The foundations of the legal systems that generate lawyers are in a tremendous state of flux. AI, the advent and penetration of remote work and automation are just a few of the trends that are accelerating and changing not only how legal services are delivered, but the skillsets required to excel in the field. Jordan Furlong’s thought-provoking article synthesizes and explores many of these trends, and asks questions that all lawyers should be actively thinking about even if answers do not appear to be readily at hand. Some of these trends were foreshadowed many years ago by analysts, but we’re clearly dealing with different and more transformative times than ever before.
“Our legal education and licensing systems produce one kind of lawyer. The legal market of the near future will need another kind. If we can’t close this gap fast, we’ll have a very serious problem….Filling out a survey doesn’t usually trigger existential dread for me, but these are not usual times. So when a legal think tank asked its advisory committee members (of whom I’m one) to reflect on how current and future trends will affect the knowledge and skills required of lawyers, I found myself staring out the window afterwards, thinking deep and uneasy thoughts….I don’t believe the legal profession fully appreciates the risk posed by the rapid obsolescence of our lawyer formation systems. If lawyers don’t possess the legal skills clients need, but other people do, clients will hire the other ones. As between lawyer skills and a lawyer license, which will prove more important to someone’s ability to help solve legal problems while making a living? Will the difference matter enough for that person to spend seven years and $300,000 to get the law license? I invite you to gaze out the nearest window and entertain deep and uneasy thoughts.”
Read: The Race Against Time To Reinvent Lawyers by Jordan Furlong