A dying art?

Richard and Daniel Susskind’s new book The Future of the Professions: How technology will transform the work of human experts (2015, Oxford University Press) is a thought-provoking instalment of their work to educate us on what the future may have in store for the legal (and other) professions. It asks professionals to take a long hard look at themselves and to decide whether a natural bias and resistance to change is preventing all others, ie non-professionals, from direct access to professional expertise.

Without doubt the dispute resolution landscape must change and is changing in a society where there is a real risk that legal and court services are becoming unaffordable to many of their users. Most practitioners do (or should) support initiatives to improve access to justice for all, not just the wealthy few. Technology clearly has a role here but how big is that role?

A recently pledged £75m annual reform budget for civil family and tribunal