"The Chicago based multinational law firm Baker McKenzie is laying off up to a thousand employees as part of its pivot to embracing AI, the legal hub RollOnFriday reports. In what might be an augury of how further AI related cuts could sweep other industries, it's not the lawyers getting the axe, but instead hundreds of their support staff. These include "dozens of roles in London and Belfast," and hundreds across functions including know-how, research, marketing, and secretarial, according to the reporting."
"The cuts, which could affect up to ten percent of its global workforce, or between 600 to 1,000 people, were conducted after the company "undertook a careful review" of its "business professionals functions," a spokesperson told ROF, with AI explicitly mentioned as a factor in the decision. "This review was aimed at rethinking the ways in which we work, including through our use of AI, introducing efficiencies, and investing in those roles that best serve our clients' needs," the spokesperson added."
"The law firm's reported layoffs come after Anthropic's new Claude Cowork AI agent sparked a panicked sell off that sent the stock market plunging last week. Investors feared that Claude's plugin for automating some legal tasks and paperwork could lead to layoffs and outmode the expensive software that legal firms and other white collar organizations use. Perhaps the fate of Baker McKenzie's support staff confirms all those worst fears."
Baker McKenzie is laying off up to 1,000 employees as it pivots toward AI. The reductions target support staff across know-how, research, marketing, secretarial functions and include dozens of roles in London and Belfast. The cuts could affect up to ten percent of the global workforce, or between 600 and 1,000 people, following a review of business professional functions that explicitly cited AI as a factor. The layoffs follow market concerns tied to automation tools such as Anthropic's Claude Cowork and have prompted criticism that companies often invoke "AI" to justify broader cost-cutting measures.
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