Reimagining Today’s Legal Education for Tomorrow’s Lawyers: The Role of Legal Design, Technology and Innovation

Abstract

This chapter explores the use of Legal Design, Technology and Innovation (“LDTI”) as a means of preparing lawyers for emerging legal careers, including the new legal jobs predicted by Richard Susskind in Tomorrow’s Lawyers. The chapter begins with an exploration of Susskind’s predictions on the future of the legal profession and legal education. Sections 2 (Legal Design), 3 (Legal Technology) and 4 (Legal Innovation) explore how LDTI education programs have responded to the changing legal landscape predicted by Susskind. In Sect. 5, the authors propose an empirical evaluation of Susskind’s specific job categorizations and their related need for LDTI skills, as a necessary prerequisite to legal curriculum reform. As a first step in this evaluation process, the authors have prepared a prototype survey focused on determining: (1) the existence and/or prevalence of Susskind’s new jobs; (2) whether legal employees and employers are satisfied with these jobs; and (3) what legal educators should do to prepare lawyers for these jobs. Having circulated the prototype survey among a limited set of key stakeholders, the authors share some preliminary results. In the final section, the authors propose areas for further investigation and invite others to participate in our multi-phase, empirical evaluation of emerging legal careers and the skills required to fill these positions.