Smart Legal Form Assistant

🎯 AI-powered legal form assistance platform designed to help common citizens understand, identify, and accurately fill out legal forms in a simple, user-friendly way.

✨ Features

🧠 RAG-based Legal Assistant

• AI-powered chatbot using Google Gemini and LangChain
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation for accurate legal information
• Context-aware responses with form recommendations
• Multi-turn conversations with memory

📘 Intelligent Form Recommendation

• Graph-based recommendation engine using TF-IDF
• Natural language query understanding
• Relevance scoring with keyword matching
• Category-based filtering

📝 Guided Form Filling

• Step-by-step wizard interface
• Plain-language instructions for each field
• Field validation and helpful tooltips
• Progress tracking and auto-save

📄 PDF Generation

• Professional, ready-to-print PDFs
• Automatic form formatting with ReportLab
• Download and share completed forms
• Signature sections included

🌐 Modern UI/UX

• Stunning glassmorphism design
• Smooth animations with Framer Motion
• Fully responsive layout
• Premium gradient aesthetics

🌍 Multilingual Support

• English and Tamil languages
• Easy to extend for more languages
• Localized form templates

🏗️ Tech Stack

Backend

• Framework: FastAPI
• AI/ML: LangChain, Google Gemini API, FAISS
• NLP: scikit-learn, sentence-transformers
• PDF: ReportLab
• Database: SQLite (SQLAlchemy ORM)

Frontend

• Framework: Next.js 14 (App Router)
• Language: TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS, Custom CSS
• Animations: Framer Motion
• Icons: Lucide React
• HTTP Client: Axios

🚀 Getting Started

🎯 New to the project? Check out our Quick Start Guide (QUICKSTART.md) for a 5-minute setup!

We provide automated setup scripts to get you running quickly:

• Windows: Run .\setup.ps1
• macOS/Linux: Run ./setup.sh

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• Node.js 18+
• Google Gemini API key (Get one here)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Vishalghost/Smart-Legal-Form-Assistant.git
cd Smart-Legal-Form-Assistant

2. Backend Setup

cd backend

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv

# Activate virtual environment
# On Windows:
venv\Scripts\activate
# On macOS/Linux:
source venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Create .env file
copy .env.example .env  # Windows
# OR
cp .env.example .env    # macOS/Linux

# Edit .env and add your Google API key
# GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

3. Frontend Setup

cd ../frontend

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Create environment file
copy .env.local.example .env.local  # Windows
# OR
cp .env.local.example .env.local    # macOS/Linux

Running the Application

1. Start the Backend (in backend/ directory)

uvicorn app:app --reload

Backend will run at http://localhost:8000

2. Start the Frontend (in frontend/ directory)

npm run dev

Frontend will run at http://localhost:3000

3. Access the Application
   • Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000
   • Start by clicking "Get Started" or ask the AI assistant a question!

📖 Usage Guide

Finding Forms

1. Click "Get Started" or navigate to the recommendation page
2. Describe your legal situation in plain language
   • Example: "I need to rent out my apartment"
3. Review the recommended forms with relevance scores
4. Click "Start Filling This Form" on your preferred form

Filling Forms

1. Follow the step-by-step wizard
2. Read the plain-language help text for each field
3. Fill in your information
4. Navigate using Previous/Next buttons
5. Generate and download your PDF when complete

Using the AI Assistant

1. Navigate to the Chat page
2. Ask questions about legal forms and processes
   • Example: "What is a power of attorney?"
3. Get instant, context-aware answers
4. Receive form recommendations in chat

📚 API Documentation

Once the backend is running, access the interactive API docs:

• Swagger UI: http://localhost:8000/api/docs
• ReDoc: http://localhost:8000/api/redoc

Key Endpoints

• GET /api/forms/ - List all forms
• POST /api/forms/recommend - Get form recommendations
• POST /api/chat/ - Chat with AI assistant
• POST /api/pdf/generate - Generate filled PDF
• GET /api/health - Health check

🗂️ Project Structure

Smart-Legal-Form-Assistant/
├── backend/
│   ├── app.py                 # Main FastAPI application
│   ├── models.py              # Pydantic models
│   ├── database.py            # SQLAlchemy setup
│   ├── rag_chatbot.py         # RAG chatbot implementation
│   ├── form_recommender.py    # Form recommendation engine
│   ├── pdf_generator.py       # PDF generation service
│   ├── routes/                # API route handlers
│   │   ├── forms.py
│   │   ├── chatbot.py
│   │   └── pdf.py
│   └── data/
│       └── legal_forms.json   # Form templates
├── frontend/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── page.tsx           # Landing page
│   │   ├── chat/              # AI chat interface
│   │   ├── recommend/         # Form recommendations
│   │   └── fill/[formId]/     # Form filling wizard
│   └── lib/
│       └── api.ts             # API client
└── README.md

📝 Available Forms

Currently includes sample templates for:

• 📄 Residential Rental Agreement
• ⚖️ General Power of Attorney
• 📋 General Affidavit
• 💼 Employment Contract

Note: You can easily add more forms by editing backend/data/legal_forms.json

🔧 Configuration

Backend Environment Variables

GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///./legal_assistant.db
CORS_ORIGINS=http://localhost:3000
DEBUG=True

Frontend Environment Variables

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:8000

🎨 Customization

Adding New Forms

1. Edit backend/data/legal_forms.json
2. Add your form following the existing schema
3. Restart the backend server
4. Forms will automatically appear in the UI

Changing the AI Model

• Edit backend/rag_chatbot.py
• Replace ChatGoogleGenerativeAI with your preferred LLM
• Update environment variables accordingly

UI Theming

• Edit frontend/app/globals.css for colors and styles
• Modify frontend/tailwind.config.js for Tailwind theme

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

⚠️ Disclaimer

This application provides general legal form assistance and information. It is not a substitute for professional legal advice. Always consult with a qualified attorney for your specific legal situation.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Google Gemini for AI capabilities
• LangChain for RAG framework
• FastAPI for backend framework
• Next.js for frontend framework
• The open-source community

📧 Contact

Project Link: https://github.com/Vishalghost/Smart-Legal-Form-Assistant

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Made with ❤️ to make legal forms accessible to everyone