Richard Susskind

Menu

Richard's Latest Books

Tomorrow's Lawyers Third Edition

Tomorrow's Lawyer's (Second Edition) cover

Published in UK on 7 February 2023 and in USA on 7 March 2023

Order your copy:



Published by Oxford University Press

For Richard Susskind, the future of legal service is neither Grisham nor Rumpole. Instead, he predicts a world of online courts, AI-based global legal businesses, liberalized markets, commoditization and alternative sourcing, disruptive start-ups, legal training in virtual reality, and a new range of law jobs.

This book is a definitive and updated introduction to this future - for aspiring lawyers, and for all who want to modernize and upgrade our legal and justice systems. It offers practical guidance for everyone intending to build careers and businesses in law.

The Future of the Professions Updated Paperback Edition

tomorrows-lawyers-cover

Published in UK on 3 May 2022 and in USA on 23 June 2022

Order your copy:



Published by Oxford University Press

This book sets out two futures for the professions. Both rest on technology. One is reassuringly familiar. It is a more efficient version of what we have today. The other is transformational – a gradual replacement of professionals by increasingly capable systems.

Richard and Daniel Susskind predict the decline of today’s professions and discuss the people and systems that will replace them. In an AI-based society, they argue we will neither need nor want doctors, teachers, accountants, architects, the clergy, consultants, lawyers, and many others, to work as they did in the 20th century.

The Future of the Professions explains how ‘increasingly capable systems’ - from telepresence to artificial intelligence - will bring fundamental change in the way that the 'practical expertise' of specialists is made available in society.

More about The Future of the Professions

The authors challenge the 'grand bargain' - the arrangement that grants various monopolies to today's professionals. They argue that our current professions are antiquated, opaque and no longer affordable, and that the expertise of their best is enjoyed only by a few. In their place, they propose six new models for producing and distributing expertise in society.

The book raises important practical and moral questions. In an era when machines can out-perform human beings at most tasks, what are the prospects for employment, who should own and control online expertise, and what tasks should be reserved exclusively for people?

Based on the authors' in-depth research of more than ten professions, and illustrated by numerous examples from each, this is the first book to assess and question the relevance of the professions in the 21st century.



Daniel Susskind's website

Online Courts and the Future of Justice Updated Paperback Edition

Online Courts and the Future of Justice by Richard Susskind

Published in UK on 8 July 2021 and in USA on 22 September 2021

Order your copy:



Published by Oxford University Press

In this book, Richard Susskind, the world's most cited author on the future of legal services, shows how litigation will be transformed by technology and proposes a solution to the global access to justice problem.

Online courts provide online judging - the determination of cases by human judges but not in physical courtrooms. Online courts also provide tools to help users understand relevant law and to formulate arguments and assemble evidence. They offer non-judicial settlements such as mediation, not as an alternative to the public court system but as part of it. In years to come, court determinations may even be made by AI-based systems.

Online Courts and the Future of Justice is a case study in the digital transformation of a vital public service. The updated version takes account of the widespread use of remote courts during Covid.

Richard Susskind

Biography

Professor Richard Susskind OBE KC (Hon) is the world’s most cited author on the future of legal services. He is President of the Society for Computers and Law and, from 1998 to 2023, he served as Technology Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. His main area of expertise is the future of professional service and, in particular, the way that AI and other technologies are changing the work of lawyers. He advises leading professional firms, in-house legal departments, and governments and judiciaries around the world. In the 1980s, he wrote his doctorate on AI and the law at Balliol College, Oxford.

Richard’s work has been translated into 18 languages and he has been invited to speak in over 60 countries. He has written ten books, including The Future of Law (1996), Tomorrow’s Lawyers (2013, 2017, 2023), The Future of the Professions (with D Susskind, 2015, 2022), and Online Courts and the Future of Justice (2019, 2021). He has also contributed more than 150 columns to The Times. In 2000, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen. In 2022, it was announced that His Majesty the King had approved Richard’s appointment as an Honorary King’s Counsel.

Read more of Richard’s biography

From the early 90s, in the UK, Richard has advised numerous Ministers and Lord Chancellors on modernisation of the court system. He has been a member of more than 25 related government committees, and was chair of the Online Dispute Resolution Advisory Group, whose work in 2014/2015 heavily influenced government and judicial policy. He is a member of the LawtechUK Panel and of LegalUK, and he chairs the Futures Group of the Civil Justice Council.

He was a founding member and later (2011-2022) Chair of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Internet Institute where he remains as a Visiting Professor. He also holds professorships at Gresham College, London and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

Richard has a first class honours degree in law from the University of Glasgow. He has received numerous legal industry awards and is an Honorary Bencher of Gray’s Inn. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the British Computer Society.

Richard Susskind

Follow Richard

Roles

President, Society for Computers and Law

In March 2011, Richard Susskind succeeded Lord Saville as President of the Society for Computers and Law.

More

Richard has been a member of the Society for more than 40 years and was its Chairman from 1990 to 1992. In 2023, the Society celebrates its 50th anniversary as one of the world’s leading organisations in the fields of technology law and legal technology. See www.scl.org.

VISITING PROFESSOR, OXFORD INTERNET INSTITUTE

In 2011, Richard succeeded Andrew Graham (formerly, Master of Balliol College, Oxford) as the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at Oxford University. He stepped down from this role in 2022. Since 2009, he has been a Visiting Professor in Internet Studies at the OII.

More

Richard played an important role in the establishment of the Oxford Internet Institute and, since 2001, has been a Founding Member of its Advisory Board.

The Oxford Internet Institute was founded as a department of the University of Oxford in 2001, as an academic centre for the study of the societal implications of the Internet. The current home, in a building owned by Balliol College, was formally opened in July 2003. The OII’s academics are engaged in a variety of research projects covering social, economic, political, legal, industrial, technical, and ethical issues of the Internet in everyday life, governance and democracy, science and learning and shaping the Internet. For further information, see www.oii.ox.ac.uk.

EMERITUS GRESHAM PROFESSOR OF LAW

Richard is Emeritus Gresham Professor of Law at Gresham College, London. From 2000 to 2004, he was Gresham Professor of Law, and from 2004 to 2010 was the first Honorary Professor in the College since its establishment in 1597.

More

The College was founded in 1597, is supported by the City of London Corporation and the livery company, The Mercers. There are eight Gresham Professors - in music, divinity, commerce, rhetoric, geometry, physic, astronomy, and law. The purpose of the College is and always has been to raise awareness of the latest learning in each of these disciplines. To that end, each professor presents a series of lectures each year.

Richard's lectures took the form of 20 public discussions that he held with distinguished legal guests, each of whom, in quite different ways, was exerting considerable influence on the development of legal practice and the administration of justice, both in Great Britain and beyond. Through frank, friendly, and often light-hearted conversation, Richard explored major trends in advanced legal systems; significant challenges facing modern justice systems; the thinking underlying recent reforms and changes; and the likely shape of the legal world in years to come.

His guests included Lord Woolf, Lord Falconer, Cherie Booth QC, Lord Saville, and Lord Irvine. A revised set of transcripts of the interviews is now published as a book - The Susskind Interviews: Legal Experts in Changing Times (Sweet & Maxwell, 2005).

Details of the current programme of lectures at Gresham College can be found at www.gresham.ac.uk.

PROFESSOR, LAW SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE

In 1990, Richard was the co-founder (with Professor Alan Paterson) of the Centre for Law, Computers and Technology at the Law School of the University of Strathclyde. At that time, aged 29, he was appointed Visiting Professor. He became a part-time, full professor in 2001 and continues to hold this position.

More

Over the years, his teaching responsibilities have include lecturing to undergraduates, leading Masters seminars, supervising research students, and acting as an external examiner for doctoral work in the UK.

In 2002, working with Professor Paul Maharg, Richard produced several hours of webcast, a very early legal e-learning resource.

With Alan Paterson, Richard organizes an annual retreat (held each year – other than during Covid - since 1993), an event which brings together, at Ross Priory, on the banks of Loch Lomond, a small group of leading lawyers, policymakers, and judges in a two-day seminar that focuses on the latest developments in legal systems.

Further information on Strathclyde Law School can be found on their website

Technology Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice, 1998—2023

Richard served as Technology Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales for 25 years.

More

Richard was Technology Adviser to Lord Bingham from 1998 to 2000, to Lord Woolf from 2000 to 2005, to Lord Phillips from 2005 to 2008, to Lord Judge from 2008 to 2013, to Lord Thomas from 2013 to 2017, and to Lord Burnett from 2017 to 2023. In this capacity, he worked closely with senior judges in England and Wales in helping them identify and articulate the most promising applications of technology for the Judiciary and the courts. Also in this role, he worked alongside politicians and officials in the Ministry of Justice (formerly the Department for Constitutional Affairs and before that the Lord Chancellor's Department) and with HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

Over the years, Richard has advised on more than 25 UK committees and inquiries, led by the Government or the Judiciary.

CHAIR, ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION GROUP OF THE CIVIL JUSTICE COUNCIL, 2014—2015

On 25th April 2014, Richard was appointed Chair of an expert group whose remit was to explore the potential of online dispute resolution (ODR) for civil disputes of value less than £25,000. The Group’s first report (PDF) was published in February 2015 – and has strongly influenced judicial and government policy. Further details on the work of the group are available at Judiciary.uk.

CHAIR, ADVISORY PANEL ON PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION, 2003—2008

In April 2003, Richard was appointed by the Cabinet Office as the first Chair of a non-departmental public body, known as the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information or APPSI.

More

When first set up, APPSI was called the Advisory Panel on Crown Copyright. While Chair of APPSI, its terms of reference were: to advise Ministers on how to encourage and create opportunities in the information industry for greater reuse of Government information; to advise the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office about changes and opportunities in the information industry, so that the licensing of Crown copyright information is aligned with current and emerging developments; and to advise on the impact of the complaints procedures under the Information Fair Trader Scheme.

The sponsor department of the Panel in due course became the Ministry of Justice. Richard completed his term as Chair in April 2008. Further details about the work of the Panel can be found at Gov.uk.

Richard's leadership of APPSI built on his experience as a member of the Modernising Government Project Board (run by the Cabinet Office, 1999-2001). It also dovetailed effectively with his membership, from 2003 until 2005, of the Freedom of Info.

Consulting Services

Richard works with leaders, in the private and public sectors, in helping them to think clearly and make decisions confidently about the future, and to plan for the long term within their organizations.

As an independent expert and thought leader, he brings fresh insight to clients, and acts as a catalyst in helping them drive forward their long term planning and implementation. He challenges in a way that is hard to do from the inside as a partner or employee.

The following list indicates the various ways in which Richard helps his clients. He acts as:

  • an adviser on likely and possible trends in the market for legal and professional services, using a mix of his own ideas and techniques such as ‘blank-sheet thinking’;
  • a sounding board (a coach of sorts) for those who run firms and practices within firms, helping them to focus on future trends and plans;
  • a speaker at internal conferences, away-days, leadership training events, and training sessions generally; a researcher who undertakes studies of the views of clients;
Read more about Richard’s consulting services
  • a ghost writer or copy editor of articles and of speeches;
  • as an external, non-executive member of firms’ boards and committees;
  • as an advisor on the content and production of client events;
  • as a mini R&D capability, scanning the horizon, monitoring successes amongst competitors and in other sectors, and evaluating the relevance of emerging technologies;
  • as a source of new ideas and innovations; and
  • as someone who helps future proof practice areas within firms, exploring how they plan to respond to new ways of sourcing legal work and to the impact of disruptive technologies.

Additionally, Richard offers certain clients early sight of his own research and writings.

Speaking Engagements

Richard currently makes presentations (mainly keynote speeches) at about 100 conferences, seminars, retreats, and other events each year. He has been invited to lecture in more than 60 countries around the world. He speaks both in person and by video, and can also provide pre-recorded talks.

Inquiries as to his availability and rates can be made by e-mail to richard@susskind.com

He has organized various international conferences and is a regular conference chair. He is frequently invited to act as a facilitator and chair of meetings.

His speaking subjects include the future of law and legal services, the future of professional service, trends in technology and AI, strategy and business planning, the future of dispute resolution, online dispute resolution and online courts, the future of government, the future of education, technology strategy for major organizations, and knowledge management.

Read more about Richard’s speaking engagements

By way of examples, over and above many keynotes at law firm partnership conferences, the following are some of the notable lectures he has given (until late 2020):

  • The Seventh Annual BAILII Lecture, London (November 2020)
  • Alexander Lecturer 2020, London (November 2020)
  • Birkenhead Lecture (Gray’s Inn), London (November 2019)
  • Keynote, Law Society Conference on AI and Ethics, London (April 2018)
  • Keynote, Royal Society/British Academy event on AI, London (March 2018)
  • Keynote, Annual Conference on Information Governance, Sao Paulo (June 2018)
  • Plenary Speech, Annual Congress of Neurosurgeons, Boston (October, 2017)
  • Chair, Online Courts Hackathon, London (July 2017)
  • Keynote, Legal+ Summit, Hangzhou (July 2017)
  • Keynote, 16th International Conference on AI and Law, London (June 2017)
  • Keynote, 50th Annual Conf, Legal Educ. Soc. of Alberta, Lake Louise (May 2017)
  • Plenary Speech, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia (April 2017)
  • Annual Lecture, Society for Computers and Law, London (October 2016)
  • Keynote, UK Government Economic Service Conference, London (Sep 2016)
  • Plenary Speech, World Bar Conference, Edinburgh (April 2016)
  • Sir Zelman Cowan Centenary Oration, Melbourne (April 2016)
  • 2nd Annual Sir Graham Day Lecture, Halifax (April 2016)
  • Keynote, International Online Dispute Resolution Forum, New York (June 2015)
  • Keynote, Florida Bar Annual Convention (June 2015)
  • Keynote Address - American Bar Association, National Summit, Stanford University (May, 2015)
  • Plenary Lecture, Global Law Summit, London (February, 2015)
  • Richard Davies Memorial Lecture, London (November, 2014)
  • Keynote Address - Executive Lawyers' Thought Forum, Macau (Oct 2014)
  • Keynote Address - A Celebration of Web Science, London (June 2014)
  • Keynote Address - Reinvent Law, New York (Feb 2014)
  • Larry Hoffman Distinguished Lecture, Miami Law (Oct 2013)
  • Marshall Criser Distinguished Lecture, University of Florida (Sep 2013)
  • Keynote Address - Law Tech Institute, Suffolk University, Boston (April 2013)
  • Keynote Address – Law Via the Internet Conference, Cornell University (October 2012)
  • Levitt Lecture 2012, University of Iowa (October 2012)
  • Kelley Lecture 2012, University of Michigan (September 2012)
  • Keynote Address – American Bar Association Conference for Deans of US Law Schools, Seattle, US (January 2012)
  • Bracton Lecture, Exeter University, (November 2011)
  • Keynote Address – Association Corporate Counsel Conference, Berlin (May, 2011)
  • Keynote Address – LawWithoutWalls, Inaugural event, London (January 2011)
  • Opening address – UCL Judicial Institute launch, London (November 2010)
  • Keynote Address – Conference of International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, New York (January
  • 2010)
  • Keynote Address - Canadian Bar Association Conference, Toronto (November 2009)

Contact Richard

Website design: Bauholz & Toad's Caravan