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February 01, 2017 Features

The Workplace Revolution: Move Up from the Rearguard to the Vanguard

By Eileen Smith Ewing

What if jobs, as we know them, disappeared? Not due to the export of employment opportunities overseas—a concern that dominated the 2016 presidential election—but because technology is gradually but inexorably disrupting and revolutionizing our domestic workplaces.

Will your current job be lost to a robot? Will you find yourself a member of the new “gig” economy, communicating not with an employer but with a platform technology? Will your résumé be reviewed not by a kindly and flexible human resources officer, but mechanically, against a set of rigid artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms? Or will you just give up on job prospects here on Earth, to explore the commercial opportunities awaiting you in outer space?

This issue of The SciTech Lawyer explores just how far the law is currently lagging behind the revolution. The gig economy (think Uber and Lyft) provides great flexibility to workers. But is the new model denying gig workers the traditional protections of, for example, collective bargaining? And for gig workers who have disabilities or are senior citizens, will the new job models assure them digital accessibility? Indeed, will any of the standard laws and regulations protect you if you take an extraterrestrial job? Read the prognostications of some of the country’s best labor lawyers in this issue: can attorneys, regulators, and the workers themselves keep up with these runaway changes?

Prepare Yourself for Change

One approach to staying career-competitive in the midst of technological upheaval in the workplace is to develop not just deep niche expertise, but also broader contextual knowledge beyond your immediate field. The Section of Science & Technology Law can help.

Did you know we have 24 substantive committees within the Section, from Artificial Intelligence and Robotics to Technical Standardization? Right now, you may belong to just one committee, but consider how joining additional committees may broaden your understanding of your own field. For example, you might specialize in nanotechnology, but membership in our Biotechnology Law Committee, our Medical Devices Committee, and our Healthcare Technology Committee could give you that extra competitive career edge.

Your legal interests don’t stop with your job, of course. Perhaps you’re fascinated by drones, or driverless cars, or the impact of augmented reality technologies on museums and the arts. Join those committees, too.

One of the most valuable educational benefits offered by many of our committees is a variety of digital newsletters, blogs, and blurbs, bringing members up-to-the-minute legal and regulatory information. Would any of the following enhance your career or tickle your extracurricular interests?

  • Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (Tim Dennison, editor): regular posts on committee page.
  • Behavioral and Neuroscience Law (Paul-Michael Lowey, editor): monthly digital BNLC Blurb.
  • Big Data (Tearra Vaughn, editor): quarterly digital newsletter.
  • Biotechnology Law (Erika Lietzan, editor): weekly digital Biotech Blurb.
  • Cloud Computing (Jastin Mostowtt, editor): quarterly digital SciTech Cloud News.
  • E-Privacy Law (Paul Lanois, editor): monthly digital newsletter.
  • Food, Cosmetics and Nutraceuticals (Snehal Trivedi and Shawn Hogue, editors): biweekly digital alert; annual digital FCN Digest (with in-depth analysis of the year’s developments).
  • Homeland Security (Alysa Pfeiffer-Austin, editor): digital Homeland Security Newsletter.
  • Internet of Things (Lindsey Barrett, editor): monthly digital Internet of Things Newsletter.
  • Medical Devices (Nelson Crespo, editor): biweekly digital Medical Devices Newsletter.
  • Museums and the Arts Law (Ria De las Alas, editor): quarterly digital newsletter, Provenance.
  • Nanotechnology (Brian Reese and Raj Bawa, editors): quarterly digital newsletter.
  • Space Law (John P. Ratnaswamy, editor): digital Space Law Committee Newsletter.

Add to these benefits brown bag teleconferences, CLE programs, guest speakers, and more. You’ve got a veritable “great courses” curriculum in science and technology. Tell that to the AI algorithm making your employment decisions!

And remember committee membership is always free to Section members, whether you belong to one or all 24. Make your choices at www.americanbar.org/groups/science_technology/committees.html. ◆