Colombia is the second country with the most lawyers per capita, according to the Center for Justice Studies of the Americas, a position granted thanks to the fact that it has 728 jurists per 100,000 inhabitants. Contrary to being a figure of pride, it has become a challenge in the labor market. A study carried out by the Ibero-American University Corporation reveals that 40% of Colombian lawyers do not find employment.
One of the reasons for this to happen would be linked to the lack of skills demanded by the current market, especially in issues related to technology. Carlos Omar Miranda Contreras, professor of national arbitration at the National University of Colombia, highlights the importance of updating educational programs to include digital skills and improvements in critical thinking for the modern practice of law.
For the teacher, the country’s legal education has traditionally focused on technical-legal aspects, neglecting training in practical skills. “The role of the lawyer is changing, he is less and less a person who must have a lot of information in his head,” and more and more a professional who has to know how to access, classify and implement information and technology, at the service of the legal needs.
The professor predicts that these transformations will bring more resounding changes in the academic offering in the future. Universities are going to have to demonstrate their added value to attract young talent, “this population curve in which we have seen that there are many lawyers and there is a high rate of graduates each semester, is going to decrease.”
The teacher sees the implementation of technological tools as a challenge turned into an opportunity. Although its implementation implies a paradigm shift, it brings benefits for simplifying time in repetitive tasks. Artificial Intelligence tools such as Chat GPT or Gemini allow lawyers to focus on more strategic aspects and manage more complex litigation.
Juan Camilo de Bedout, partner at the Posse Herrera Ruiz law firm, says that the use of these tools would help jurists improve judicial congestion, one of the biggest problems in the Colombian legal system. Therefore, he suggests that the digitalization of processes and the specialization of offices in specific areas of law would significantly improve the efficiency of the system.
“To strengthen the Colombian judicial system, it is necessary to implement measures that reduce process congestion, strengthen the independence of legal practice, improve access to justice and specialize offices in sophisticated areas of law. All this under respect for the Constitution and the institutions,” concludes de Bedout.
