The future of law is not so much a subject (think: catalogable topics like franchise, family, or equine law), as it is a genre (think: science fiction). As such, it’s easier to sort the future of law according to subgenre, than it is en masse. When you imagine the future of law, what subgenre do you dream in? From a lawyer’s perspective, is it dystopian fiction (like The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services by Richard Susskind)? Is it robot fiction, reflected in the countless articles on how routine legal services may soon be augmented or replaced by AI? Or do you tether your dreams like in mundane scifi – which explores currently available technology and extrapolates its near-term impacts?

Courthouse Libraries BC is increasingly looking at ways to catalog legal technology innovations (speculative or otherwise), and distill meaning from the numerous conversations around the future of law. We’re not alone, of course. Check out the online Legal Services Innovation Index, a fairly new endeavour. It includes a catalog of law firm innovations (including an option to see only those in Canada), as well as an innovation index for firms and law schools.