"It was 1981, and IBM had just launched its first PC. I was an undergraduate at Glasgow University and was almost alone in the law school in being excited about the possible impact of this new technology. I wanted to understand what the computer might mean for the legal world – how might it revolutionise this remarkably traditional profession into which I was heading?

"IT was clearly not on the curriculum and so I had to find a different way to become involved. In the grand tradition of the law, I turned to the small print. I scoured the regulations governing the LLB degree, and to my surprise and delight found a regulation that allowed students to submit a 20,000-word dissertation on a subject of their choice instead of sitting one of their final papers. Game on.

"I delved into the literature on computers and law and elected to write my paper on whether computers might ever replace judges. I had no idea then that this choice would be a significant turning point in my life, perhaps the most pivotal in my career. I also had no idea that I was the first person in the history of the law school to invoke the dissertation clause.

"My particular interest was in the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the law. I discovered there were only 26 publications on this subject in the English language. As I conducted my research (with no computer and certainly no internet to help), I was drawn into exploring much wider ideas about the future of the legal industry and the forces of change that could transform it in the coming decades. I found myself more strongly attracted to researching the field in more detail and in becoming an active player in bringing about change. I no longer wanted to be a solicitor or advocate.

"In due course, I submitted my dissertation, initially optimistic about its likely reception – I assumed that none of my tutors would know much about technology. I had not known, however, that external examiners can be used in such circumstances. My reading of the small print had not uncovered this point. When I learned of this, I then feared my paper would be passed along to some leading world expert. In the event, happily, the examiners seemed to like it.

"By that time, I had made up my mind to try to write a doctorate on the subject and went to Oxford in 1983 to do just that. I spent much of 1980s on AI in the law, unaware of course that the Web would be invented in the early 1990s and that its relevance for the law would be the focus of The Future Of Law, my fourth book but the first one read by people other than my family and friends."

Professor Richard Susskind OBE is an author, speaker, and independent adviser to major professional firms and to national governments. He is president of the Society for Computers and Law and IT adviser to the Lord Chief Justice. 

This article was commissioned for the Turning Points hub, an online career development resource from Legal Week in association with Berwin Leighton Paisner.

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