ABSTRACT
This chapter invites readers to envision legal education, not as it was in the past or as it exists in the present, but instead as it can and must be in an uncertain and disrupted future. It begins with a quick survey of the ‘new normal in law’ and the enormous changes taking place in the professional services and legal services sector. It goes on to place these in a broader context of rapid societal change and touch briefly on the impacts emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology, may have on legal practice, lawyers and law firms. It then uses Susskind’s analysis of the future of the legal profession as a framework to identify key questions legal educators must address. These include the following. What is the purpose of legal education? Who is legal education helping, and what legacy is legal education creating? What might the possible evolution of legal education look like? Is legal education a place of space or is it a service, linear just-in-case or nonlinear just-in-time? Responses to these questions are not easy or clear, and it may be just as important to ask the questions as to answer them. How legal educators, legal regulators and legal professionals choose to engage with these issues will be crucial in equipping our students to be the legally literate leaders of tomorrow that our world so desperately needs. Are we prepared to disrupt ourselves and imagine possibilities for a new future?
