Worth Reading – Top 10 Biglaw Firm To Conduct ‘Massive’ Layoff, Leaving Hundreds Jobless Thanks To AI

So this appears to be happening:

Sources tell us that Baker McKenzie recently conducted a “massive staff layoff” among its global business services team, with cuts made across nearly all functions across all offices, including the firm’s IT, knowledge, admin, DEI, leadership & learning, secretarial, marketing, and design teams, among others.

They’re claiming that AI is part of the reason:

As noted by RollOnFriday and Legal Cheek, the firm offered the following statement on the layoffs:

“To position the firm for continued growth and remain agile in a fast-evolving business context, we recently undertook a careful review of our business professionals functions. 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.”

https://abovethelaw.com/2026/02/top-10-biglaw-firm-to-conduct-massive-layoff-leaving-hundreds-jobless-thanks-to-ai/

This should frighten everyone who works at law firms and across the legal industry, frankly. Baker McKenize is limiting the cuts to professional staff positions, but associates shouldn’t feel safe. If you can use AI to cut your firm’s costs, why wouldn’t clients demand you do the same with legal work?

However, what if it’s not really AI? What if it’s AI-washing?

Is AI Really to Blame for All These Layoffs?

“Companies are saying that ‘we’re anticipating that we’re going to introduce A.I. that will take over these jobs.’ But it hasn’t happened yet. So that’s one reason to be skeptical,” said Peter Cappelli, a professor at the Wharton School, in an interview with The New York Times.

The Times article notes that some of these cuts could be seen as “anticipatory layoffs” — companies reduce headcount to free up capital for investments in data centers and other AI technology. Molly Kinder, a senior research fellow at the Brookings Institution, suggested to the NYT that laying off workers might be more palatable to investors than a very different message: “the business is ailing.”

This is interesting. The link above lists several reasons companies are laying off employees that have nothing to do with AI, but that would require a certain level of honesty to admit.

Either you screwed up in hiring, the economy is hurting your business, recent changes in the law are hurting your business, or your firm is not as profitable as you thought it would be.

I can see why publicly proclaiming that you’re being innovative with new technology to reduce your headcount is a better alternative to admitting your firm isn’t doing well or to publicly blaming US policy. It might not be the whole truth, though. Usually, when there are large layoffs, the truth is a questionable idea anyway. AI just created another way to stretch it. In this case, Baker McKenzie may see a path in which new technology reduces the need for 10% of its staff. They may also be using that excuse to cover up failure, too.

Either way, 700 people are out of a job, and it’s become so routine that I fear it no longer raises an eyebrow. That’s the truly scary part.

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