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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Law - "The end of lawyers as we know it"
Here is an article from The Lawyers Weekly at CourtCanda.com, dated Feb. 27th, that I have been meaning to post but that has slipped between the cracks until this morning. The author, Michael Rappaport, writes at length. Here are a few quotes:
Mercers (traders in fine cloths and silks), tallow chandlers (candle makers), cordwainers (fine leather workers) and wheelwrights (makers of wheels) all provided goods and services for centuries, before eventually being displaced by innovation and technology.Might lawyers one day fade from society like these once venerable craftsmen and traders? Richard Susskind begins his book, The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services, by posing this provocative question.
A distinguished legal academic and advisor to international law firms, Susskind has written extensively on the evolution of the legal profession and the impact of emerging technologies. The End of Lawyers? is the sequel to his 1996 legal bestseller, The Future of Law, in which he explored how information technology (IT) would transform the legal profession. Susskind delights in reminding the reader that when he predicted a decade ago in his earlier book that e-mail would become the dominant means by which clients and lawyers communicated, he was roundly scoffed at by the legal community.
In his latest work, Susskind makes even bolder forecasts about the future of legal practice, some of which are also bound to be derided by lawyers before grudgingly being adopted. * * *
What makes Susskind’s vision of the future of legal services so compelling is that most of the innovations and technologies required to transform it into a reality already exist. While Susskind does extrapolate from present day hi-tech to envisage what tomorrow might bring, he really doesn’t go too far out on a limb. Given the rapid pace of technological progress, is it really farfetched to envisage a day when the average desktop computer will rival the human brain (circa 2020 according to technology guru Ray Kurzweil)?
Disruptive legal technologies, however, aren’t necessarily groundbreaking innovations. Rather, Susskind’s definition encompasses technologies, systems, techniques or applications that do not simply support or sustain the way a business or sector operates, but instead fundamentally challenge or overhaul such a business or sector.
For the legal marketplace, Susskind has identified several potential game-changers, such as: automated document assembly, which will enable laymen to draft legal documents without reliance on lawyers; the electronic marketplace, which allows clients to investigate the reputation of lawyers and law firms, post requests for proposals for legal services and even hold auctions to obtain the lowest cost and most qualified providers; and online legal communities, such as LegalOnRamp, which allow users to share legal information and facilitate collaboration between clients and counsel.
How much will these disruptive technologies hurt lawyers’ pocketbook? Consider how much freely accessible legal information and guidance is currently available online, which law firms used to be able to bill dearly for in the past. Yesterday’s chargeable information services, formerly packaged as advice, are today’s online marketing materials.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 24, 2009 09:21 AM
Posted to General Law Related