Folashade Adebayo
Professor Emeritus of Law, Isaac Agbede, has called for a legislation to limit the role of technology in the adjudication of cases.
He expressed concerns that as the proliferation of ICT tools continue to enhance the efficiency of legal research, law firms would in turn be forced to reassess their organisational structures.
Agbede made the call amid growing concerns on the possibility of robots taking over legal briefs to the detriment of younger generation Lawyers.
He said this recently during the first International Conference on Law and Digital Technology held at Babcock University, Ilishan Remo.
The academic, who is also the Provost, Babcock University School of Law & Security Studies, expressed concern that robots were now competing with lawyers, adding that there should be a ‘modulator’ to the functions of technology to ensure the survival of legal practititoners.
“The law industry and practices have not changed much in decades in spite of new tools developed. However, new products such as virtual assistants are designed to help in-house legal department to manage their work more efficiently,’’ he said.
In his address, a senior member of the faculty, Prof. Bankole Sodipo, said lawyers would become an endangered species if technology was allowed to solve all the problems of litigants.
“Who will be responsible: the designer or the passengers of an unmanned car or ship that is involved in an accident?” he asked.
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