Boomer and ‘sassy’ translations too
A high-street law firm has launched a new AI tool that translates legal jargon into layman’s terms — or even Gen Z, Boomer, sassy and corporate speak.
The ‘Legalese Translator’ allows users to upload legal documents, from court rulings and employment contracts to wills, tenancy agreements, parking tickets and other paperwork, before translating them into plain English.
Users can opt for a standard explanation, a TL;DR (“too long; didn’t read”) summary, or dial things up with one of several more playful tones: Gen Z, Boomer, sassy or corporate Speak.
The tool, available on Manak Solicitors’ website, is designed to help members of the public get to grips with — and feel more confident understanding — legal documents.
And the results can be quite something.
Take the infamous House of Lords decision in R v Brown, for example, explained in Gen Z terms:
“Bestie let me break this down
. Okay, so imagine some guys are into some very intense, spicy, and painful stuff in private. They all agreed to it (consent was 100% there, no cap), but the police found videos of it and the government decided to press charges for ‘wounding’ and ‘actual bodily harm’. The key legal question? If everyone says ‘yes’ to the pain, is it still a crime? Actually, yeah, it is. The vibe is too violent.
”
Meanwhile, the iconic snail-in-the-bottle case Donoghue v Stevenson gets the full sassy treatment:
“Honey, pull up a chair because we are talking about the literal mother of all lawsuits. This is the ‘Snail in the Bottle’ case, and it changed the world because one woman decided she wasn’t going to let a slimy stowaway ruin her life without a fight.”
And finally, the ever-confusing doctrine of proprietary estoppel (the bane of land law students everywhere) gets a surprisingly helpful Boomer explanation:
“Now, sit yourself down and let’s have a chat about this ‘Proprietary Estoppel’ business. It sounds like a mouthful, doesn’t it? Back in my day, we just called it ‘keeping your word,’ but the lawyers have to give it a fancy name to keep the lights on. Think of it like this: if you spent twenty years fixing up your neighbour’s fence and tilling their garden because they told you, ‘Don’t worry, dear, one day this little patch will be yours,; and then they try to kick you off when they pass away — well, that just wouldn’t be right, would it? This law is there to stop people from going back on their word when someone else has suffered for it.”
So, while the tool probably will not replace your land law lecturer just yet, it might make confusing legal documents feel a little less terrifying for unfamiliar members of the public.