Practising on auto-pilot

The main thrust of Richard Susskind’s latest blockbuster (co-authored with his son Daniel) is that we are on the brink of fundamental and irreversible change in the way that professionals make their expertise available to society (The Future of the Professions: How Technology will Transform the Work of Human Experts, Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind). Naturally such a contention makes this book compelling reading for anyone interested in understanding how this change will likely affect their own profession or industry. Most of us will have a copy of the book, which is organised into three parts: change; theory; and implications. But what have we learnt from it?

Part 1—Change

Some professions, notably the legal profession, are far less advanced in their use of technology than others. For example both the health profession and architects have adopted significantly more sophisticated technology to better serve their clients. One can only assume therefore, that when the inevitable changes commence for law, that change will