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| Lawyer Richard Susskind |
“Come with me on a journey into the future,” said Richard
Susskind speaking to law students, lawyers and friends of the legal world at Michigan
State University College of Law in East Lansing, MI recently.
“Try to anticipate the world as it will be in the future,”
said Susskind, “and then you will be at the right place in the future to meet
it.”
“For example,” he said, “Black and Decker makes power tools.
One day at a meeting of executives, the trainer put the picture of the power
drill on the screen and asked what is it we sell? The group answered ‘we sell
power drills. That is not what we sell,’ answered the trainer, ‘we sell what
our customers want and what they want is the hole. And your job is find ever more
creative ways to give the customers what they want. “
“That’s your challenge, too,” he said to the packed audience. “What is the hole in
the wall? What is the fundamental value we will bring to the communities we
serve?”
That value is legal knowledge and he recommended that the
lawyers think of ways to impart that knowledge to clients faster, quicker and
cheaper.
Legal services, he said, are unaffordable, whether
they be for the man in the street or the multi-national corporation. He sees the challenge for the next ten or
fifteen years to be how to deliver more legal services at less cost.
He recommends two strategies, the efficiency strategy and
the collaboration strategy. “In the spirit of online collaboration, why can’t
all those with the same problem go to one advisor and share that advice amongst
the group,” he asked.
The efficiency strategy means cutting the cost of legal
services. “What I see in all the places I visit is repetitive, administrative
work being done by young lawyers where their skills are not needed at all. “
He argues against the one-to-one basis of giving legal
advice. “we can find ways to make that information available to all.” He calls
it multi-sourcing, noting that many legal problems can be solved with standard
documents such as wills, landlord/tenant agreements, or basic contracts.
Technology
By 2050, one desktop computer will have more processing
ability than all of humanity put together. More people in the world have mobile
phones than toothbrushes.
He urged lawyers to embrace the technology, which can allow
video conferencing with clients, other lawyers, expert witnesses, or the
courts. He mentioned Watson, the computer with Artificial Intelligence, which
won the Jeopardy challenge, as an example of a machine created to solve legal
problems.
The future for lawyers includes accepting technology,
changing the way lawyers do business. There are a whole new sets of jobs for
new lawyers, he said, including legal knowledge engineer, legal technologists,
lawyers who have other skills in addition to law skills, legal process
analysts, on-line dispute resolution consultants or legal risk managers.
“Yes,” he concluded, “I accept that we will have less of a
need for the one on one consultant advisor but there will be a whole bundle of
legal services that will be needed. The
remarkable challenge you have coming into the profession is not just joining an
established profession but in shaping the new profession.”
My book of light-hearted commentary of lawyers and the law will be out as an e-book soon. Look for it at your favorite e-book seller.
