Introduction: Legal Publishers in the Course of Time
Legal publishers like us at Orell Füssli Juristische Medien have a long-standing tradition as indispensable partners to courts, academia, and practitioners in publishing legal commentaries. We offer well-founded, carefully researched, and reliable information on legal issues. However, in an age where the internet provides information in unprecedented abundance, the question arises: Why do we still need legal publishers today? Lawyers, judges, and scholars can theoretically publish legal commentaries themselves or access countless online legal sources. This development prompts us to closely reflect on our self-conception and the expectations of our readers, users, and authors.
1. Traditional Role of the Legal Publisher: Quality Assurance and Trustworthiness
Over decades, legal publishers have established themselves as guardians of quality. Readers trust the reliability and depth of our commentaries. Authors expect us to manage their work with the utmost care to inform the professional world precisely and thoroughly. Writing and publishing a legal commentary is a complex process that requires deep specialized knowledge and high professional competence. Today, authors could digitally publish their works without publisher support, but the professional publisher remains the institution that guarantees quality assurance and scientific validity.
2. Challenges of the Digital Age: From Printed Commentary to Digital Content
Digitization has fundamentally changed the dissemination of legal information. Once, the legal publisher was the central actor in knowledge transfer. Today, we compete with numerous online platforms that offer legal content almost in real-time. Legislation and case law are accessible with just one click, and legal content is viewed as versatile "content" that must be available on all devices. This development challenges us to provide current and platform-independent content in ever shorter time spans.
3. Curating Legal Content: Quality Assurance in a World of Information Overload
An essential aspect of our work is curating content. In a world where legal information is available online in overwhelming quantities, we provide orientation. We select relevant content, structure it coherently, and guarantee scientifically sound commentary. Without this preparation, users can quickly lose track, making our curatorial role increasingly important.
4. Cultural and Scientific Responsibility of the Legal Publisher
Our responsibility extends beyond the dissemination of legal information. We contribute to the advancement of legal science and practice by publishing high-quality works, even if they are not immediately profitable. Commentaries on complex or less popular legal areas play a decisive role in scientific discourse and jurisprudence. Here, our cultural responsibility becomes evident: we support authors who contribute to the development of legal science and set legal standards, even when economic success is not the primary focus.
5. Disruptive Potential of Large Language Models for Legal Publishers
A new challenge arises from the use of large language models and artificial intelligence (AI). These systems can quickly analyze and generate large amounts of legal texts, potentially questioning the role of the legal publisher as the central provider of commentaries and analyses. AI models can summarize legal information, analyze judgments, and comment on statutes—tasks previously reserved for the experts within publishing houses.
However, we also see these developments as an opportunity: we can utilize AI as a tool to support our work. For example, AI models could be used to identify legal changes faster or analyze legal texts more efficiently. It is crucial that the professional expertise and cultural responsibility of a legal publisher cannot be replaced by technological processes. Curatorial activity, quality assurance, and scholarly depth remain indispensable even in the age of AI.
Conclusion: With Confidence and Innovation into the Future
We view ourselves not merely as craftsmen or service providers but as a curatorial authority that ensures scientific and practice-relevant quality. Even in a digital world, we remain a reliable source for well-founded, precise, and practical legal content. Combining traditional publishing with the targeted use of technological possibilities opens up new opportunities for us. With confidence and innovative strength, we make our work more efficient and secure our future success. We remain the intellectual platform that both promotes the advancement of legal science and offers practitioners well-founded support. This is our mission and our commitment, which we meet with success in a changing world.