The place does all of the stress constructing in authorized tech focus? On unauthorized follow of regulation (UPL), says Ken Crutchfield — and one thing’s acquired to offer.
In Half 1 of his collection on “The New Physics of Authorized tech,” Crutchfield tech-infrastructure-capital-and-the-coming-ai-realignment-part-1-of-2/”>examined the macro forces shaping the trade. Now, in Half 2, he zeroes in on the collision level the place expertise, client habits, ROI pressures, {and professional} regulation meet.
In his newest column for LawNext, tech-will-upl-hit-the-breaking-point-in-2026-part-2-of-3/”>The New Physics of Authorized tech: Will UPL Hit the Breaking Level in 2026? (Half 2 of three), Crutchfield argues that ChatGPT has “thrown gasoline on a simmering hearth” by blurring the traces between authorized info and authorized recommendation by conversational AI.
Drawing parallels to how Uber pressured regulatory adaptation and the way the medical occupation developed by specialization, Crutchfield means that regulators will observe, not lead. “As soon as client ridership reached scale, enforcement shifted from a authorized query to a political one,” he notes. “The regulatory response to UPL will observe an analogous sample.”
Entry to justice supplies the moral crucial for change, whereas capital funding — which “doesn’t search for permission to behave” — accelerates it.
In Half 3, Crutchfield will study how these forces are reshaping authorized companies for companies and prompting BigLaw’s response.
Crutchfield is principal of Spring Forward Consulting and has been an govt at LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters and most lately Wolters Kluwer, the place he was vice chairman and common supervisor of authorized markets for Wolters Kluwer Authorized & Regulatory U.S.
Learn his tech-will-upl-hit-the-breaking-point-in-2026-part-2-of-3/”>full publish on LawNext.
