Courts are high-stakes environments; thus, the impact of implementing legal technologies is not limited to the people directly using the technologies. However, the existing empirical data is insufficient to navigate and anticipate the acceptance of legal technologies in courts. This study aims to provide evidence for a technology acceptance model in order to understand people’s attitudes towards legal technologies in courts and to specify the potential differences in the attitudes of people with court experience vs. those without it, in the legal profession vs. other, male vs. female, and younger vs. older. A questionnaire was developed, and the results were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Multigroup analyses have confirmed the usefulness of the technology acceptance model (TAM) across age, gender, profession (legal vs. other), and court experience (yes vs. no) groups. Therefore, as in other areas, technology acceptance in courts is primarily related to perceptions of usefulness. Trust emerged as an essential construct, which, in turn, was affected by the perceived risk and knowledge. In addition, the study’s findings prompt us to give more thought to who decides about technologies in courts, as the legal profession, court experience, age, and gender modify different aspects of legal technology acceptance.

Artificial intelligence plays an increasingly important role in legal disputes, influencing not only the reality outside the court but also the judicial decision-making process itself. While it is clear why judges may generally benefit from technology as a tool for reducing effort costs or increasing accuracy, the presence of technology in the judicial process may also affect the public perception of the courts. In particular, if individuals are averse to adjudication that involves a high degree of automation, particularly given fairness concerns, then judicial technology may yield lower benefits than expected. However, the degree of aversion may well depend on how technology is used, i.e., on the timing and strength of judicial reliance on algorithms. Using an exploratory survey, we investigate whether the stage in which judges turn to algorithms for assistance matters for individual beliefs about the fairness of case outcomes. Specifically, we elicit beliefs about the use of algorithms in four different stages of adjudication: (i) information acquisition, (ii) information analysis, (iii) decision selection, and (iv) decision implementation. Our analysis indicates that individuals generally perceive the use of algorithms as fairer in the information acquisition stage than in other stages. However, individuals with a legal profession also perceive automation in the decision implementation stage as less fair compared to other individuals. Our findings, hence, suggest that individuals do care about how and when algorithms are used in the courts.

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