THE FUTURE OF LAWYERS

FROM DENIAL TO DISRUPTION

RICHARD SUSSKIND

2 May 2014@richardsusskind

3 old chestnuts

3 drivers3 developments

3 stages3 challenges

3 old chestnuts

automation vs innovation

3 drivers

more for lessliberalisationtechnology

more for less

decomposing

Multi-sourcing

1. in-sourcing2. de-lawyering3. relocating4. off-shoring5. outsourcing6. sub-contracting7. co-sourcing8. near-shoring

9. leasing10. home-sourcing11. open-sourcing12. crowd-sourcing13. computerising14. solo-sourcing15. KM-sourcing16. no-sourcing

13 disruptive legal technologies1. Automated document assembly2. Relentless connectivity3. Electronic legal marketplace4. E-learning5. Online legal guidance6. Legal open-sourcing7. Closed client communities 8. Workflow and project management9. Embedded legal knowledge10.Online dispute resolution (ODR)11.Intelligent legal search12.Big data13.AI-based problem solving

3 developments

exponential growthsmart systemssocial media

Moore’s Law

by 2020 and 2050

5 billion mobile phone subscriptions

1980s – rule-based expert systems

1990s – knowledge management

2000s – Google etc2010s – intelligent search, big data

2020s – 2nd generation AI

not modelled on brainsfuelled by brute force computing

‘big know-how’ as well as ‘big data’speech recognition

natural language processingperfect search

machine learningdeductive, inductive, analogical, lateral

inference

bespoke human service – exceptionalinteracting with systems as though human

diagnostic-advisoryplanning

document productionintelligent search

embeddedAI-enabled ODR

smart more than hard-wired,underpinned by communities of legal

experience

irrational rejectionism

communities of legal experience

there is no finishing line in IT

3 stages

3 challenges

for law firms

what parts of your work could be undertaken

differently – more quickly, cheaply,

efficiently, or to a higher quality - using

alternative methods of working?

for law schools

what are we training young lawyers to

become?

for clients

The Shareholder Test

richard@susskind.com@richardsusskind