Robots entering the legal profession

How much of our work can we leave to the robots?

This is the essential and basic question facing the legal profession and the society in general after robots (i.e. automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other sophisticated technologies) have made their way into the sphere of the legal world. But before we can answer the basic question, we need to understand what it means to practice law - a practice we take for granted without a true understanding of what we really do. In a way, the robots may work as a mirror, showing us, what it ultimately means to practice law.

As one of the first books in this area, ”Robots Entering the Legal Profession” seeks to explore the fundamental questions to be considered both by legal tech providers and legal service organizations (law firms, businesses, public authorities and courts) and the society as a whole, when developing and using robots in the legal profession.

The book starts out by setting the scene and creating the relevant concepts (”building blocks”), and then heads on to discuss the strategic, practical, ethical and commercial questions related to the use of robots in the legal profession. Based on these discussions, the fundamental question on how much work can be left to the robots, will be tentatively answered, and a new approach to the design of the man-machine interface will be presented, including a comprehensive catalogue of suggested items to be addressed, when developing or using robots in the legal profession.

This book is not only written for lawyers and the IT-industry dealing with software targeted at the legal profession. It is also highly relevant for businesses (e.g. banks and insurance companies), public authorities, politicians and citizens having a stake or an interest in the rapid developments, which are about to happen in the area of legal tech.

About the author

Niels Chr. Ellegaard is a private practicing lawyer and partner with the Danish law firm Plesner, and he is specialized in technology law (with a focus on IT). He graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1996, and he has, alongside with his work as a practicing lawyer, earlier in his career worked as external lecturer in the field of legal philosophy at the University of Copenhagen.