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Tomorrows Lawyers
In a sentence
An introduction to the near-future transformation of legal services, arguing that lawyers, courts, and legal education will change more radically in two decades than in the past two centuries.
Written by the world's leading commentator on the future of law, Tomorrow's Lawyers is a brisk, accessible guide for young and aspiring lawyers facing an industry in upheaval. Richard Susskind identifies three drivers of change—the 'more-for-less' challenge, liberalization, and technology—and shows how they will force legal work to be commoditized, decomposed, and sourced in radically new ways. He describes disruptive technologies from document automation to AI, online courts, and online dispute resolution, and predicts the emergence of new legal jobs and new employers. Rather than sounding a doom-laden warning, the book reframes disruption as opportunity, urging tomorrow's lawyers to be pioneers who upgrade justice and expand access to law while finding exciting new careers.
The four lenses
- Science
- Statistics
- Systems
- Strategy
The model
A causal framework in which market and regulatory conditions plus technological capability drive changes in how legal work is delivered (commoditization, decomposition, alternative sourcing), which in turn produce outcomes of lower cost, greater access to justice, new roles, and disruption of traditional providers.
More-for-Less Challengecontextual condition
The demand from clients to receive more legal services while spending less, driven by economic pressure on in-house budgets, small businesses, and individual consumers who cannot afford traditional legal delivery.
Liberalization of Legal Marketcontextual condition
Regulatory relaxation allowing non-lawyers to own and run legal businesses, external investment, and new categories of provider, thereby introducing new competition and entrepreneurial approaches into the legal market.
Technology Capabilitydesign lever
The exponentially increasing power and pervasiveness of digital and AI technologies that make it possible to automate and innovate legal tasks previously thought to require human lawyers.
Commoditization of Legal Workbehavioral pattern
The evolution of legal service from bespoke handcraft through standardization and systematization to externalization, whereby legal knowledge is packaged for reuse and delivered at lower cost and often higher quality.
Decomposition and Multi-Sourcingbehavioral pattern
The practice of breaking legal engagements into constituent tasks and sourcing each task in the most efficient manner from among many options such as outsourcing, off-shoring, computerizing, or leasing.
Strategic Response of Legal Providersbehavioral pattern
The efficiency and collaboration strategies adopted by law firms and in-house departments to meet cost pressures, cutting the cost of lawyering and sharing costs across clients respectively.
Adoption of Disruptive Legal Technologiesbehavioral pattern
The deployment of technologies such as document automation, machine prediction, online dispute resolution, and legal platforms that fundamentally challenge and change traditional legal working practices rather than merely sustaining them.
Reduction in Cost of Legal Serviceoutcome metric
The lowering of the overall cost and price of legal services to clients achieved through commoditization, alternative sourcing, and technology-enabled delivery.
Access to Justiceoutcome metric
The extent to which citizens and businesses can recognize legal needs, select guidance, and obtain affordable resolution, containment, or avoidance of legal problems, including through online legal services and online courts.
Disruption of Traditional Legal Providersoutcome metric
The displacement, decline, or fundamental reshaping of conventional law firms and legal roles as new working methods, competitors, and technologies redefine the legal marketplace.
Emergence of New Legal Roles and Employersoutcome metric
The creation of new jobs such as legal knowledge engineers, legal process analysts, and legal risk managers, and new categories of employer that arise as legal services are transformed.
How they connect
- more for less challenge → predicts strategic response
- more for less challenge → predicts commoditization
- liberalization → influences disruption of traditional providers
- technology capability → predicts disruptive technology adoption
- technology capability → influences commoditization
- strategic response → predicts decomposition multisourcing
- commoditization → predicts cost reduction
- decomposition multisourcing → predicts cost reduction
- disruptive technology adoption → predicts access to justice
- disruptive technology adoption → predicts disruption of traditional providers
- commoditization → predicts new legal roles
- disruption of traditional providers → influences new legal roles
- cost reduction → predicts access to justice
A candidate measure
Tomorrows Lawyers — derived measurement candidates
More-for-Less Challenge
percentage legal budget reduction targets; ratio of workload growth to resource change
self-report suitability: medium
Liberalization of Legal Market
number of ABS licences granted; count of liberalizing jurisdictions
self-report suitability: low
Technology Capability
processing power growth rates; AI benchmark performance
self-report suitability: none
Commoditization of Legal Work
proportion of tasks systematized or externalized; stage placement per task
self-report suitability: medium
Decomposition and Multi-Sourcing
number of sourcing methods per engagement; share of routine work sourced externally
self-report suitability: medium
Strategic Response of Legal Providers
presence of efficiency initiatives; presence of collaboration initiatives
self-report suitability: high
Adoption of Disruptive Legal Technologies
number of disruptive systems in production; revenue from technology-enabled services
self-report suitability: medium
Reduction in Cost of Legal Service
percentage change in comparable fees; total legal spend trends
self-report suitability: medium
Access to Justice
number of unresolved civil justice problems; usage of online courts and services
self-report suitability: medium
Disruption of Traditional Legal Providers
changes in firm revenue and market share; shrinking junior lawyer headcounts
self-report suitability: low
Emergence of New Legal Roles and Employers
number of new role job postings; count of new employer categories
self-report suitability: medium
The story
The reader A young or aspiring lawyer (broadly construed) who wants a viable, meaningful, and prosperous career in law amid a rapidly transforming profession.
External problem
The traditional model of legal service is becoming unaffordable, inefficient, and increasingly displaced by technology and new competitors.
Internal problem
The reader feels anxious and uncertain about whether their training and career path will remain relevant or valuable.
Philosophical problem
It is wrong for lawyers to cling to outdated, protectionist practices that keep them in business at society's expense rather than serving people's genuine legal needs.
The plan
- Understand the three drivers of change reshaping the legal market.
- Recognize how legal work can be commoditized, decomposed, and multi-sourced.
- Embrace disruptive technologies and new modes of delivering legal service.
- Prepare for new legal jobs and new types of employer.
- Ask employers probing questions and pursue training in emerging skills.
- Become a pioneer who upgrades justice and expands access to law.
Success
- A stimulating, socially significant career in one of the new legal roles.
- Being a pioneer who shapes the next generation of legal services.
- Helping to widen access to justice and reduce unmet legal need.
- Remaining relevant and in demand in a transformed legal market.
At stake
- Being trained as a twentieth-century lawyer for a twenty-first-century world.
- Working in an unsustainable, broken business model that fails to compete.
- Missing exciting opportunities by defensively resisting change.
- Contributing to a legal system that remains unaffordable and inaccessible.
Questions this book answers
- What forces are driving change in the legal market and how will they reshape legal services?
- How can legal work be delivered more cheaply, quickly, and to higher quality than through traditional bespoke advisory service?
- What new roles, jobs, and employers will emerge for tomorrow's lawyers?
- How should young lawyers be trained and what should they ask prospective employers?
- How can technology increase access to justice and transform courts and dispute resolution?
Glossary
- More-for-Less Challenge
- The pressure on clients to obtain increasing amounts of legal service while spending less, arising from economic conditions and rising regulatory complexity.
- Liberalization of Legal Market
- Regulatory reform permitting non-lawyer ownership, external investment, and new provider types in legal services.
- Technology Capability
- The steadily increasing power, availability, and applicability of digital and AI technologies to legal tasks.
- Commoditization of Legal Work
- The transition of legal service through stages of bespoke, standardized, systematized, and externalized delivery.
- Decomposition and Multi-Sourcing
- Breaking legal engagements into tasks and sourcing each in the most efficient way among multiple options.
- Strategic Response of Legal Providers
- The efficiency and collaboration strategies providers adopt to meet the more-for-less challenge.
- Adoption of Disruptive Legal Technologies
- Deployment of technologies that fundamentally change rather than sustain traditional legal delivery.
- Reduction in Cost of Legal Service
- The lowering of cost and price of legal services delivered to clients.