The recent years have witnessed the near complete arrogation of traditional ways of conducting business, by the rapid metamorphosing of Information Technology (IT). In Nigeria, the giant leap has been made from the long queues synonymic with the bureaucratic process to online filings and registrations. The times are rapidly changing.
In view of this, it is necessary, if not mandatory to examine the role of the lawyer in the immediate and distant future. What is the future for law practise as we know it today? This is the basis of the six part draft excerpt from Richard Susskind’s book, The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of legal services. He explains in the first draft that his aim is “… to explore the extent to which the role of the traditional lawyer can be sustained in coming years in the face of challenging trends in the legal marketplace and new techniques for the delivery of legal services.”
This is the spirit behind THE NIGERIAN LAWYER. Times are a changing and legal practitioners need to change with it. Law practise as we know it may not exist in the years to come. In order to remain relevant as lawyers, new approaches to practising law need to be explored. Richard Susskind puts it succinctly:
“…for all lawyers to introspect, and 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. In other words, 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.
I will argue 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 that the jobs of many traditional lawyers will be substantially eroded and often eliminated. At the same time, I foresee new law jobs emerging which may be highly rewarding, even if very different from those of today.”
(Read the whole article here).
Insisting on the undeviating practise of traditional law will, without a doubt, render such a practitioner obsolete and inapposite in the years to come. The solution, if Lawyers seek continued relevance not just in cases involving complex legalities is to bring to bear innovative and creative methods to the legal practise.
Richard Susskind is Emeritus Professor of Law at Gresham College, IT adviser to the Lord Chief Justice and consultant to leading law firms. He was awarded an OBE in 2000. This is an extract from his forthcoming book, The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services.
Recent Comments