Technology and Lawyering: On Legal Practice and Value in a Digital Age

Abstract

In 2010, Richard Susskind documented the impact of digital transformation and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the legal industry. He portentously queried, are we on the precipice of witnessing ‘The End of Lawyers’? It is now a decade since Susskind’s seminal publication on the future of the legal profession, and certainly, many of his proclamations ring true. The changes to the legal profession have been immense: robo judges, ‘newlaw’, online dispute resolution and blockchain technologies, to name a few. A fear that robots will replace lawyers preoccupies the profession. And yet, in 2021, the legal profession has not been transformed by digital technology and lawyers have not become extinct. There are still judges hearing cases and handing down judgements, and there are still bricks and mortar courts in which lawyers appear, paper brief in hand. So what does this say about the continued relevance of legal professionals in the digital world? How can we understand the human value of solicitors, barristers and judges in the face of digital transformation? What is it about the human element in the practice of law that pushes against its replacement by technologies often lauded as better, cheaper and faster? This chapter uses the legal profession as a prism to explore these themes, specifically through the narratives of five legal actors: a barrister, a law firm partner, an in-house lawyer, an ethics lawyer and a law student. It asks them to reflect upon their human value, which perhaps the world of law can’t do without. In tracking the changing nature of the legal profession and interweaving the rich narratives of central protagonists in the legal world, this chapter contributes to the broader understanding of the digital human condition with which this book is concerned.