Financial crisis, financial schmisis.

Sure, the bust of 2008-2009 led to layoffs among the associate ranks of a level never before seen by the legal industry. But could a more disruptive force be heading toward BigLaw, one that could permanently displace thousands of young lawyers -- forever!?

It's possible, writes Robert Weber, the general counsel of IBM in the National Law Journal on Tuesday. And it's name is Watson, the IBM computer that's currently in the middle of playing a mean game of Jeopardy with two all-time Jeopardy greats, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

Writes Weber:

Wow. Okay. But this is just a pipe dream, right? I mean, nobody at IBM is actually working on an associate that doesn't complain about lousy bonuses, doesn't get tired, doesn't need bathroom breaks and spits out perfect legal analysis in the time it takes to get a shoe shine?