A look back at the legal landscape in 2027

This column is a "reprint" of an article I wrote in the fall of 2002 for the Association of Business Trial Lawyers for their 25th anniversary issue. The title of the article was, prophetically, "Welcome to Year 2027: a Virtual Legal Life. Though this reprint occurs 2 1/2 years earlier than 2027, I thought it would be fun to look back and see how, 23 years ago, I thought the legal landscape would look in the year 2027. (It is worth noting that this "reprint" is actually being dictated by me, word for word, using Dragon Naturally Speaking version 16.0). Here goes:

It's Wednesday morning May 21, 2027. This day begins like most of the last few years: Brush my teeth (I still have enough of them left to make this ritual worthwhile), shower, dress, and glide into my library at home to see what material has arrived while I was sleeping. The virtual office of the year 2027 is, remarkably, not an office at all. Instead, my home's library has been transformed into a bustling 24 hour-law practice. Sure, we still have our building on Wilshire Boulevard. After all, I need a place to meet clients, take depositions and, quite frankly, get away from home. That being said, the law firm of 2027 has lost the separation that told you "Okay, now I'm at work, and now I'm at home." The convenience of the law firm of 2027 requires more self-discipline and effort to maintain the division between home and office. In her groundbreaking book of over two decades ago (now 40 years ago), "The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure," author Juliet Schor revealed how Americans, unlike any other nation, work longer, harder, and perhaps less happily than their counterparts throughout the industrialized world. This is now truer than ever.

Back to my story. I walked into the library and flip a switch that slowly brings the lights up to the perfect, scientifically engineered levels to work by. Millions of federal research dollars were spent determining the optimal light levels to preserve the failing eyesight of aging baby boomers. I sit in my chair; this is where the fun begins. The newest piece of furniture being sold by Michael Dell's company is the Charuter... It's a hybrid chair and computer. Of course, there is neither monitor nor computer. The CPU is some sort of Intel Zenith XVIII with a terabyte or so storage capacity built into the arms of the Charuter. There is not a single electrical cord. Today, keyboards are only found at the Smithsonian, since the archaic act of tapping on keys to write letters and words was replaced over a decade ago with perfect voice recognition software that not only understands and correctly transcribes the words spoken, but does so while placing each and every period, comma, and semicolon. See, Mrs. Kramerman (my first-grade teacher), I told you I didn't need to learn all that grammar stuff. I ease into the Charuter where I am greeted by the voice of my virtual assistant. You can choose any one of 20 or so synthesized voices Dell offers (there are thousands of free shareware voices you can download should these 20 prove too limiting). I chose the English butler version... Hey, this is my home library. "Good morning, Mr. Kiesel, did you sleep well?" I was amazed the first time I responded "no"-- the program sympathetically suggested a nap that afternoon might be in order.

Today I was greeted with "You're running a little bit late this morning, aren't you?" This is where 2027's technology gets annoying. In fact, I was about 15 minutes beyond my usual 6 a.m. "start" time. Starting "work" at 5:45 a.m. lets me check in with cocounsel from Europe and those just starting their days on the East Coast. "Yeah," I replied, "just got a late start this morning."

"Please provide password confirmation, Mr. Kiesel," says James (my butler- voice). "Audrey Goldberg,) I say my mother's maiden name. "Password confirmed," replies James. "Please place your nose in the portal," requests James. Turns out the nose has some unique characteristics that have proven better than eyes and handprints for the most secure 688-bit encrypted security systems. With my identity confirmed, widescreen, three-dimensional holographic images appear before my eyes. No longer do we have monitors to view data. Instead, two beams of light aimed directly at your pupils create a vast visual field with clarity so "real" it feels like you could reach out and touch the icons floating in front of you. [authors note 2024. though this technology does not yet exist the closest to this, today, are Apple's Vision Pro headset]

"Take a letter," I say. "To whom?" James inquires. "Jeff Westerman." The computer plugs in his office address. James asks "Do you wish to use this address or another one?" "Home address," I say. Jeff's home address replaces his office's address automatically. Sitting back, I begin speaking into the omnidirectional microphone built into the Dell product.

The next feature of 2027 is one of the coolest-- video emails it works like this. "Take a video email," I tell James. "To whom do you wish to send this email video?" Inquires James. "To the Omnitel litigation group." A small camera mounted several feet from the desk chair begins recording a 2 1/2 minute "email message" I will send as a blast email to all OmniTel litigation counsel. The video email program lets me adjust the background that appears on the video display. Not wanting people to know I was sending the video from home, I chose to pace my office background on the video. Over the last decade bandwidth speed increased dramatically (that's the speed with which you can communicate images and data through the Internet), so using video email is as clear and simple as turning on your television set. The days of text email are long gone. Several "takes" later, my video email is off to the attorneys litigating the OmniTel action.

Next, James asks whether I wish to review the emails that arrived while I slept. There are over 300 emails. I delete the "junk" emails (no, there's still no way to filter out all the "spam"). [Actually, I was wrong on that one since there are several programs that filter out spam emails and for me, that's at least 200 a day that are redirected]. I play a video message from my cocounsel in Vienna. Gabriel Lansky speaks passable English but is tremendously articulate in his native German. For years before the Microsoft translation program became commercially available, Gabriel stumbled along in broken English trying to communicate with me. However, with the introduction of Microsoft's world translator, Gabriel records his message in German, and his words are instantly translated into English. In 2027 language poses no barrier to global communication. As Gabriel speaks in German, the English translation scrolls pass at the bottom of the screen (just like subtitles at the opera). If I wish to walk away from the "monitor" I can have Gabriel's words read by a computer-synthesized English translator. While many felt this product would lead to English becoming the world's sole language, in fact, just the opposite has occurred. Since the world translator understands over 150 languages, people have kept their native tongues and still communicate with one another freely.

After responding to Gabriel's message, it is time to make my first court appearance of the day. Court Call has been replaced with true, real-time videoconferencing. After entering a few simple commands, I enter a virtual courtroom where several counsel have already gathered. The case is venued in San Francisco, and four attorneys appear this morning. The virtual courtroom is set up on the monitor just as if we are in an actual courtroom. My video image appears behind the table located on the right side of the screen, while the three defense counsel appear to the left in boxes designating their names in the party they represent. At the center of the monitor, naturally, is the court.

At 8:30 AM sharp the court appears to begin the status conference. Since this is a video record, counsel does not need to state appearances; the attorney and party represented are automatically logged by the videoconferencing center. On this day, the status conference involves a proposed case management order the parties have been negotiating for several weeks. With the videoconferencing center's services, the judge "calls up" the proposed CMO, and the CMO appears on the "monitor." We are able to work through the problem areas, with the court, in a matter of minutes. Thirty minutes later, the status conference is completed in plenty of time for me to make my 1:30 p.m. (EDT) Motion being heard in the Federal District Court in Boston Massachusetts.

Welcome to 2027. Will we utilize technology to increase our free time, or will we continue our pattern of using technology to increase productivity while, depressingly, at the same time working ever longer hours and spending less and less time with our families and friends? Only time will tell.