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The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts |  |
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AS NEW TECHNOLOGY CREATES THE POST-PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY, WILL IT REALLY BE THE END OF LAWYERS?
An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers
Read this and weep. In this controversial new title from Oxford University Press, Daniel Susskind (‘The End of Lawyers’) and David Susskind are predicting, for the most part, the end of your profession and sooner than later, especially if you happen to be a lawyer.
But you are not alone. The law is only one of the professions currently in the throes of more or less terminal decline,"rest":" say the authors, due to the inexorable advance of technological innovation and change. The other professions (described as ‘elite’) are -- and here’s the list -- health, education, divinity, journalism, management consulting, tax and audit… and architecture. You’ll find specific comments on each in the book’s second chapter.<br /><br />If all this is starting to sound a little scary, as well as improbable, perhaps it shouldn’t. The authors do not exactly state unequivocally that the forward march of technology will render lawyers and other professionals as extinct as diplodocus and other dinosaur species. What they do say, basically, is that ‘increasingly capable machines will transform the work of professionals, giving rise to new ways of sharing practical expertise in society.’ This is their central thesis.<br /><br />Denying that they are ‘hardline determinists’, they speak further of a ‘post-professional society’ in which practical expertise will be available online to which people should have as much access as possible. ‘It is desirable,’ they say ‘to liberate practical expertise in this way.’<br /><br />Read selectively, the book offers further insights into the trends toward -- and possible outcomes of -- the liberation of practical expertise. What used to be stored in people’s heads, or in filing cabinets and physical archives is now stored in systems and, as is explained, is ‘handled, shared, used and reused in different ways.’<br /><br />The impact of this technology on the professions can be categorized under the headings of automation and innovation. One analyst quoted in the text identifies the former as ’sustaining’, the latter ‘disruptive’. Perhaps to oversimplify, ‘sustaining’ technology brings gradual change and improvements to familiar models. It’s cosier and more reassuring than ‘disruptive’ innovation which wreaks startling change of a much more radical nature.<br /><br />However, as the term ‘disruptive’ is negative and one-sided, the Susskinds take the view that innovation, while radical, may well disrupt the professions, but it conceivably brings benefits to the recipients of professional services by making them more accessible and often cheaper, although many will argue that cheaper isn’t necessarily better. Predictably, the ‘disruptors’ interviewed by the authors did not see themselves as disruptive. Instead they regarded their efforts as ‘liberating’.<br /><br />Innovation then, holds no terrors for techies. But many professionals, not just lawyers, are deeply concerned by the vision of a world -- not unlike the present actually -- where the computer is king and where eventually, machines will have the decision-making power and authority to make medical diagnoses for example, or predict the decisions of the courts.<br /><br />The resulting disquiet about all this is addressed in the book’s final section on ‘Implications’. There is a concerted attempt here at justification, to wit, that the professions generally are ‘creaking’, ‘unaffordable’, ‘inaccessible’ and suffering from ‘numerous defects besides.’<br /><br />As for the matter of trust, the authors point out that implicit trust in the integrity of professionals is often misplaced. ‘Quackery is big business,’ warned ‘The Lancet’ 89 years ago. We are also reminded that the SRA has 400 full-time staff handling complaints. But will we be able to trust services and expertise delivered online? Basically yes, say the authors, declaring that ‘quasi-trust backed by contract and regulation will be sufficient.’<br /><br />There is no doubt that this book is a thoroughgoing and widely researched thesis, for that really, is what it is. Reflecting the impeccable academic pedigrees of the authors, it is replete with references, cross references and footnotes. The twenty-five page bibliography alone is worth buying the book for. What a mine of useful references for researchers to track down and comment upon.<br /><br />Also -- and thank goodness -- the book is eminently well written and readable, as the authors relentlessly pursue their objective of proving their case point by point, page by page, with certain salient points repeated for emphasis. You might even end up agreeing with them and with the intrinsic warning that unless we impose controls on technology, technology will control us.<br /><br />You might also point out that generally, the book largely ignores the negatives of the new technology, most of them in the category of unintended consequences: all those scams, abuses, misinformation and cyber-crime, including instructive primers for your neighbourhood terrorists and so forth. Here the authors have put forward a disclaimer of sorts. ‘The dark side of the net’, they say is not within the remit of this book. (Well, you can’t discuss everything.) They do add, however, that these matters should definitely be the subject of subsequent research.<br /><br />Now there’s a thought. Perhaps as IT and AI (artificial intelligence) proliferate, matters such as “contract” and “regulation” should be presided over by legions of lawyers.<br />Perhaps the forthcoming tidal wave of technology set to engulf us all will throw up new opportunities for the legal profession -- which is probably why just about every lawyer in London, so we are told, has bought a copy of this challenging, provocative, timely and important book. If you care about the future of your profession and wish to add further comment to the raging controversies surrounding it, better get yourself a copy now.<br /><br />The publication date is cited as at 2015."
A very helpful and timely book. Tendencies described for all professions is what I trace personally in the development of the legal profession and its regulation. I see one of the greatest values of the book in that it presented, at least in some of its portions, a viewpoint from the position of consumers, regarding the so-called "destructive innovations", offering services that were previously offered by high-priced professionals, as information services available online, what many professionals see as destruction of their profession that needs to be resisted. The authors present many of such trends as "socially constructive" tendencies that will help the recipients of services. It is true that what the so-called professions are doing, at prices not affordable by the majority of consumers, can be demystified, unbundled and presented in a stream of separate off-the-rack cheaper services which can be performed by non-professionals and even by the machines. And, I agree with the authors that what they predict may happen sooner than those interested in preservation of the current "status quo" of professions would like to see.
This book should be read by every marketing person for professional organizations, the world is changing as technology takes us to new places in commerce. The technology will continue to improve and expand, it will be important for professional organizations to recognize the impact on their professions, or be left with empty offices waiting for clients that never arrive.
As an older professional I found this book thrilling and compelling. Perhaps a bit scary at times but overall very stimulating and thought provoking. I recommend it to all professionals and suggest they read with an open mind. Think more about the possibilities that innovation will bring and less being at the end of an age.
My only beef with this book is the length. I think the overall argument could just as well been made with about 100 fewer pages.
it is a quite interesting analysis regarding how the higher education should be oriented toward these new ways and means through which the clients of the professions expect to be served.
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