3 Main Values or Skills a Lawyer Should Have
The legal profession is about to undergo a drastic change. Algorithms can now draft documents, and Artificial Intelligence can conduct legal research and determine the probability of success for a legal claim better than most human lawyers. In light of these challenges, I believe that the 3 characteristics a legal practitioner should have are adaptability, creativity, and empathy.
First and foremost is adaptability, in a world where the Status Quo is constantly changing, we need to avoid taking things for granted. The taxi industry gave way to ride-hailing apps connecting passengers to private contractors, and before the dust has even settled, the nascent industry is now being threatened by self-driving cars that could replace human contractors entirely. Blockchain, through Smart Contracts, is eliminating the need for lawyers as escrow agents. A lawyer who fails to adapt is a lawyer bound to be replaced.
Second, creativity. Any educated layperson can buy a statute book and apply the law. What differentiates a good lawyer is the ability to come up with creative solutions to old problems. If a client needed generic legal advice, for most problems, google would have been sufficient. From my observation, the best results often occur when members of the legal profession are unafraid to take unconventional stances, such as when the Malaysian Court of Appeal, in the case of Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei v. Kerajaan Malaysia [ 2017 ] 1 MLJ 436 held that s. 3( 3) of the Malaysian Sedition Act violated Article 8 of the Federal Constitution for providing different standards for a crime similar to one already prohibited in s. 505 of the Penal Code, the different standard being the need to prove intention.
Third, empathy. As algorithms and AI are increasingly taking over the job scope of lawyers, one element which they will never be able to accurately replicate is the human element of trust, understanding, and empathy. A lawyer who is able to go beyond the facts of a case and dry wording of the law to empathize with a client’ s plight and establish a connection of trust and confidentiality to add value to their services will always be relevant. Meanwhile, AI will replace lawyers who think and act like robots.
Possible Career Paths
In my opinion, law graduates are lucky in the sense that a law degree is the most flexible degree one can obtain. A law graduate would be well suited to work at almost any job imaginable, provided that technical and specialized knowledge, such as medicine and engineering, is not required.
A law graduate would easily fit into any part of a corporation’ s structure, such as management, human resources, marketing, accounting, public relations, legal, and even executive. Even in public services, such as the Ministry of Defence, Health, Environment, Youth and Sports, Education, or Higher Education, all of them have opportunities for law graduates. This is because of how widespread the influence of the law is on the workings of society. As such, knowledge of the law can be of high value to any organization.