header-logo header-logo

Tomorrow’s lawyers: don’t despair

23 June 2023 / Roger Smith
Issue: 8030 / Categories: Opinion , Technology , Profession , Legal aid focus
printer mail-detail
127514
No matter the advances of legal tech in widening access to justice, there will always be a place for human advisers, as Roger Smith explains

Richard Susskind (pictured) ploughs a straight furrow. He has travelled through The Future of Law (1996), Transforming the Law (2000) and The End of Lawyers (2010). With a study on The Future of the Professions (2015) with his son, Daniel, his writing has even become a bit of a family business. In March, he published the third edition of Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to your Future (Oxford University Press, 2023). It all amounts to a solid and commendable body of work. He has battled his way to widespread acceptance of views once seen as extreme. But, perhaps at least in the access to justice field, Professor Susskind’s thoughts might need a little refinement.

Professor Susskind is engaging, polemical and interesting. He is also—on the big issues—right. His main thesis has remained constant. The ‘legal market is in a remarkable state of flux’ (the words

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
David Lammy, Ellie Reeves and Baroness Levitt have taken up office at the Ministry of Justice, following the cabinet reshuffle
back-to-top-scroll