Speak about how synthetic intelligence will sometime take attorneys’ 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-Could, and whereas in-house attorneys are usually protected from such employment woes, the rise of AI could also be guilty on the subject of 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.”
Up to now, the tech firm has laid off dozens of attorneys. Company Counsel has the main points on the scope of the layoffs for authorized:
Microsoft has laid off 15,000 staff throughout the globe since mid-Could. Simply within the tech big’s house state of Washington, the reductions have value not less than 32 firm attorneys and 5 paralegals their jobs, in accordance with state filings obtained by Legislation.com.
A layoff discover filed with the state’s Employment Safety Division reveals that not less than 22 attorneys and 5 paralegals had been amongst 305 Redmond, Washington, staff laid off after Microsoft introduced 6,000 job cuts on Could 13. The second spherical of layoffs, introduced July 2, displaced 9,000 extra staff, 830 of them in Redmond, Seattle or Bellevue. No less than 10 of the 830 had been attorneys, a layoff discover reveals.
As additional famous by Company Counsel, primarily based on the ratio of authorized layoffs to whole layoffs at Microsoft’s headquarters (3.1%), the corporate might probably be taking a look at worldwide authorized layoffs within the lots of, about 465 authorized jobs, to be precise. Sean Burke, founding accomplice 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 attorneys who misplaced their jobs could also be on the youthful aspect. “My guess is that the lion’s share of laid-off attorneys at Microsoft are within the backside tranche, attorneys three to seven years out of legislation faculty which might be extra simply changed, the place you may get much less attorneys to do extra utilizing AI,” he mentioned.
Better of luck to the entire in-house counsel at Microsoft who could have misplaced their jobs due to AI disruption.
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Microsoft Layoffs Hit Authorized Division as AI Reshapes Staffing Technique [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 electronic mail her with any ideas, questions, feedback, or critiques. You’ll be able to comply with her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join along with her on LinkedIn.
