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Law professor forecasts deluge of further disruption
As machine learning, venture capital and rule-based computer systems enter the legal profession, a number of practice areas will be at risk, a leading academic has warned.
Grace Ormsby
The Foundation Dean of Swinburne Law School, Dan Hunter, says for some areas, this won’t be a result of new machine learning algorithms, but because of the “twin effects of venture capital and rule-based computer systems” on automation capability.
“Where the law is simple, and where there are lots of potential consumers, we will see well-funded entrepreneurs swoop in with automation solutions that will supplant lawyers,” he said. “This will involve a lot of basic document automation, chatbots and mobile apps.”
This development would place high street lawyers at particular risk. Development would be particularly problematic for law schools educating graduates who then expect to be high street lawyers, Professor Hunter said.
Not only will law be at the mercy of automation, Professor Hunter says the profession will be “profoundly affected by AI (artificial intelligence)” and see disruption due to recent advances in neural technology, making good on the promise that one day machines could actually learn.
“We’re already seeing this in litigation and large-scale mergers-and-acquisition work. Machine learning systems are already dramatically better than humans at these tasks, and we can expect many other parts of commercial legal practice to be similarly affected soon,” he said.
For Professor Hunter, it’s important that legal professionals take the opportunity to tackle the future of law together.
“This future is coming whether we like it or not.”
