Who says lawyers are technophobes? One of Obiter’s colleagues has been engrossed in a 140-page global futurist’s report on the shape of things to come in legal IT. Possibilities include uploading of brains to the internet and biological computing, in which living cells and molecules replace silicon.

Another hot topic is ‘gesture recognition technology’, which should come in handy during interminable client meetings.

The foreword of the Legal Technology Future Horizons report, from the International Legal Technology Association of Austin, Texas, says: ‘The successful law firm of the future must have its eyes looking ever over the horizon and must open its mind to a rapidly shifting world.’

But first, we shall have to learn some new words. It warns that we are adapting to a ‘VUCA’ reality (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) and that we may be reaching a state of ‘peak everything’.

Food for thought for all those struggling to sync emails, work case management systems, or who are yet to upgrade from Windows XP.

 

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