"We tend to predict the future in small pieces. We ask what AI will do in the next six months. We ask what law firms will buy next year. We ask whether courts will permit this tool or that exhibit. We ask whether clients will accept AI-assisted work, whether judges will trust it, whether lawyers will use it, and whether regulators will catch up. Those questions matter. But they also narrow the view."
"The larger story sits somewhere else. It spans 25 years. It sits in the slow accumulation of changes that seem modest at first and then permanent later. A court permits one AI-generated demonstrative. A carrier requires AI-assisted claims evaluation. A state bar changes one ethics rule. A law school rebuilds its first-year curriculum. A legislature allows outside ownership of law firms. A judge appoints an AI-neutral to manage discovery. A trial lawyer uses a virtual crash reconstruction in front of a jury. None of these moments, standing alone, changes the profession. Together, they change everything."
"The legal sector has always moved more slowly than the world around it. That worked when change arrived in decades. It will not work when change arrives each quarter. The law does not simply respond to technology. Technology will create new facts, new injuries, new actors, new duties, new defenses, new evidence, new markets, new firms, and new clients. The practice of law will not disappear. But the work will change, the business will change, and the people who succeed will see the arc before the arc bends over them."
Future expectations often focus on short time horizons, such as what AI will do soon, what law firms will purchase, and whether courts, clients, judges, lawyers, and regulators will accept specific tools. Those questions matter but narrow the view. A broader transformation occurs through slow, accumulating changes that initially seem modest and later become permanent, including court permissions for AI demonstratives, insurance carrier requirements for AI-assisted claims evaluation, ethics rule updates, law school curriculum redesigns, legislative changes to law firm ownership, AI-neutral appointments for discovery, and courtroom use of virtual reconstructions. Technology will create new facts, injuries, actors, duties, defenses, evidence, markets, firms, and clients. The practice of law will continue, but work and business models will change, and success will depend on seeing long-term shifts early.
#legal-industry-transformation #ai-in-courts-and-litigation #regulation-and-ethics #claims-handling-and-insurance #long-term-change
Read at Above the Law
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