If there is one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has proven, its that nothing is certain. While at the turn of 2020 firms, legal technologists and legal analysts predicted the future of the profession, no one could have predicted the disruption that would come next. Law Society of England & Wales president Stephanie Boyce said:
‘If we have learned anything from 2020, it’s that the future can still catch you unawares,’
Boyce was introducing a recent report from the Law society of England & Wales: Images of the Future Worlds Facing the Legal Profession 2020-2030 which is part of the ‘Future Worlds 2050’ project.
Some of the forecasts for the next 30 years feel dystopian. A prediction that employment in the legal sector has already peaked in 2016 and we will see a steady decline in jobs before 2050, with AI robot lawyers and any humans still employed on ‘performance-enhancing medication’.
You can read the full report here.
The Law Society Gazette has also run an overview article on the report, which you can read here.