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Research - 09.10.2024 - 08:30 

'fragmeisterjuristen.ch': HSG Law School opens up new access to old masters of Swiss law with AI platform

'fragmeisterjuristen.ch' is a newly developed chatbot from Switzerland that quickly provides well-founded answers to legal questions. With the help of artificial intelligence, the open-access platform answers questions based on pioneering key texts of Swiss law from the early 20th century.

The chatbot substantiates its answers using selected sources from Fritz Fleiner (public law), Eugen Huber (private law) and Carl Stooss (criminal law). fragmeisterjuristen.ch offers simple and efficient access to legal knowledge for all and shows what Large Language Models can already do today for teaching, science and legal practice – and what is currently not yet feasible. 

The platform was developed by HSG researcher Kaspar Ehrenzeller, PostDoc at the Law School of the University of St.Gallen (HSG), together with two external partners, Daniel Brugger and Jan Reinhardt from Amelio. Together, they launched the project based on an idea from the Institute of Law and Economics (ILE-HSG) and the Competence Centre for the History of Public Law (FR-HSG) at the University of St.Gallen. Unlike other legal AI platforms, fragmeisterjuristen.ch is free to use for everyone.

The art of asking questions

Kaspar Ehrenzeller explains the three basic considerations of their project: “Firstly, even with artificial intelligence, law remains above all a craft that needs to be learnt and practised. Secondly, teachers train lawyers in the theory and practice of their craft by passing on their experience. The works of Fritz Fleiner, Eugen Huber and Carl Stooss are still exemplary in this respect today. At the beginning of the 20th century, they were the first to compile and concisely present the authoritative concepts of Swiss law. Thirdly, our portal is based on the premise that asking intelligent questions is and remains an important legal skill. If you want to solve problems with law, you have to ask the right legal questions with and without artificial intelligence.’ 

Well prepared for the use of AI in legal practice 

‘The top law firms will simply expect future graduates to be able to use AI-driven tools effectively and efficiently in practice,’ adds Prof Dr Peter Hettich, Dean of the Law School at the HSG. ‘We want our graduates to be prepared: We are already supplementing the work technology courses with AI modules. In addition, we facilitate the combination of law courses with courses from the field of data science.’ In this way, students have the opportunity to acquire the additional qualification ‘Data Science Fundamentals’ in addition to their law degree at the HSG. 

The legal AI pioneer, Daniel Brugger, emphasises: ‘Our platform enables HSG students to train and deepen their legal knowledge in a playful way. At the same time, they learn how to deal with this new technology and use it productively. Jan Reinhardt, the platform's software developer, adds: ‘Unlike ChatGPT, fragmeisterjuristen.ch allows the quality of the answer to be checked directly on the basis of evidence from key works by master lawyers and further thought to be given to more precise queries.’ 

For more information and to use the platform, visit: 
fragmeisterjuristen.ch

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