Speak about how synthetic intelligence will sometime take legal professionals’ jobs has lengthy been dismissed as a lot ado about nothing — till now.
Microsoft has been conducting layoffs throughout the corporate throughout the globe since mid-Might, and whereas in-house attorneys are sometimes protected from such employment woes, the rise of AI could also be accountable in relation to the businesses newest cuts. Microsoft President Brad Smith has given blended messages about whether or not synthetic intelligence was behind the corporate’s resolution to conduct layoffs, first saying that AI was “not a predominant issue” within the transfer, and later saying that “[s]uccess in life … is all the time about prioritization, and it’s all the time about investing sooner or later.”
Thus far, the tech firm has laid off dozens of legal professionals. Corporate Counsel has the small print on the scope of the layoffs for authorized:
Microsoft has laid off 15,000 staff throughout the globe since mid-Might. Simply within the tech big’s residence state of Washington, the reductions have value a minimum of 32 firm attorneys and 5 paralegals their jobs, in keeping with state filings obtained by Legislation.com.
A layoff discover filed with the state’s Employment Safety Division reveals that a minimum of 22 attorneys and 5 paralegals have been amongst 305 Redmond, Washington, staff laid off after Microsoft introduced 6,000 job cuts on Might 13. The second spherical of layoffs, introduced July 2, displaced 9,000 extra staff, 830 of them in Redmond, Seattle or Bellevue. At the very least 10 of the 830 have been legal professionals, a layoff discover reveals.
As additional famous by Company Counsel, primarily based on the ratio of authorized layoffs to complete layoffs at Microsoft’s headquarters (3.1%), the corporate may doubtlessly be taking a look at worldwide authorized layoffs within the lots of, about 465 authorized jobs, to be actual. Sean Burke, founding companion of recruiting agency Whistler Companions, who locations tech attorneys at startups, mentioned that whereas “[t]right here’s no AI that utterly replaces the lawyer,” he thinks the legal professionals who misplaced their jobs could also be on the youthful facet. “My guess is that the lion’s share of laid-off attorneys at Microsoft are within the backside tranche, legal professionals three to seven years out of legislation college which might be extra simply changed, the place you will get much less legal professionals to do extra utilizing AI,” he mentioned.
Better of luck to the entire in-house counsel at Microsoft who could have misplaced their jobs because of AI disruption.
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Microsoft Layoffs Hit Legal Department as AI Reshapes Staffing Strategy [Corporate Counsel]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Legislation, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be at liberty to email her with any ideas, questions, feedback, or critiques. You possibly can comply with her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join along with her on LinkedIn.
