Robot Lawyers? The Future of AI and Automation in Law

Are we headed for a future of robot lawyers, online judges, mechanical mediators, cyborg litigators and android attorneys? Reading some recent media headlines, you would think so. Last year in Dublin, a conference warned that lawyers must'cut fees or face a future led by robots'. In fact, headlines have been predicting this onslaught of the machines ever since IBM's Watson (a question-answering supercomputer) beat two human Jeopardy! But it's not just the press – many practitioners see the same future.