There are many challenges facing in-house lawyers today. But, according to Lord Clement-Jones, being replaced by a robot isn’t one of them.

Clement-Jones, DLA Piper’s London managing partner, attended the London launch of the Law Society In-house Lawyers Division. He insisted that, despite recent reports that certain parts of the legal profession could be automated (beware, paralegals), in-house lawyers are safe…for now.

‘We’ve got a bit of a struggle over the next few years to prove ourselves totally irreplaceable,’ Clement-Jones said. ‘But I’m sure you’re all up to the task when the finance director looks a bit closer at what you’re doing.’

One job Obiter is confident could be automated is that of generating doom-laden predictions about technology. Pace Professor Richard Susskind, we have been reading about robots taking over since so-called ‘expert systems’ emerged in the 1970s. As ever, the BBC is ahead of the game: the ‘Will a robot take your job?’ interactive website it was plugging the other week is unashamedly based on Oxford University research recycled from 2014.

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