This article argues that there are three narratives to technology’s role in augmenting, disrupting or ending the current legal services environment—each of which gives life to particular legal professional archetypes in how lawyers react to LawTech. In tracing these influential narratives and associated archetypes, we map the evolving role of LawTech, the legal profession and…
The regulation of lawyers in compliance
The field of compliance has exploded in interest, attention, and growth over recent years. It has emerged as a popular career path for those trained in the law, giving rise to an influx of job opportunities for new law school graduates and seasoned attorneys alike. Additionally, compliance has tightened the essential interplay between business and…
Judges and the Deregulation of the Lawyer’s Monopoly
In a revolutionary moment for the legal profession, the deregulation of legal services is taking hold in many parts of the country. Utah and Arizona, for instance, are experimenting with new regulations that permit nonlawyer advocates to play an active role in assisting people who may not otherwise have access to legal services. In addition,…
The future of law firms (and lawyers) in the age of Artificial Intelligence
This article explores the future for lawyers and law firms in the light of the changes that Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is already bringing to the universe of legal services. Part I briefly describes some of the ways AI is already in use in ordinary life – from facial recognition, through medical diagnosis to translation services….
Evidence-based lawyer regulation
The legal profession is losing its authority over the regulation of legal services. Recent changes in antitrust law have put state bar associations under a spotlight. Competition from technology companies and concerns about access to justice have increased political pressure for market liberalization. Independent research is challenging the unique value of lawyers’ services, even in…
The great disruption: How machine intelligence will transform the role of lawyers in the delivery of legal services
Law is an information technology—a code that regulates social life. In our age, the machinery of information technology is growing exponentially in power, not only in hardware, but also in the software capacity of the programs that run on computers. As a result, the legal profession faces a great disruption. Information technology has already had…
Lawyer Wellbeing as a Crisis of the Profession
The legal profession is in the throes of a mental health crisis. State bars across the country continue to be rocked by the tragic loss of their lawyers to suicide and accidental drug overdose. Recent studies have also shed further light on the severity and scale of lawyers’ long-recognized struggles with depression, anxiety, substance abuse,…
How Should We License Lawyers?
During the summer of 2020, anger and frustration about lawyer licensing practices boiled over. The bar exam had always imposed economic and psychological burdens on test takers, but the rise of a pandemic added an additional hazard: exposure to a dangerous virus. Some states continued the in-person traditional exam despite the health risks, but others…
The Politics of Lawyer Regulation: The Case of Malpractice Insurance
This article examines the politics of lawyer regulation and considers why some states will adopt lawyer regulation that protects the public, when others will not. It uses the debates over how to regulate uninsured lawyers as a lens through which to examine the question. Clients often cannot recover damages from uninsured lawyers who commit malpractice,…
The Lawyer of the Future as “Transaction Engineer”: Digital Technologies and the Disruption of the Legal Profession
Fenwick, M., & Vermeulen, E. P. (2019). The Lawyer of the Future as “Transaction Engineer”: Digital Technologies and the Disruption of the Legal Profession. In Legal Tech, Smart Contracts and Blockchain (pp. 253-272). Springer, Singapore This chapter introduces two connected arguments about the future of the legal profession . First, the ongoing “digital revolution ” will continue…