As technology advancement continues to take over the world, particularly revolutionary technologies like AI, the future of numerous sectors or industries could eventually change.
For instance, futurologist recently revealed that in the future lawyers would add value through becoming trusted advisers who are aided by artificial intelligence, particularly in law firms that act as distributed entities based on both smart contracts and blockchain.
Under this remarkable vision, the centralized management structure of law firms, which is similar to that of other enterprises, would become redundant.
What’s more, the efforts of lawyers would be commended based on a super-efficient, peer to peer manner as opposed to being rewarded with promotions to equity partnerships.
John Flood and Lachlan Robb, a leading UK-based legal academic professor at the Griffith University in Australia and his colleague at the Law Futures Centre respectively are credited for co-authoring the paper behind this vision.
MORE: Top 10 Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Law
According to the paper, they observed the considerable impact posed by machine learning on legal services.
In fact, they said for experts including managers, doctors, engineers and lawyers , the cozy world of providing expertise seems a bit tenuous and fragile that it was previously.
Both John and Lachlan argued that automation held the risk of outrunning the ability to establish new functions.
They went ahead to say that the law had become slower than other professions, particularly in the adoption of new technologies ,as it has no scientific base from which it can evaluate its requirements based on technology.
Despite this inadequacy, both co-authors cited expressed some hope in blockchain technology citing its exponential expansion since 2016.
John and Lachlan added that the technology could aid in expediting the disruption to the delivery of machine learning’s professional services.
In the paper , the co-authors went further to say that it is possible to predict entire companies and organizations being operated as distributed organizations on the blockchain creating redundant centralized command structures that typify conventional types of organization.
John and Lachlan also said that they could refer to a law firm as a distributed entity, which rewards work based on a peer to peer technique.
This case does not call for an equity partnership, which may not only result in the increment of efficiency but also in the decline of rent seeking, particularly by partners.
To conclude their paper, John and his co-author Lachlan said that over time, centralized forms of coordination and organization would go through a considerable transformation.
In turn, they went on to say that distributed and decentralized forms of organization would emerge. These forms of organization would then work around smart contracts, but with the occasional input of human beings.
The authors said that developments such as smart societies and cities, especially where each part of the structure is coordinated and linked would largely become commonplace.
According to them, the main function of lawyer could still be a trusted adviser, but one with additional value.
John and Lachalan stressed this point by saying that, in this case, the skills of such a professional would be improved by the power of machine learning aside from just learning and experience.
Source LegalFutures
