False modesty can become so tiring that Obiter found it somewhat refreshing to receive the paperback edition of Richard Susskind’s The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services. Any readers in possession of the hardback edition only will not have seen his introduction to the paperback. During the last 30 years, the Gresham College professor reminds us: ‘My conviction about the need for changes in the legal system has remained fairly steady.’ Obiter loves steadiness, but there is more. Susskind writes: ‘In contrast, I think it fair to say that the position of most legal practitioners has shifted. In response to my published views on the future of the legal world, I believe that some lawyers have now progressed through all "four stages of acceptance".’

However, Susskind regretfully informs us that ‘by no means all lawyers concur with what is written in the pages that follow’. There is of course a reason why a few stubbornly continue to lead unilluminated lives. As Susskind explains: ‘To oppose the entire book is surely to admit that it has not been read.’ There could be no other explanation.