Episode 21: Richard Susskind, Author of 'The Future of the Professions'

Professor Richard Susskind OBE—author of Tomorrow’s Lawyers, The Future of the Professions, and Online Courts and the Future of Justice—has been writing about the future of the legal industry for decades. Now that a somewhat dystopian version of that future has arrived, Richard is again looking ahead to understand where legal is going and how it might get there.

In this episode, Richard and Clio CEO Jack Newton share a fascinating back-and-forth about the ways law firms are currently reacting to COVID-19, how they should be reacting, and how long it might take for “normal” to return. Additionally, Richard outlines the article he co-wrote with his son, Daniel, about “The Five Stages of Recovery from COVID-19.”

Professor Richard Susskind OBE is an author, speaker, and independent adviser to major professional firms and to national governments. His main area of expertise is the future of professional service and, in particular, the way in which IT and the Internet are changing the work of lawyers. He has worked on legal technology for over 30 years. He lectures internationally, has written many books—including Expert Systems in Law, The Future of Law, Transforming the Law, The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services, and Tomorrow’s Lawyers. His work has been translated into 10 languages.