Re: cryptography eliminates lawyers?

[Rob Lowry <robl@on-ramp.ior.com>]

> Rob,
> 
> re:  Will Cryptography put lawyers out of business?
> 
> I see no connection between the use/non-use of crypto and the  
> occurrence/non-occurrence of the conflicts and threats of conflicts  
> which give rise to the use of lawyers.  What's the connection?

I know from my employers perspective, that lawyers are retained for more 
than just litigation. Often they handle the exchange of critical 
documents and transactions that need to be kept confidential.

The impact of crypto as I see it is a reduction in the use of legal 
services of this nature, not in litigation. Using a lawyer to pass on 
tech specs on a new product to the patent office is a common occurance, 
as it is assumed that the lawyer can maintain the secrecy required for 
handling these documents. Should the patent office offer a key, you could 
just as easily send an encrypted message in place of a lawyer handling this.

There are bound to be other options and opportunities as well for lawyers 
to use crypto.. securing a companies documents or whatever.

RobL