While the profession has a strong ethos of public service, some lawyers' actual pro bono contributions fall far short of what we should expect. Knowledge-based legal systems can help lawyers carry out their professional responsibility to assist those unable to afford legal services and to educate the community about legal matters. Society can't expect lawyers to become overnight altruists, but computer-based instructional and advisory systems may make redemption easier. There are many professional fates from which lawyers might wish to be saved. Tedium and boredom characterize some aspects of almost every kind of law practice, and some lawyers feel enslaved to mind-numbing routine.
Computers offer lawyers a higher percentage of interesting work by handling the mechanical routines.
Computer technologies can be used to filter and digest large volumes of complex information, reducing the information overload that can otherwise overwhelm some practice areas. Information systems can also reduce malpractice concerns about overspecialization, carelessness, or disorganization. It is sobering to reflect on the historical disappearances of vocations and industries. Makers of pen nibs and buggy whips once felt quite secure in their work. Most independent pharmacists of the last generation have been displaced by chains of franchised drugstores using computerized prescription systems.