In a wide-ranging lecture to the UK Society for Computer and Law (audio here) , Professor Richard Susskind has laid out a compelling possible future for the way professional services (including legal services) will be provided.(via Human Law)

I was particularly interested in his comments on the application of new technologies to companies managing regulations and risk management. (about the 44 min mark, click on quotes, "worries about compliance regulation can’t be solved by conventional legal services").

He argues that a real-time contract management system could be developed by building flags for "conditions" into the documents when created and then monitoring these in a database which also contained related legal information about issues which could be accessed as they arise during the contract lifecycle: a "just in time" compliance and legal knowledge system as opposed to a "just in case" system containing information that may never be used and which is catalogued using legal terms.

In other words, legal knowledge is embedded into the business process.

He also argues that legal risk management is non-competitive between businesses and that it should be collaborative, and even "open source".

Susskind articulately brings together many themes to portray his vision of a near future.