By Lauren Smyth, Special Counsel

Everyone is asking some version of this question right now, and most of the answers centre on technology – AI, automation and the future of legal work. Those things matter, but not always in the way they are being framed.

Artificial intelligence is not removing the need for lawyers, but it is reshaping one of the profession’s oldest advantages: control over legal knowledge. The next decade will be defined by how lawyers respond to that shift. The “technically excellent” lawyer was one the clear benchmark of professional success, but clients now have access to tools that can produce legally plausible answers in seconds and that changes the nature of the work in ways the profession is still coming to terms with.

It places less emphasis on being the source of information and more on how that information tested, refined and applied. A different model is emerging – one where the lawyer operates as editor, strategist and decision-maker rather than as the person who simply knows the answer.

For generations, legal training followed a relatively stable path: develop technical mastery early, build experience over time, and convert that experience into judgement.

That model is now under real pressure. Work that once shaped junior practice – research, analysis, early drafting – can be produced quickly through automated tools, which means the repetition that traditionally built instinct is no longer guaranteed to arrive in the same form, or at the same pace,

As access to legal information expands, its relative value diminishes. The lawyer’s role is shifting towards interrogating outputs, identifying risk and determining what should actually be done in context and that requires a kind of judgement that cannot be automated. Clients operate withing financial, operational and strategic constraints and advice that cannot be implemented within those constraints has limited value, no matter how technically correct it may be.

The lawyers who are most trusted when decisions matter are those who can translate legal risk into business consequence and understand not just what the law permits, but what a client can realistically do in response. The ability to identify what truly matters, discard what does not, and communicate that distinction with clarity will become one of the defining professional skills of the next decade.

The profession is already adjusting. New tools are being adopted, client expectations are shifting, and traditional career paths are becoming less linear as a result. Adaptability is increasingly part of the job and a key practical requirement. This means being open to different ways of working, reconsidering how value is delivered, and at times rethinking what a legal career can look like. What once sat at the edges of the profession is steadily moving towards the centre and those who engage with that change thoughtfully will have far more control over how their practice evolves.

As technical work becomes more standardised, professional relationships take on greater significance, and they are built gradually through conduct rather than transactions, and over a longer period than most people expect. This extends well beyond clients to peers, referrers and even opponents.

How a lawyer shows up, particularly in difficult matters, shapes how they are remembered and, ultimately, who people turn to when something important is at stake. A reputation for consistency, generosity and genuine interest in others is foundational to a successful practice.

Judgment is also shaped by what sits outside the law. A career spent entirely within its boundaries can narrow perspective over time. Engagement with other disciplines, creative pursuits and environments that have nothing to do with billable hours tends to produce a different way of seeing problems and that broader perspective often influences how decisions are made and where the most original thinking emerges. Find something outside the law that challenges you and protect the time you give to it.

The next decade will involve a meaningful shift in emphasis. Technical skill will always matter but it will not carry the same weight on its own. Greater importance will be placed on judgment, commercial clarity and the ability to operate with confidence in a profession that is changing faster than its traditional structures anticipated. The lawyers who recognise that shift early and respond to it with curiosity rather than resistance, will play a far more active role in shaping what the profession becomes.