Legal Futurist and Bestselling Author Richard Susskind to Keynote at ClioCon

Richard Susskind joins ClioCon 2025 as a keynote speaker, spotlighting the profound ways AI is reshaping society and the legal profession.

Clio today announced that Professor Richard Susskind CBE KC (Hon)—the world’s most cited author on the future of legal services and a leading thinker on the impact of AI—will deliver a keynote at ClioCon 2025, taking place October 16–17 in Boston. Susskind is the world’s most cited author on the future of legal services and a leading thinker on the impact of AI.

Susskind has been studying AI since the 1980s and has spent over four decades examining how technology disrupts professions and transforms the world of work. Known for his rare ability to synthesize complex ideas and present them with clarity, he has long challenged the legal profession to look beyond its processes and reimagine outcomes.

His latest best-selling book, How to Think About AI: A Guide for the Perplexed, is both a masterclass in clear thinking and a call to action. In it, Susskind argues that professionals’ deep investment in established ways of working often limits their ability to see alternative paths to client outcomes. AI, he suggests, will change the work of lawyers through three forces: automation, innovation, and elimination. These shifts may not only reimagine how legal tasks are completed but could also fundamentally reduce or replace entire categories of problems, such as litigation, through new approaches to conflict resolution and prevention.

Susskind’s keynote at ClioCon will go beyond day-to-day AI applications. Instead, he will explore the profound ways AI is reshaping society, the risks it introduces, and the decisions that policymakers, the public, and the profession must make now to shape the future. He outlines seven categories of risk and offers pragmatic suggestions for addressing them, urging the legal industry to act with urgency, not because disaster is inevitable, but because the next few years will define decades to come.

“For many lawyers, Professor Richard Susskind is the foremost voice on how AI is redefining the legal profession,” said Reagan Attle, Chief Marketing Officer at Clio. “His insights have guided the industry’s thinking for decades, and now, as AI reaches an inflection point, there’s no one better to help us understand what comes next. Bringing thousands of legal professionals together at ClioCon to engage with him live on stage creates a rare and powerful opportunity to explore not just the future of legal technology, but the future of the profession itself.”

Susskind is also the author of Tomorrow’s Lawyers and The Future of the Professions. He has served as Technology Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales for 25 years and is President of the Society for Computers and Law. His research and insights have influenced policymakers, judges, law firm leaders, and innovators worldwide.

ClioCon is widely recognized as one of the most influential events in the legal industry, known for pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in legal practice and technology. The 2025 conference builds on this legacy with a forward-looking agenda tailored to today’s evolving legal industry. Attendees can expect tactical workshops, hands-on product sessions, and provocative conversations led by industry experts—including Susskind’s keynote, which will challenge every legal professional to think differently about their role in shaping the future.

To learn more or secure passes, visit cliocon.com.