Commoditization and Productization of Legal Services: The new trends and the challenges of Nigerian lawyers

Abstract

The wind of change due to the inevitable interaction between technology and all professions keeps on blowing and has greatly blown off so many age-long conservatives and traditional practices in the legal profession. The intersection between law, and legal practice, on the one hand, and the internet and technology, on the other hand, has a sweeping impact on legal practice, legal practitioners, judges and on every other person and issue within the administration of justice ecosystem. Law and the legal profession are no longer the business of lawyers only as emerging trends are coming up, necessitating legal practitioners to inevitably seek the intervention of other professionals, especially in computer engineering, software development and Artificial intelligence. This interaction, therefore, circumstantially tasks, challenges and forces the legal profession to either fragment and splinter or other professionals will invade to take over most of the legal services traditionally being offered by lawyers only, and the clients will welcome this development. This article analyses these emerging trends from the Nigerian lawyer’s perspective and concludes that any Nigerian lawyer who refuses to accept these current digital realities will soon be unfit to deliver effective legal service to anyone and will economically have himself to blame if he loses earnings.