The Routine Is Going But Not All The Work

Why Lawyers Will Not Be Replaced Wholesale & Where Lawyers Should Look Next

Why High Level Judgment Will Still Command High Fees

It is an easy headline to write to hype up that lawyers will soon be out of a job from the advent of further developments in AI.

Indeed, I have heard this for almost a decade now, and only recently have there been substantive movements in regard to the legal profession being disrupted and more seriously impacted by AI.

The routine part of a lawyer’s role is going and going, more and more due to the acceleration of AI, from the consumer level, the client level as well as from the actual lawyer level, but not to such extent that lawyers as a whole will be out of a job.

Media hype and hysteria is easy to whip up alongside substantive AI developments particularly in light of agentic AI, and to conclude that the whole role is vulnerable to being replaced. This is just a step too far in my opinion, as there is still plenty of work for lawyers out there, and profitable work at that

A lot of lawyers are creating angst and talking themselves out of a future in law because they think AI is going to take their job completely.

I repeat. It is not.

We Will Always Need Lawyers Fullstop

Society will always need lawyers.

What it is and will continue to take however from lawyers, or keep taking, as I said before, is the routine and ordinary work that AI can automate and disrupt at scales, we have not experienced in prior years.

That is where the pressure is.

The pressure is there for lawyers of all makes and sizes, including solo lawyers.

This is a problem as we all know is for traditional lawyering business models, especially for billable hourly work and especially for lucrative work that paralegals and junior lawyers were used for, for which law firm profitability was strongly based upon.

A lot of lawyers will clearly not be able to bill routine and ordinary work in the way they have in the past. This is due to AI pressures now and into the future.

There is no point pretending otherwise.

That, however, is not the same thing as saying all the legal work is completely gone and that the lawyer will be replaced.

What is happening is that the work is moving from junior lawyer level and more and more to the AI agent, the consumer and the client so that when, and indeed if it gets to a lawyer, it looks a lot different and cannot be charged out at in the same manner as before.

So what is left.

The hard stuff. The stuff that a complex society is bringing and will keep bringing to the fore every day through emerging issues many that have no precedent and indeed form polycrises in society. The issues and legal ramifications that arise from we what are experiencing right now that will compound and effect us in different and unanticipated ways as society. Second, third order effects of societal issues will still result in consumers and clients still needing to turn to lawyers and AI offers limited value in assisting the resolution of such, at best acts as an augmenter or companion or else is in itself creating the issues or problems.

Get Involved Early

That is why lawyers need to stop just looking at what is happening right now around them, as well as solely focusing on a three, six or twelve month horizon for clues as to what comes next, and what might replace the routine in terms of emerging law.

Lawyers also need to start looking further ahead at the more medium to longer term opportunities that are likely to emerge as technology reshapes client needs, risk, responsibility, regulation as well as societal and commercial life more generally.

This is not something limited to the gamut of just BigLaw. Solo lawyers be they sole practitioners, barristers, consultant lawyers are all just as well placed to step up to these new emerging issues and areas of law, than they have ever been ironically due to AI, and to niche up into these emerging areas as specialists.

On one side, routine and ordinary work continues to lose traction, relevance and value.

On the other, more complex niched legal work starts to build as the role of the future lawyer.

This is where the increased fee earning opportunity is, but this is also where lawyers will also have to exercise their initiative and self teach themselves.

That is what lawyers should be paying attention to right now.

It is why it makes sense to start getting moving and involved sooner than later in emerging legal areas that may be only indicative and preliminary and not yet look fully formed, but which are likely to matter much more over the next one, three and five years.

The first mover advantage is very important here for lawyers.

Some of these may also become proper practice areas in time.

Others will sit inside existing ones.

Lawyers should be vigilant in watching for signals and trends that will emerge in dispute resolution, litigation, regulation, risk management, insurance, compliance as well as advisory work - all that offer opportunity to leverage into new lucrative and interesting areas of law.

Lawyers will still clearly be needed for the heavy lifting judgment part of this emerging legal work for which in turn, they will be able to charge a higher premium for, to help partially offset the loss of the billable hours taken from the routine due to AI.

Emerging Areas Of Law

I sat down recently and did my own research on emerging areas of law, second and third order effects in society due to technology in particular, as well in a wide ranging societal issues that I feel are worth for lawyers to explore in greater detail, especially these issues gain more traction in the next 1-5 years.

Areas I believe are worth paying attention to include:

AI governance

AI liability

AI forensics

AI ethics

Neurotechnology

Neurorights

Digital health

Digital sovereignty

Digital afterlife

Cognitive liberty

Algorithmic bias and manipulation

Orbit debris

Deep sea mining

AI crisis management arising from accidental automation and liability

Autonomous systems and agent liability

Climate migration

Deepfake defamation

Blockchain

Smart contracts

Drones

Autonomous vehicles

AGI

ASI

Quantum computing

Reality verification

Decentralised autonomous organisations

Anti-automation human rights

AI slop compliance

Digital nomad law

My main point remains simple albeit repetitive.

The routine is going. The emerging, more complex legal issues arising from unprecedented societal developments are not.

My advice is to stop worrying about what is being stripped out as this is inevitable and out of your control.

Lawyers who start moving now, even imperfectly, should be in a better position to advise, adapt and stay useful into the future.

As I always say, the time to sit there and do nothing has past.

If you follow our work, you will know I have been a long term fan about niching and being known for something distinctive as a lawyer for a long time.

I am not a hypocrite either.

I have specialised and niched more than once throughout my legal career, with varying degrees of success, but always with a strong focus on doing work I genuinely enjoy and would actually want more of.

A solo lawyer does not need to choose between a core practice and a niche.

You can build one niche, two niches, or several, alongside the core work you already do.

That is often how a practice becomes clearer, stronger and more valuable.

Build A Legal Niche As A Solo Lawyer

This is a practical guide to standing out, staying relevant and future-proofing your legal practice as a solo lawyer.

Niching and positioning are strategic decisions.

They affect visibility, workflow, pricing, referrals and the shape of your practice over time.

If you want experienced judgment on whether a niche makes commercial and practical sense for your circumstances, the next step is to book a private strategy session with Paul Ippolito