Future shock

It is the year 2025 and the legal landscape has changed rather a lot. Likewise, society generally with England basking in a Mediterranean climate and far fewer cars as petrol has virtually run out and the proliferation of solicitors' offices as we currently know it no longer exists. There are few shops (everyone does their shopping online) and offices are much smaller as there is no longer a need for much in the way of staff and many tasks are performed by machines, computers or robots.

Each town has two firms of solicitors: one a private firm and another a legal aid firm. The term solicitor no longer exists as the profession has morphed into lawyers, paralegals and IT professionals '“ the latter category largely made up of robots. Lawyers make up an amalgam of what were previously solicitors, barristers (this term has been abolished) and judges, whose role has also fundamentally changed. There are no longer any courts and no need for submissions by barristers. Instead, lawyers download submissions to a central computer that makes all the decisions, judgments and orders, thus negating the need for court buildings, judges and barristers. The Treasury is obviously very happy indeed. Every trial is an exercise in IT. IT skills and the quality of written submissions are very much the order of the day.

The legal aid office is still a very busy place to be. However, due to global warming and the Mediterranean climate, it is only open between 8am and midday and opens again between 4pm and 8pm. There is an enforced siesta from 12-4pm. Because of rationalisation, the one legal aid office in town is funded by the top 100 private firms of solicitors. There is a much reduced legal aid budget (in real terms) of approximately £5bn. As a trade-off for funding legal aid, the top 100 private firms are no longer regulated by the SRA but by themselves. Legal aid itself is no longer administered by the Legal Services Commission or the Ministry of Justice but by an elected group of lawyers, paralegals and IT professionals. They are called the Funding Association '“ FA for short.

Less law

The law itself has fundamentally changed in that the emphasis that we have had over the last 50 years on social welfare law has declined and, as fewer and fewer people are getting married, there are fewer and fewer divorces. There is much less matrimonial law. Criminal law has also reduced as the government of the day has decreed that if the police say you are guilty, you must be. No more jury trials and a presumption of guilt.

Accordingly, there are very few defended trials. The criminal legal aid component of the budget is very modest indeed. The key issue is environmental concerns, access to power, ability to generate power, and issues relating to cooling because of the increase in temperatures. Land ownership and problems with flooding are issues that take up a great deal of computer time.

Struggling clients

Customers, however, continue to struggle. It is difficult to gain access to the lawyers for advice and, while everyone has internet access, the system crashes on a regular basis and there is still no alternative to face-to-face advice.

A regular sight in the City is the long queue of people snaking around the block awaiting their appointments at the one legal aid office. Customers tend to camp out overnight, sometimes for over a week, in order to make their appointment with someone who can give them advice on their problem. A satellite industry of catering for these queries has grown up, and helpful robots provide tea, coffee and other refreshments for those that can afford them.

Lawyers discussing the good old days in a local bar nostalgically harp back to the days of books, courts, judges and the Legal Services Commission. None of these things exist any longer. The situation still appears pretty bleak as 15 years down the road dramatic change has not resulted in a better system for the customer or indeed the lawyer. The system is different, the cost base smaller but the problems remain. Time for another review?

Unfortunately, all is not well in my office as dogs have been abolished by government decree because of the spread of rabies from the continent. And, sadly, Cosmo is no more!

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