While the amount of unemployed decreased over the last month, the news isn’t so good for those employed in the legal sector as around 1,300 jobs were lost according to the Wall Street Journal. Even owing to the nearly 5000 new positions that were created over the summer months there has still a huge number of lawyers currently seeking work and the rate of unemployed lawyers has risen sustainably over the past year or so.

Indeed, it isn’t just the downturn in the economy that is causing such a dramatic rate of unemployment among some of the brightest minds in the country; computers are also responsible for many lawyers and legal assistants being out of work. While technology is often credited with causing unemployment in manufacturing or industry based professions, new software (such as E-discovery) is allowing fewer attorneys to do the work required. The New York Times actually claimed that this new software could allow a couple of lawyers to carry out the work and duties of some 500; so you can see the dramatic effect that it is having.

However, all is not lost according to legal experts and while corporate law may be happy with a computer doing all the work, others argue that if you specialise in family law then you should be safe. While these ‘robots’ can undoubtedly work at a much faster rate and speed than a human lawyer it cannot give clients the human and personal touch that is needed in sectors such as family law and many believe that the sector is not in such a bad state as the numbers would suggest.