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Legal Tech, Smart Contracts and Blockchain pp 253–272Cite as

The Lawyer of the Future as “Transaction Engineer”: Digital Technologies and the Disruption of the Legal Profession

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Part of the book series: Perspectives in Law, Business and Innovation ((PLBI))

Abstract

This chapter introduces two connected arguments about the future of the legal profession . First, the ongoing “digital revolution ” will continue to disrupt legal work as it has traditionally operated. Various aspects of this disruption are outlined. Second, in contrast to previous technological revolutions, the “deployment” of disruptive innovation in the context of the digital revolution seems unlikely to be primarily “state-led.” Instead, new technologies will be deployed by a coalition of diverse private actors (entrepreneurs, technologists, consultants, and other professionals) working in collaboration. Crucial amongst these actors will be the lawyer of the future operating as “transaction engineer .” The chapter outlines this transaction engineer function and its importance in the deployment of emerging digital technologies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, e.g., Lessig (2006), Mitchell (1995).

  2. 2.

    Fenwick and Vermeulen (2018).

  3. 3.

    American Bar Association (2016).

  4. 4.

    Szabo (1994).

  5. 5.

    Jentzsch (2016).

  6. 6.

    Birkinshaw (2018).

  7. 7.

    Fenwick and Vermeulen (2018).

  8. 8.

    Fenwick (2016).

  9. 9.

    See Slaugher and Zaring (1997).

  10. 10.

    On the FCPA generally, see Koehler (2012).

  11. 11.

    See Jordan (2012).

  12. 12.

    Christensen (1997).

  13. 13.

    See Fenwick et al. (2018a).

  14. 14.

    Perez (2003). See also Freeman and Louca (2002).

  15. 15.

    Dixon (2013).

  16. 16.

    See Arbesman (2017) for an overview of the challenge of navigating a digital world that is too complex for human understanding.

  17. 17.

    See Mandel (2013), p. 62: “Given the uncertainty surrounding an emerging technology’s development and risks, there will be inherent limitations concerning how specific a framework can be developed at early stages.”

  18. 18.

    See Kaal (2013), p. 799: “Anticipation of unknown future contingencies and the pre-emption of possible future crises do not play a significant role in the current regulatory framework or in the literature on financial regulation.”

  19. 19.

    Allenby (2011), p. 3.

  20. 20.

    Bennett Moses (2013), p. 7.

  21. 21.

    Butenko and Larouche (2015), p. 66.

  22. 22.

    Marchant and Wallach (2013), p. 136.

  23. 23.

    McGrath (2013).

  24. 24.

    See Callon (2009).

  25. 25.

    See Kaal (2014), p. 46: “The ‘Institutional Infrastructure’ for rule-making was geared towards the creation of rules for governing a relatively stable society with less upward mobility and relatively stable economic and market environments.”

  26. 26.

    Calliess and Zumbansen (2010).

  27. 27.

    See Friedman et al. (1989), Chandler (2014).

  28. 28.

    See Fenwick et al. (2018).

  29. 29.

    See Fenwick et al. (2018b).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Law, Faculty of Law, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Mark Fenwick

  2. Department of Business Law, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Erik P. M. Vermeulen

  3. Legal Department, Philips Lighting, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Erik P. M. Vermeulen

Authors
  1. Mark Fenwick
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  2. Erik P. M. Vermeulen
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Correspondence to Mark Fenwick .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    Marcelo Corrales

  2. Faculty of Law, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Mark Fenwick

  3. School of Accounting and Finance, University of Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland

    Helena Haapio

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Fenwick, M., Vermeulen, E.P.M. (2019). The Lawyer of the Future as “Transaction Engineer”: Digital Technologies and the Disruption of the Legal Profession. In: Corrales, M., Fenwick, M., Haapio, H. (eds) Legal Tech, Smart Contracts and Blockchain. Perspectives in Law, Business and Innovation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6086-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6086-2_10

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6085-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6086-2

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