The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Legal Education

• Jurisdiction: California,United States
• Citation: Vol. 39 No. 2
• Publication year: 2023
• topic: Technology

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Legal Education

Steven R. Smith
California Western School of Law, ssmith@cwsl.edu

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THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND LEGAL EDUCATION

Steven R. Smith^*

Abstract

A "Fourth Industrial Revolution" (4IR) will dramatically change current law students' careers. Innovations in technology, business, and social structures will require different and more sophisticated legal services. Law school graduates will be responsible for harnessing, encouraging, and establishing legal controls that offer society the benefits of these new technologies while limiting the undesirable side effects. At the same time, the recurring, repetitive practice of law will begin to disappear as more work is done much cheaper and better by machines.

The 4IR presents extraordinary opportunities for law schools, the legal profession, and graduates, but it also presents significant challenges. To prepare students for professional practice and continuous improvement of the justice system, law schools will have to adjust students' education and focus the curriculum on ensuring new competencies. Changing law school curriculum is generally more evolutionary than dramatic, but there is not enough time to slowly begin to prepare students for their professional lives in the 4IR. The Article concludes with several ideas about accelerating the process.

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CONTENTS

Introduction.................................................................................339

I. Industrial Revolutions..........................................................339

A. The First Three..................................................................339
B. The Fourth Industrial Revolution......................................341
C. Legal Education and Industrial Revolutions.....................342
D. Characteristics of Industrial Revolutions.........................347
E. Does the Argument about the Fourth Industrial Revolution Matter?...............................................................................349

II. The Changing Environment for Legal Services and Legal Education...............................................................................350

A. A Fourth Industrial Revolution Legal System and the Public ............................................................................................350
B. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Related Technology ......................................................................... 353
C. Other Changes in the Environment for Law Schools and Legal Services .................................................................... 357

III. What the Public Will Need.................................................360

A. Competencies.....................................................................360
B. Law Graduates in Nontraditional Practice.......................373
C. What the Public Does Not Need........................................374

IV. Reforming Law School and Legal Education for a Fourth Industrial Revolution Future.............................375

A. The Law School Mission—Planning for Change..............376
B. Curriculum......................................................................... 376
C. Faculty...............................................................................385
D. Students and Admissions...................................................387
E. Research Mission............................................................... 388
F. Fourth Industrial Revolution Service Activities ................ 390
G. Supporting the Academic Mission—Libraries, Student Services, and Administration ............................................. 390
H. Legal Education Nationally..............................................391
I. The Other Million ...............................................................394

V. Honest Assessment at Every Level....................................395

A. Assessment in the Law School...........................................395
B. Assessing Fourth Industrial Revolution Educational Experimentation.................................................................397

Conclusion....................................................................................398

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Introduction

Legal education is approaching one of the most exciting times in its history. Technological advances may have started a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The resulting changes in work, communication, medicine, economy, relationships, and government will significantly change what society needs from the legal system and lawyers. That, in turn, means that law school graduates will require more sophisticated legal tools and competencies to meet societal demands.

If law schools and the profession reform to optimize service to the public, such optimization can herald a golden age both for the profession and society. If not done right, however, the results could be economic inefficiency, social dysfunction, and a declining legal system.

Part I considers the claim that the 4IR is underway. Part II describes the changing environment for legal services and legal education, and Part III discusses the new services society will need (and not need) from law school graduates. Part IV addresses the reforms law schools should be contemplating. Part V looks at assessment as a critical part of reform.

I. Industrial Revolutions

A. The First Three

"Industrial revolutions" are human interpretations of history, so there is disagreement about almost everything associated with them.¹ Most historians agree that there was the Industrial Revolution, which probably began around 1760.² Because these revolutions unfold over

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many years, it is difficult to pinpoint a single date.³ A defining feature of the First Industrial Revolution was the use of steam power to mechanize production.⁴ Steam power slowly industrialized the world, resulting in factories and people moving from farms to cities.⁵ This use of steam required a lot of heat, which created booming demand for combustibles, especially coal.⁶ Larger companies, pricier contracts, and significant financial risks created an increased demand for more sophisticated laws and better legal services.⁷

A century later, around 1860, a Second Industrial Revolution began, characterized by electric mechanization and factories organized in production lines.⁸ The Second Industrial Revolution also introduced electric homes and new communication (telephones).⁹ Cities continued to grow, requiring new water and sewage systems.¹⁰ In addition to a focus on public health, medical innovations, like antibiotics, imaging, and histology, resulted in better health and life expectancy.¹¹

Although an exact date is difficult to ascertain—if one exists—the Third Industrial Revolution began between the 1950s and 1960s.¹² It is essentially a digital or "semiconductor" revolution.¹³ Computers and chips further mechanized the physical production of goods and agricultural products, therefore significantly reducing the marginal labor costs of many products.¹⁴ The Third Industrial Revolution also

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transformed communication, recordkeeping, and data accumulation.¹⁵ It saw space exploration and remarkable scientific advancements.¹⁶ Medical advances were dramatic.¹⁷ Earlier revolutions rode on emerging abundant energy, like steam and electricity,¹⁸ but the Third Industrial Revolution's promise of energy from nuclear fission was arguably unrealized.

B. The Fourth Industrial Revolution

A Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), characterized by broad application of new technologies, may now be emerging.¹⁹ Artificial intelligence (AI), encompassing machine learning and big data, is currently the most important new technology for the law and legal education.²⁰ Other emerging technologies include biotechnology such as genetic editing, 3D printing, intelligent robots, blockchains, and nanotechnology.²¹ The 4IR may initially see improved creation and storage of renewable energies (e.g., solar, wind, and hydroelectric),

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which have higher upfront costs but produce energy at almost no marginal cost.²² Fusion represents a longer-term energy source.²³

The changes accompanying the 4IR will have significant implications for all parts of society, including the law and the professional lives of law students. Lawyers will carry some of the burden of harnessing, encouraging, and finding legal controls to offer society the benefits of new technologies while limiting harmful side effects.²⁴

C. Legal Education and Industrial Revolutions

The "eras" of American legal education are roughly similar to the industrial revolutions. The similarity may be a coincidence, or it may be because similar social and economic forces were behind both. In early colonial days, there was no formal legal education (or lawyers) in America.²⁵ Much of the public viewed the practice of law with suspicion and believed it to be unnecessary.²⁶ Slowly, however, lawyers became increasingly necessary and began arriving from England.²⁷ Soon after, the lawyers needed training in America.²⁸ Through the Revolutionary period, the options for a legal education included apprenticeship with a practicing lawyer, self-taught reading of legal classics, or travel to England.²⁹ For more than a century, the first two options dominated new lawyers' training.³⁰

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1. The First Era: The First Law School, 1784

In 1784, as the First Industrial Revolution was underway in England, the first American law school, Litchfield, was founded in Connecticut.³¹ Litchfield represented a systematic approach to preparation for practice.³² Studying was generally full-time.³³ Students were examined every Saturday on the week's materials.³⁴ Additionally, students participated in formative weekly oral arguments.³⁵ Litchfield generally "varied from nine to thirty students," peaking at fifty-five students in 1813.³⁶ The school closed in 1833 after several universities had started law...