Emergent Technologies and the Implications for Legal Education

The legal profession and the legal services sector have for many years been undergoing a process of change, driven by a combination of factors including globalisation, the diversification of legal services delivery models, and generational change amongst graduates, employers and clients. The latest driver for change, and one very much the focus of contemporary discussions within the academy and profession, is the emergence of a wide variety of new technologies, from the Internet itself, social media, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence to 3D printing, augmented reality, and smart devices. Some are driving changes in the law itself and the way the law is administered and enforced. Others are driving changes in the ways legal services are being delivered by lawyers and others, including supporting the emergence of radical new ways in which the legal needs of clients and communities can be met. Professor James examines the implications of these emergent technologies for legal education, how law schools are responding, and the ways in which law schools, like legal professionals, need to reinvent themselves in order to weather the storm of digital disruption. He also considers the factors that threaten to inhibit legal education from evolving successfully.