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06 May 2016 / Greg Wildisen
Issue: 7697 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Practising on auto-pilot

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Did the Susskinds get it right? Not quite, as Greg Wildisen explains

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

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys senior leadership appointments

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths strengthens London Construction and Engineering practice with two strategic senior hires

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins announces strategic hire to deepen skills base in the social business sector

NEWS
More than 100 teams from the legal and financial services sectors competed in five sports at the 51st Law Society RFC Festival of Sport earlier this month
Part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, rather than the sole cause, the Supreme Court has held in Augustine v Data Cars
Britain’s new acknowledgement that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, and accompanying settlement-goods ban and sanctions, is significant but overdue, argue Danny Friedman KC and Victor Kattan in NLJ this week
New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way
Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
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