2020: Justice By the People Great technological strides have pervaded the U.S. by the year 2020. The Internet, begun in 1969 as a way for defense-related research programs to communicate with each other, exploded in the 1990s and became ubiquitous in the 2010s. Almost everything non-tangible is now accessed or delivered electronically, and in 2015 FedEx/UPS took over the remaining package-delivery activities of the atrophied United States Postal Service. In 2018 the federal government finally included Internet access among the rights guaranteed to the poor through federal and state assistance programs, recognizing that without such access their rights to participate in our electronic democracy would be non-existent. Notices are sent electronically, responses are required to be transmitted electronically, money is electronic, voting is done electronically and laws, rules and regulations are disseminated electronically. Indeed, well over 99% of the U.S. population not only has access to, but also actually uses the Internet as an integral part of daily life. Technological strides have pervaded the practice of law as well. The artificial intelligence expert systems research from the 1980s was first applied to medical diagnostic systems in the 1990s, reaching AMA and public acceptance by the end of the first decade of the New Millennium. Similar work was done in the law, as A-I scientists explored how lawyers analyze legal problems and prepare arguments for their clients and how judges rule on objections and motions and decide cases. Tentatively at first, both lawyers and judges began to use these systems as tools to make their own work better and easier. By 2015, A-I legal tools had received wide acceptance within government and the profession. By 2020, they were commercialized and made available to the public, the first product being MicrosoftJustice. This latter step required repeal of prohibitions against persons not licensed as lawyers from “practicing law.” First begun by Arizona in the 1970s, the repeal steamroller really got moving in the early 2000s under pressure from consumers and other professions (especially large accounting firms), the former seeking lower cost legal services and the latter seeking access to the profits of the legal profession. The practice of law in the U.S. changed in a number of ways as well. Justice now is done much more by the people as most solve their own legal problems themselves. Most disputes now never reach the formal legal system. Having ready access to the law, legal analytical tools and vast factual data, people resolve many disputes themselves. For example, a recent boundary dispute between neighbors was resolved by fixing the location of a wall by 1-inch resolution GPS transponders, downloading property title records and surveys from the country records office, analyzing the problem and possible solutions with Quicken Home Lawyer and arriving at an economic settlement to which both neighbors agreed without ever consulting lawyers. Mediators and arbitrators resolve most other disputes. The Online Yellow Pages are filled with ads for such service providers who draw upon psychological and sociological skills as well as legal skills in helping the parties themselves arrive at their own solution. Religious and community leaders are often used in this role as well, and some communities have created their own neighborhood resolution experts for those who prefer to resolve disputes within their own community. The federal government itself has made great strides in reducing areas of dispute with the government under President Rivers’ “Government For the People” program. The IRS bought TurboTax in 2017, offering it free to every taxpayer over the Internet. Aided by AmVisa’s new MasterTaxCard, which both records economic transactions as they occur while noting their tax-deductibility, April 15th has become much less painful. Lawyers are fewer and farther between now, and they normally work on only the most complex problems, often in concert with other professionals. Comprehensive, instead of piece-meal, solutions are brought to human problems of which the law is only a part, e.g., a divorce triggered by alcoholism, where treatment and rehabilitation are provided together with change in legal status, property division and custody terms. For disputes that are ultimately economic, lawyers now have access to the same decision-aiding A-I tools as judges. Their use early in the dispute process often leads to settlements without expensive litigation. Indeed, litigation is now both rare and swift as technology has automated the case preparation and presentation process, the virtual courthouse is available 7/24/365, and virtual juries deliberate and decide disputed facts from afar. Justice in our country always has been for the people. Today it is much more of the people and by the people as well. About this Scenario What is a scenario? A scenario is a portrayal of a probable, alternative future. It is not a prediction; it is a possibility, told from the perspective of the future, as if it had happened. This scenario is intended to provoke thought, dialogue and action. How was this scenario created? An expert interview method was used to produce this scenario. An interview protocol was prepared, embodying six questions regarding the future of the legal profession in the U.S. A number of experts were interviewed by telephone. Interview notes were recorded anonymously. A trend was identified: increased use of technology, both in furnishing legal services and in providing increased access by the public to legal information and the courts. A key issue/question also was identified: whether technology would be used to facilitate provision of legal services, information and access to the now largely unserved middle class. The scenario answers the question in the affirmative. It is written as a history, set 19 years into the future. © 2001 and 2002 Stuart A. Forsyth, The Legal Futurist—all rights reserved.