The First Thing AI Does
In which AI cribs from William Shakespeare
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
- William Shakespeare, Henry VI
Microsoft is getting rid of nearly 500 lawyers, and industry experts believe that the culprit is AI.
Microsoft just laid off dozens of lawyers.
At least 32 attorneys and 5 paralegals cut in Redmond.
Up to 465 legal roles could be gone worldwide.
In-house used to be safe. Not anymore.
According to legal insiders, this is “unprecedented”... even veterans with 7+ years at Microsoft’s legal HQ say they’ve “never seen layoffs anywhere near those numbers”
Microsoft’s President first claimed that AI wasn’t the main reason for gutting legal, then pivoted to say it’s about “prioritizing the future”...
AI tools are already replacing younger and mid-level legal counsel. Recruiters suspect laid-off attorneys were “the bottom tranche, lawyers three to seven years out of law school that are more easily replaced” with AI.
A lot of people are a little nervous about how easily they could, in theory, be replaced by AI. But given that the initial employment casualties appear to be lawyers and HR employees, it’s hard not to root for the machine intelligences.
Myself and multiple friends have done preliminary work in advance for our attorneys as para legals using AI.
Document analysis, comparison with other documents, checking for changes, etc. We've likely saved $1,000s if not tens of thousands in legal fees. For important stuff we still get the final product reviewed by our trial lawyer since he'll actually have to defend it in court.
Key is getting your legal reviewed by multiple AIs. We go with Gemini and Grok mainly. Also check for hallucinations by requiring AI to quote the actual law.
Top attorneys won't be replaced. Higher level strategic attorneys definitely not. Attorneys that learn the leverage AI will be best positioned for the disruption.
It will be the death of colleges and universities too, as the eventual wholesale replacement of white-collar jobs will reveal the uselessness of a college degree.