The Cambridge Handbook of Lawyering in the Digital Age

Book excerpt: "This book comprises the collected, revised and expanded papers on the impact of the digital age (as captured by the term LegalTech) on lawyering presented at a conference held in Amsterdam in October 2019. It should be noted that the editors are listed alphabetically and that all of us equally contributed to this book project. The topics selected seek to balance the rise of LegalTech between the perspectives of it being highly disruptive and diminishing of the legal profession with the view of LegalTech as enhancing the tasks of lawyers. As it has long been the case, the effectiveness of legal practice, in terms of cost efficiency and competency continue to be influenced by technology. This has already proven to be true and currently we are witnessing the acceleration of legal technology. What the future holds for the practice of law can only be speculated upon. But, that speculation is worth theorizing about in order to plan for that future. This planning is needed in areas of legal education, investment in technological infrastructure, determining law firm staffing needs-both legal and non-legal- and envisioning the mix of services that the lawyer of the future will provide. This book begins the process by providing a review of the core issues that lawyers and law firms will be forced to face"--