At this year's ClioCon 2025 legal tech thought leader Richard Susskind gave a speech that many described as shocking.
His central message:
"Nobody wants a drill. They want a hole in the wall."
Translated to the legal world, this means:
Nobody wants to pay for legal work – they want fast, meaningful, and affordable solutions.
Susskind outlined six possible AI futures for the legal industry.
The comfortable option – that AI will settle down after a few improvements – is according to him the least likely.
Instead, we need to prepare for AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) by 2030–2035.
That's in five to ten years – not decades.
While many are still debating whether ChatGPT is "ready for the legal sector," AI capabilities are growing exponentially.
Susskind posed the crucial question:
"Not: What is the future of lawyers?
But: How will people solve problems in the future for which lawyers are currently the best answer?"
This is exactly where Lawise comes in.
Lawise.ai builds systems that deliver legal outcomes, not billable hours.
With Jurilo, users can ask their question in everyday language and receive a lawyer-verified answer within seconds – faster, cheaper, and fully compliant with Swiss Code of Obligations and the EU AI Act.
While many law firms are still trying to integrate AI into old workflows, Lawise has developed a verified Legal AI platform from the ground up – in collaboration with lawyers, data scientists, and engineers who make Swiss law machine-readable and explainable.
From Automation to Elimination
Susskind describes three transformation stages:
1️⃣ Automation – doing today's work faster
2️⃣ Innovation – delivering outcomes in new ways
3️⃣ Elimination – avoiding legal problems before they arise
Lawise covers all three:
Automation: Answering routine questions in seconds
Innovation: Jurilo as an integrated legal assistant for SMEs, HR teams, and fiduciaries
Elimination: Prevention of risks through immediate legal clarity
The Choice of the Future
Susskind put it bluntly:
"Not preparing for AGI is a breach of duty by the profession."
The winners will not be traditional lawyers, but Legal Knowledge Engineers – exactly the profiles working at Lawise.
In short:
Lawise doesn't automate lawyers – Lawise delivers legal outcomes, instantly and reliably.
The future that Susskind predicts for 2035 is already reality in Switzerland. 🇨🇭
