Future of law

Future Legal Worlds 2050: into the unknown

In June 2021, the Law Society of England & Wales published its report Future Worlds 2050: Images of the Future Worlds Facing the Legal Profession 2020-2030. This project was “set up to bring an exceptional group of thinkers to the table for raw, frank and honest discussions around future client needs, to postulate the legal […]

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Upgrading the law, regrading lawyers

On 6 October 2016 Professor Richard Susskind delivered the annual Society for Computers and Law lecture, entitled “Upgrading the Law”, marking 20 years since the publication of his The Future of Law. How had he fared in his predictions? He was not shy about confirming his successes but did not gloat and admitted that his […]

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The Future of the Professions

Twenty years after publication of The Future of Law, Richard Susskind has returned, with his son Daniel this time, to consider The Future of the Professions (OUP). The Susskinds claim: “We are facing greater disruption and transformation in the next two decades than we have had in the past century”; and “We find it hard […]

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Back to the Future of Law

This article first appeared in Legal Web Watch late October 2015. Legal Web Watch is a free monthly email service which complements the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers. To receive Legal Web Watch regularly sign up here. An updated version has now been published in the November Newsletter. Image: Big Data Analytics by Jim Kaskade on […]

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Legal Web Watch June 2014

Legal Web Watch is a free monthly email service which complements the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers. To receive Legal Web Watch regularly sign up here. Follow Nick Holmes on Twitter @nickholmes. Reinventing law – the Twitter story Reinvent Law London 2014, a conference featuring presentations on "law + technology + innovation + entrepreneurship" was held […]

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Legal Web Watch February 2014

Legal Web Watch is an email service which complements the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers. This issue was published 15 February. To receive Legal Web Watch sign up here. Nick’s legal web picks Legal futurology Legal Futures is the leading UK site tracking the fast-evolving legal landscape, providing daily news coverage on alternative business structures, new […]

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Reinvent Law London 2013

How long does it take for an event to become a fixture in the landscape? The London marathon managed to do it following its first running in 1981 and has not looked back since. Another event, not quite on the same scale perhaps, looks set to make a similar impact in the legal arena. Last […]

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The future of lawyers

In his new book The End of Lawyers? (Oxford University Press) Richard Susskind challenges the legal profession to ask what elements of their current work could be undertaken more quickly, more cheaply, more efficiently or to a higher quality using new methods. He makes his case firstly by mapping the path that almost all legal […]

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A wake-up call to lawyers

Professor Richard Susskind is, as I write, no doubt completing the final draft of his forthcoming treatise, The End of Lawyers? to be published in June by Oxford University Press. More than 12 years ago he wrote its predecessor, The Future of Law. Then only a few of us had awoken to the internet; only […]

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