This widely acclaimed legal bestseller has provoked a tidal wave of debate within the legal profession, being hailed as an inspiration by some and as heresy by others. Susskind lays down a challenge to all lawyers, and indeed all those in a professional service environment. He urges them to ask themselves, with their hands on their hearts, what elements of their current workload could be undertaken differently - more quickly, cheaply, efficiently, or to a higher quality - using alternative methods of working. The challenge for legal readers is to identify their distinctive skills and talents, the capabilities that they possess that cannot, crudely, be replaced by advanced systems or by less costly workers supported by technology or standard processes, or by lay people armed with online self-help tools.

In the extended new preface to this revised paperback edition, Richard Susskind updates his views on legal process outsourcing, courtroom technology, access to justice, e-learning for lawyers, and the impact of the recession on the practice of law. He analyzes the four main pressures that lawyers now face (to charge less, to work differently, to embrace technology, and to deregulate), and reveals common fallacies associated with each. And, in an entirely new line of thinking, Susskind argues that law firms and in-house departments will have four business models from which to choose in the future, and he provides some new tools and techniques to help lawyers plan for their future.

Susskind argues that the market is increasingly unlikely to tolerate expensive lawyers for tasks (guiding, advising, drafting, researching, problem-solving, and more) that can equally or better be discharged, directly or indirectly, by smart systems and processes. It follows, the book claims, that the jobs of many traditional lawyers will be substantially eroded and often eliminated. Two forces propel the legal profession towards this scenario: a market pull towards commoditisation and a pervasive development and uptake of information technology. At the same time, the book foresees new law jobs emerging which may be highly rewarding, even if very different from those of today.

The End of Lawyers represents a compelling vision of the future of the legal profession and a must-read for all lawyers. Indeed this book should be read by all those whose work touches on the law, and it offers much food for thought for anyone working in a professional environment.

Argues that the market is increasingly unlikely to tolerate expensive lawyers for tasks (guiding, advising, drafting, researching, problem-solving, and more) that can equally or better be discharged, directly or indirectly, by smart systems and processes. It follows, the book claims, that the jobs of many traditional lawyers will be substantially eroded and often eliminated. Two forces propel the legal profession towards this scenario: a market pull towards commoditization and a pervasive development and uptake of information technology. At the same time, the book foresees new law jobs emerging which may be highly rewarding, even if very different from those of today.

The End of Lawyers? is a road map to the archipelago of legal innovation already emerging all around us. Ignore it at your peril.
--American Lawyer

This book should be compulsory reading for all who care about the future of the law.
--Mark Harding, Group General Counsel, Barclays

This book has already played a major role in reshaping the debate over the profession's future. The tremendous changes in the attitudes and practices of clients and lawyers in just the short time between its original publication and the appearance of this new edition underscores that practitioners ignore Susskind's thorough and nuanced arguments at their peril.
--Professor David B. Wilkins, Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School

Whether lawyer, teacher, law student, judge, arbitrator, mediator, client or entrepreneur, disregard of this new exposition is fraught with peril. The newly added analytical framework and tools provide those with the courage to embrace change with both incentive and fortitude to do so and to act quickly.
--Jeffrey W. Carr, General Counsel, FMC Technologies Inc

This book paints a scary future. But as a call to arms, to embrace the future, it lays down a challenge for lawyers everywhere for we have no birthright, no power to avoid development, to 'freeze the frame'.
--Stuart Popham, Senior Partner, Clifford Chance

Richard Susskind's predictions of 1996, in The Future of Law, can now be seen to be coming to pass. I am confident that those in this new work, where he looks even further into the future, will likewise come to pass, given the extraordinary depth of knowledge, analysis and reasoning he has brought to bear and which this book demonstrates on every page.
--Lord Saville of Newdigate, Justice of the Supreme Court of the UK

Anyone who wishes to understand where the profession has been and where it is going should read this book.
--Jonathan Groner, freelance legal writer and PR consultant, Washington, DC