Preface
Introduction
PART I: Change
1: The Grand Bargain
2: From the Vanguard
3: Patterns Across the Professions
PART II: Theory
4: Information and Technology
5: Production and Distribution of Knowledge
Part III - Implications
6: Objections and Anxieties
7: After the Professions
Conclusion: What Future Should We Want?
Professor Richard Susskind OBE is an author, speaker, and
independent adviser to international professional firms and
national governments. He is President of the Society for Computers
and Law, IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England, and Chair
of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Internet Institute. His
numerous books include the best-sellers, The End of Lawyers? (OUP,
2008) and Tomorrow's Lawyers (OUP, 2013), his work has been
translated
into more than 10 languages, and he has been invited to speak in
over 40 countries. Daniel Susskind is a Fellow of Balliol College,
Oxford, from where he has two degrees in economics. Previously, he
worked for the
British Government - in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, in the
Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and as a Senior Policy Adviser at
the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.
`Perhaps the forthcoming tidal wave of technology set to engulf us
all will throw up new opportunities for the legal profession DL
which is probably why just about every lawyer in London, so we are
told, has bought a copy of this challenging, provocative, timely
and important book. If you care about the future of your profession
and wish to add further comment to the raging controversies
surrounding it, better get yourself a copy now.'
Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richard Green
Chambers
`In The Future of the Professions, father-and-son authors Richard
and Daniel Susskind do a remorselessly effective job of demolishing
the self-deception most people engage in when comparing themselves
to machines.'
Richard Waters, Financial Times
`The authors are undoubtedly right that the professions will change
more in the next quarter-century than they have in the previous
three.'
The Economist
`Remarkable work'
Tom Watson, The Guardian
`This is a bold book ... The Future of the Professions helps us to
recognise the professions' current methods as convoluted,
self-serving rituals designed to wrap simple tasks in
mystique.'
Giles Wilkes, Prospect
`The Future of the Professions is a paradox that only a human mind
could appreciate: the inevitable death of the professions is
presented in an expert, original and witty work by two
professionals whose skills (in thinking, writing and consultancy)
are unlikely any time soon to be replicated by a machine.'
David Pannick, The Times
`The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the
Work of Human Experts, is a must read for anyone who wants to gain
insights into where the legal profession is going ... Nothing else
I have read more clearly and convincingly elucidates the future of
legal services and how technology will transform the traditional
practice of law.'
Dan Pinnington, Slaw.
`An act of delicious iconoclasm.'
Prospect Magazine
`Both a good read and a good starter for strategic planning in
professional firms'
Chris Yapp, Future Tech Blog
`I suggest that everyone who considers themselves 'professional'
reads this book, especially those who are aged, say, 20-45, who
need to secure their role in the new world of work. The authors
predict that "our professions will be dismantled incrementally". If
they are right, todays lawyers need to prepare for it, and the
sooner the better.'
Dan Bindman, Legal Futures
`A fascinating and challenging book'
Medium
`The study is exceptionally well informed and important
contribution to thinking about the future of professional work'
Network Review
`As the saying is, the future is now and we ignore it at our peril.
Please read this book.'
Law Skills
`The book is written in a relaxed, flowing and easily-consumable
style ... a read of the Future of the Professions is time very
well-spent.'
Jeremy Hopkins, Future of Law
`Everyone interested in the future well-being of society must read
this thoroughly researched and compelling book - to understand how
technology can and will be used to enable the public to do far more
for themselves. In reshaping our system of justice so that it can
more cost-effectively underpin our democratic society and its
prosperity, I have had the benefit of the Susskinds core thesis how
to use technology not simply to enable the legal professions to
do better what they now do, but to reshape justice for the benefit
of the public.'
Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the Lord Chief Justice of England and
Wales
`If the Susskinds are right we are at the start of a social
revolution. Technology has begun to transform social class,
economic activity, political discourse, working life and the limits
of human activity. In The Future of the Professions they
relentlessly and unyieldingly but also entertainingly and elegantly
set about proving their point. I started knowing that their
argument was important, I finished convinced that it was right.
This is a necessary
book. It was necessary that it be written and necessary that you
read it.'
Daniel Finkelstein, The Times
`Impressive new book'
Edward Fennell, The Times
`I know of no better book for anyone interested in the future of
skilled jobs and society. Drawing on an astounding range of sources
and the latest research, The Future of the Professions offers vital
insights into the unprecedented disruption facing all the
professions.'
Professor Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development
and Director of the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
`In this magisterial survey Richard and Daniel Susskind demolish
each profession's faith in its immutable uniqueness. Instead they
trace inexorable and universal forces that will drive
disintermediation, deconstruction and disruption. Written with
scholarly thoroughness, this is an urgent manifesto and practical
blueprint for the leaders of every professional firm.'
Philip Evans, Senior Partner & BCG Fellow, The Boston Consulting
Group
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