The End of Lawyers?

Rethinking the nature of legal services
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-19-959361-3
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 358 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 540 g

In this much anticipated sequel to the legal bestseller, The Future of Law, Susskind lays down a challenge to all lawyers to ask themselves, with their hands on their hearts, what elements of their current workload could be undertaken differently - more quickly, cheaply, efficiently, or to a higher quality - using alternative methods of working. The challenge for legal readers is to identify their distinctive skills and talents, the capabilities that they possess that cannot, crudely, be replaced by advanced systems or by less costly workers supported by technology or standard processes, or by lay people armed with online self-help tools.

It is argued that the market is increasingly unlikely to tolerate expensive lawyers for tasks (guiding, advising, drafting, researching, problem-solving, and more) that can equally or better be discharged, directly or indirectly, by smart systems and processes. It follows, the book claims, that the jobs of many traditional lawyers will be substantially eroded and often eliminated. This is where the legal profession will be taken, it is argued, by two forces: by a market pull towards commoditisation and by pervasive development and uptake of information technology. At the same time, the book foresees new law jobs emerging which may be highly rewarding, even if very different from those of today.

Zielgruppe

Legal practitioners and the judiciary, worldwide; legal policy-makers; consultants interested in the provision of legal services or the business and management of professional service firms; information technologists; academics and law students; reference libraries worldwide.

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Berufs- und Gebührenrecht freie Berufe Rechtsanwälte und Notare Berufs- und Gebührenrecht der Rechtsanwälte und Notare

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
1: The beginning of the end
The challenge for lawyers
Four thoughts
A journey
The Future of Law
Progress over the last decade
The flow of this book
2: The evolution of legal service
The path to commoditisation
The pull of the market
Shedding light on various conundra
Decomposing legal service
Resourcing the evolution
Two case studies
3: Trends in technology
Exponential growth
Information satisfaction
Community and collaboration
The net generation
Clicks and mortals
Disruptive technologies
4: Disruptive legal technologies
Document assembly
Online community
e-learning
Personalised alerting
The electronic market
Online legal guidance
Embedded legal content
5: The client grid
The asymmetry of lawyers and clients
The law firm grid
The client grid
Three possible models
Meeting clients' challenges
The role of clients
6: Resolving and dissolving disputes
Litigation support revisited
Electronic disclosure
Electronic filing
Case management
Online dispute resolution
Dispute avoidance
7: Access to law and to justice
Public information policy
Critique
Current systems
Promulgation
A law unto itself?
Afterword

Über Autor(innen)

Richard Susskind is Honorary Professor of Law at Gresham College, London, IT adviser to the Lord Chief Justice, and an independent consultant to professional firms and national governments. He is Chair of the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the British Computer Society. He studied law at Glasgow University and has a doctorate in law and computers from Balliol College, Oxford.

His views on the future of the legal profession have influenced a generation of lawyers around the world. He has written several books, including Expert Systems in Law (OUP, 1987), The Future of Law (OUP, 1996), and Transforming the Law (OUP, 2000), and has been invited to speak in over 40 countries.

He was awarded an OBE in the Millennium New Year's Honours List for services to IT in the Law and to the Administration of Justice.