Future of law
Never mind the quantity
My latest post on the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers. Image: By Eric Fischer on Flickr.
The Uberisation of law
My latest article in the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers gives some perspectives on the sharing economy and how it affects lawyers. Image: Taxi clown by John Fisher on Flickr.
Reinventing law – the Twitter story
Reblogged from Legal Web Watch June 2014. Reinvent Law London 2014, a conference featuring presentations on “law + technology + innovation + entrepreneurship” was held on 20 June 2014 at the University of Westminster Law School in London. I missed last year’s event, which was well received (covered by Michael Scutt for the Newsletter), so […]
Is the law a can of beans? (reprise)
Way back in 1999 I wrote a piece on the commoditisation of legal services which still resonates today. Some lawyers are still arguing that there are so many potential pitfalls in using commoditised online services that the customer should always seek legal advice. For example, Angela Davis of Nottingham law firm Berryman warns that DIY […]
The end of BigLawyers – does the rest of society care?
Having just penned my previous post on BigLaw, I browsed the latest issue of Legal Information Management and was riveted not by my own article therein :=), nor by any of the many other worthy articles, but by the Book Review at the end in which solicitor Gillian Bull rather comprehensively disses Susskind’s The End […]
Reformation
Deep thought (as ever) from Jordan Furlong at Law21 on the future of lawyers a la Susskind. He concludes: If we take another meaning of “end” – an outcome worked toward or an objective for which effort is expended, rather than the more popular meaning of “disappearance” – then we could say that this is […]
The future of lawyers
First published in the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers, January 2009. In The End of Lawyers? (Oxford University Press) Richard Susskind challenges the legal profession to ask what elements of their current work could be undertaken more quickly, more cheaply, more efficiently or to a higher quality using new methods. He makes his case firstly by […]
2009
I usually leave it until the last minute to frame my “binary law” predictions for the year ahead. After all, a lot can happen in a month and it’s of course helpful to have the benefit of everyone else’s predictions first! In the SCL IT & law predictions for 2009 (batch 1, batch 2, batch […]
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
I recently commented far too favourably on the the new Law Society Gazette site. There is no way to browse the archives which is frustrating. But to give the site some juice, the opinion sections in particular should be inviting our comments. I’d have liked, for example, to respond to Clive Wismayer, Solicitor, Great Bookham, […]
What about clients?
In a series of recent posts, Jordan Furlong gives his slant on the arguments at the heart of Richard Susskind’s thesis: Decoupling price from cost in legal services: In order to turn a profit, firms will be forced to streamline their costs of production, whatever they might be. The market doesn’t care clients don’t care […]
The future of lawyers
I have not yet found on the public access web anything approaching a review of Richard Susskind’s The End of Lawyers? (Oxford University Press). So I must conclude I’m one of the few who have actually read it from cover to cover. To say I’ve read it is a bit of an exaggeration; I confess […]
A wake-up call to lawyers
Professor Richard Susskind is, as I write, no doubt completing the final draft of his forthcoming treatise, The End of Lawyers? to be published in June by Oxford University Press. More than 12 years ago he wrote its predecessor, The Future of Law. Then only a few of us had awoken to the internet; only […]
The death of the high street practice?
John Bolch on Family Lore relates the sad tale of local (Kent) firms who are shedding staff by the dozen due to the property slump. And following their conveyancing business may well be their whole business. Anecdotal evidence is that HIPs are as much to blame as the sub-prime crisis. Who agrees? Who disagrees? Who […]
Susskind 2.0 digested (6)
In the last Times extract from The End of Lawyers? Richard Susskind answers his critics. There are those that argue that “computers cannot replace legal work. Full stop.” and others who believe that IT will have no or minimal effect on lawyers. To which the reply is: Open-minded lawyers, and those who genuinely care about […]
Susskind 2.0 digested (5)
From the fifth Times extract from The End of Lawyers? No-one who might be thought to be in the driving seat of the legal system [not law schools, nor legal academics, nor the professional bodies, nor the UK Government, nor the Law Commission] is thinking systematically, rigorously and in a sustained way about the long […]
