ORGANISATION OF LEGAL PROFESSION

Organisation of Legal Profession

Organisation of Legal Profession

The critics have never been truer with the advent of the internet. For the past decade we have seen an information revolution, which has affected the entire world. Such seismic impact can also be felt through the whole legal profession and, with the instantaneous and constant flow of relevant information to the right legal users at the right time, some claim it will be the backbone of legal practice. However, the convergence of IT and law will also challenge and threaten the existing configuration of law practice, long heralded for its enterprise in paper-based technology and even as lawyers gradually computerise their work, the use of information technology in the delivery of legal services is not limited to existing law practices. Some critics have claimed that the technology being used to automate law practice is about to escape out of the control of lawyers, not longer a servant, but an uncontrolled force in its own right.' Legalism , termed by Shklar , suggests that law can be set off form the world around it and viewed as a reasonably stable, logical system which somehow controls the real world that lies outside the system. In the legalistic view, we could almost imagine two worlds, whose inter-connection is the formal communication through the courts. The critics of legalism were right to suggest that the law is not the logical and stable system it is sometimes perceived to be, and that there is no clear barrier between law and the world outside which it is supposed to control.

Indeed the two criticisms are linked, since the reason for the non-logicality and non-stability of the legal system is seen to be the fact that it is impossible to erect a barrier to keep the world away. Relying on Susskind's thesis, Part will explain the pressures facing the legal profession. Part II will assess the impact of IT on the legal profession based on research findings by 4 different empirical researches that have been conducted. In Part III I will discuss some of the major changes that will affect the legal market in the future as a result of IT with respect to some of the legal changes as identified by the Law Society. In Part IV I will argue that the workings of the law operate in a wider scale and therefore any findings would remain speculative and inconclusive.

The present dilemma

In his thesis, 'The Future of Law', Susskind argues that contemporary legal systems are facing some major and related defects. Relying on his theories, I will point out some of those defects in this part.

The Hyper regulation Prognosis

Susskind claims we are now living in a 'hyper regulated society', characterised by an efflorescence of primary and secondary legislation, including case laws, codes of practice, treaties, to such an extent that we are now facing a 'regulatory inflation'. Although the number of laws made remain fairly constant , their substantive complexity has considerably ...