Neurotech in law: will billable hours becoming redundant?

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According to Neurotechnology, Law and the Legal Profession, a report commissioned by the Law Society of England and Wales, future lawyers could end up charging their clients via “units of attention” monitored by computers that are connected directly to their brains. The report predicted that future clients may prefer cognitively enhanced lawyers who work on matters only when “fully attentive” and billed by “units of attention” instead of billable hours.

Although some years away, Dr Kion Ahadi, director of strategy, futures and insight, states: “The debate on whether and how we should make our brains ready to be ‘plugged’ into technical devices must begin today.”

Neurotechnology is a system that interacts directly with the nervous system, connected by body-worn sensors or a chip planted into the brain. This technology is already being used to treat neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and to monitor employees’ attention when they’re working. According to the report, there are several legal implications surrounding these developments:

• Privacy and data protection concerns: the large amount of brain data accumulated may give rise to new powers to manipulate people.
• Equity and discrimination issues: some people in society may be augmented with enhanced mental capacities while others aren’t.
• Workplace brain monitoring may generate questions of employment law.
• Defendants in criminal proceedings may be able to claim that their behaviour was a result of having a neurotech device or having their brain hacked.

Dr Allan McCay, the report’s author, said: “The tech is coming, and we need to think about regulation. Action is needed now as there are significant neurotech investors such as Elon Musk and Meta (Facebook). We need law reform bodies, policy makers and academics to be scrutinising these technological advances rather than waiting for problems to emerge.”

I Stephanie Boyce, president of the Law Society said: “As the report makes clear, neurotechnology could greatly improve the lives of many but also facilitate ethical failures and even human rights abuses.”

Read the full report Neurotechnology, Law and the Legal Profession.