Imagine that by some magic, we transported a doctor from a hospital in Dickens’ time to a present-day infirmary. The new arrival would be confounded and bedazzled by all of the digital technology flashing and beeping all around.

Now imagine that we transported a lawyer from the same time-period to a modern Irish court.

Although there would some screens here and there, and a large time-display for the Digital Audio Recording system, the nature of the work. and the tools used, would largely be familiar: paper documents, bound law reports, and large textbooks abound.

However, that is all changing, and in a few years, our hypothetical time-travelling lawyer might be as much at sea in a courtroom as our Victorian doctor.

Indeed, in the last two decades, if he had visited a lawyer’s office, he would have found wondrous new devices that allowed documents to be viewed and dispatched long distances in an instant, and enabled immediate access to vast volumes of legal texts.

Conservative profession

The ’IT revolution’ has finally reached the law, often regarded as a very conservative profession. Will the process of innovation that it has enabled be positive or negative? 

Consumers and businesses may be glad to see reduced costs and more responsive services. Vested interests might be less keen on seeing profit margins eroded.

The public generally should watch carefully to ensure that professional standards are maintained, and that fundamental values are not lost in the transition.

The outcomes of technological change are rarely determined in advance, and a great deal depends on the choices that we make.

IT has been an important driver of change in legal research and daily practice for decades. Video-conferencing and remote hearings were an important part of the responses of the courts and the legal profession to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that experience may have long-term consequences.

Machine learning

The deployment of tools such as machine learning may radically transform legal work in the next five to ten years, creating new opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs.

The lawyer of the future will probably be relying on these tools to analyse and draft documents, locate relevant legal authorities, and advise clients on the likelihood of positive or negative outcomes if they go to court.

A good lawyer, however,  will have a keen understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of AI (in the same way that they will know the abilities and limits of the people on their team) and will know how to marshal them in a way that works well, and makes sense in a particular context, rather than applying them blindly in a ‘one size fits all’ manner.

There is clearly change afoot in the Irish legal-services market, with courts authorising the use of e-discovery, experimenting with document-display technology, and developing new user-friendly websites.

Some practitioners are enthusiastically adopting or inventing new tools. Software start-ups are targeting lawyers as a distinct market segment.

Competitive advantage

Adopting ‘lawtech’ is becoming a competitive advantage, and a mark of best practice.

There is, therefore, an urgent need to explore what this means for Irish legal practice, legal education, and career opportunities.

The Irish chapter of the Society for Computers and Law is convening an online conference, on 13 January 2022, co-organised by myself (Dr Rónán Kennedy of the School of Law, NUI Galway) and Nap Keeling of Ken Kennedy Solicitors to discuss these issues.

It will bring together key innovators to share knowledge, experience, and new ideas. It is aimed at practitioners, ICT specialists, and students. Three points of CPD certification will be provided.

The hype in the headlines on machine learning and so-called ‘artificial intelligence’ is well-known: robots will replace lawyers (and even judges), everything will be bought and sold on the blockchain, and the traditional legal career is dead.

This event will seek to explore the realities of what is happening in the Irish legal-services market, whether those predictions are likely to come true, and how Ireland might differ from other jurisdictions.

It will ask critical questions about whether the technology can and does deliver, what difference it is making in practice, and how it could be applied for better outcomes for all.

Moderated discussions

In order to encourage discussion and debate, the conference will involve moderated discussion rather than the delivery of prepared papers.

Each panel will be led by a facilitator, who will guide the panellists through a series of relevant questions, and enable contributions from the audience. The event will also involve opportunities for networking. 

Tickets for the event can be booked online.