Advisory counsel of e-Court
( Note: for privacy reasons information given below may be fictious. Members will have access to the actual roster )


W.A
W.A Areas of Practice: Contracts Law, Corporate Law, Real Estate, Civil Law and Litigation, Intellectual Property Law, International Trade, International Arbitration, General Litigation. Education & Professional Background: Admitted, China National Bar, 2004 Tsinghua University, LL.M., 1993 North-west University of Political Science and Law, LL.B
W.J
W.J Areas of Practice: Contracts Law, Corporate Law, Real Estate, Civil Law and Litigation, Criminal Law and Litigation, General Litigation. Education & Professional Background: Admitted, China National Bar, 1990 China University of Political Science and Law, LL.B
Knowledge Automation Software is a Disruptive Technology That May Replace Lawyers
Posted by James B. Levy, Legal Skills Prof Blog, July 12, 2013

In a New York Times Op-Ed, Paul Krugman discusses a new report by the business consulting firm McKinsey & Company that describes several disruptive technologies and the likely impact they will have on the labor market. One such technology is described generically as “automation of knowledge work.”
The McKinsey report describes this technology as sophisticated artificial intelligence software and “machine learning” which will be able to perform many “knowledge worker” tasks that had previously been considered “impossible or impractical” to do by machine. This new fangled software will be able to answer “unstructured” questions from clients and customers (i.e. those posed in the language of ordinary conversation rather than precisely formulated queries) which opens up the possibility of “sweeping change” in the way such knowledge work gets done. The report further posits that sophisticated analytical software might be used to augment the work of highly skilled workers (law partners, for example) meaning that some of the lower skilled workers who had previously provided support work (i.e. associates) would see their jobs disappear in favor of automation.
Clearly, this kind of thing has already been happening in the legal field for some time as predicative coding software has replaced armies of document review software at some large firms (and providing more sophisticated analytical data than its human counterpart in the process). It’s also the kind of thing Richard Susskind has been predicting for years would happen since, in his opinion, some of the day-to-day work done by lawyers is not that sophisticated and thus is easily amenable to automation.
Returning to Mr. Krugman’s Op-Ed, he thinks that if the above predictions turn out to be correct, the middle class is kind of screwed. The solution? We’re going to need a good government-funded safety net to provide for all the displaced “knowledge workers.” Yikes.
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Endorsements ( 1/2000 + ):
- Patricia M. Swerhone
Waters and Associates, Barristers & Solicitors, Toronto - Kenneth J. Byrne
Immigration and Real Estate Lawyer at Benson Buffett, Newfoundland And Labrador - Amy M. Crosbie
Partner at Curtis, Dawe, Newfoundland And Labrador - Justice Clark
Partner at Simmons Da Silva + Sinton LLP, Toronto - Stanley Potter
Owner, Stanley J. Potter, Barrister & Solicitor, Toronto - Tony Lafazanis
Personal injury lawyer at Tony Lafazanis, Toronto, - Steve A.
Lawyer at Defend Your Points - Traffic Ticket Lawyers, Toronto - Tina Schultz
Owner ~ Broken Link Divorce Planning, Calgary - Joseph W.J. F.
General counsel at Law Office, New Brunswick, Canada - ( Endorsements continued.....)