law

Here's a starter set of prompts that we believe will yield useful results for your location.

We offer prompts about:

  • Foreclosure procedures in California
  • Processes for attachment or removal of liens from property, and the procedures for how to "perfect" a lien, and how to follow local procedures to look for defects in liens that may be on your property. 

This article assumes you have read the articles on this site about the possible shortcomings of ChatGPT and how to check the responses that ChatGPT gives you. more...  

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ChatGPT Prompts for Probate and Property Transfer Procedures When Someone Dies in California

ChatGPT 4.0 Prompts on Probate Procedures

We’ve assembled a starter set of prompts that will yield useful results for your location.

This article assumes you have read the articles on this site about the possible shortcomings of ChatGPT and how to check the responses that ChatGPT gives you.

It also assumes that you are paying the $20 monthly required to use ChatGPT 4.0. We do not recommend using the free version 3.5 for legal research because it is too unreliable. Version 4.0 is different and is still not perfect but 10X better. 

In our experiments, these prompts yielded useful, correct responses in the vast majority of cases. And that’s worth a lot. And with some checking, you can improve those odds and learn if the law has been updated. Using ChatGPT, and checking its results with other online research tools, can make it a very reliable way to quickly learn about state and local inheritance laws and procedures. more...  

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5 Best Free Online Legal Research Tools for Self-Represented Consumers

The JusticeTech and Access to Justice tech fields are growing by leaps and bounds. 

I've been involved in this effort since I graduated from law school 40 years ago. We we are now at a brink of a new age of access to justice with technology offering many opportunities to increase access to justice like never before.

We will try to keep this article up to date with the latest tools that we know of that are available to help people navigate the legal system.

Here’s a list of our favorites.

LawHelp Interactive

Part of a LegalServices initiative to help self-helpers in every state gain access to automated forms and information that can help them handle their routine legal matters.

Nolo.com

Even though Nolo is now owned by KKR hedge fund, it still manages to put out good books in the spirit of its founders, back in the 80s and 90s when I worked for this pioneering organization that led the development of self-help legal products in the USA. 

eForms.com

This site has arisen from nowhere and now offers many do-it-your-self forms in all 50 states. In addition, they offer helpful articles and videos that explain simple non-contested procedural aspects of law. more...  

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Researching Student Loan Hardship Cases Using Google Bard

At first, Google Bard seemed quite good when we asked it to find bankruptcy judges that have ruled in favor of student loan debtors in 'undue hardship' cases, it found quite a few. But once we started checking, we found that 4 out of every 5 cases were not real. (We have left the original Bard reports for illustration and formatted the incorrect information with Strikethrough formatting).

Why does the judge's name matter when asking about undue hardship cases?

Why did we ask the question this way? Because "undue hardship" is a concept like "negligence," each case involves a mix of law and fact. 

In the federal courts, trial judges are given great deference in findings of fact. A determination that "undue hardship" exists is a finding of fact, assuming the correct legal standards are applied. 

In such cases, the judge you have for your bankruptcy case has much to do with your likelihood of success as your facts; the judge must be inclined to rule in favor of people like you in undue hardship cases like yours. Not all judges are alike.

So, if you're considering attempting an undue hardship discharge and decide to file, check whether any bankruptcy judges in your district have ever ruled in favor of a student loan case.

We decided to try Google Bard to see if it could help. Here's what happened... more...