This
week,
Amazon
announced
plans
to
lay
off
14,000
employees
by
the
year’s
end.
News
reports
indicate
that’s
only
the
beginning.
In
a
blog
post
addressed
to
its
workforce
earlier
this
year,
CEO
Andy
Jassy
forewarned
the
layoffs,
“As
we
roll
out
more
Generative
AI
and
agents,
it
should
change
the
way
our
work
is
done.
We
will
need
fewer
people
doing
some
of
the
jobs
that
are
being
done
today,
and
more
people
doing
other
types
of
jobs.”
Meta
has
also
downsized
its
workforce
this
year.
In
January,
CEO
Mark
Zuckerberg
sent
a
memo
to
Meta’s
employees
outlining
plans
to
increase
efficiency
using
AI,
enabling
the
company
to
eliminate
5%
of
its
workforce,
a
total
of
approximately
3,500
jobs,
by
the
end
of
2025.
Since
then,
Meta
has
carried
out
multiple
waves
of
layoffs:
in
February,
nearly
4,000
employees
across
the
U.S.,
Europe,
and
Asia
were
cut;
in
April,
over
100
staff
from
Reality
Labs,
which
builds
VR
and
wearable
tech,
were
let
go;
in
June,
managers
were
told
to
give
15%
to
20%
of
large-team
members
“below
expectations”
ratings
to
prepare
for
more
cuts;
and
most
recently,
about
600
employees
from
Meta
Superintelligence
Labs,
the
company’s
AI
division,
were
laid
off.
Meta
and
Amazon
aren’t
lone
wolves;
corporate
America
is
fully
on
board
with
this
game
plan.
According
to
a
recent
Resume.org
survey,
39%
of
companies
have
already
reduced
their
headcount,
with
another
36%
planning
to
do
so
over
the
next
few
months.
For
example,
Salesforce,
which
determined
that
AI
could
handle
50%
of
customer
support
tasks,
subsequently
cut
4,000
customer
support
positions
last
month.
Can
Lawyers
Avoid
The
Chopping
Block?
The
writing
seems
to
be
on
the
wall:
AI
is
replacing
jobs,
and
like
it
or
not,
legal
professionals
aren’t
immune
from
this
trend.
AI
is
probably
coming
for
their
jobs,
too.
Case
in
point:
Microsoft’s
workforce
reductions
in
May
and
July
impacted
15,000
people,
32
of
whom
were
lawyers
and
five
of
whom
were
paralegals.
Some
industry
experts
believed
AI
was
partially
to
blame.
Sean
Burke,
founding
partner
of
recruiting
firm
Whistler
Partners,
who
places
tech
attorneys
at
startups,
said,
“My
guess
is
that
the
lion’s
share
of
laid-off
attorneys
at
Microsoft
are
in
the
bottom
tranche,
lawyers
three
to
seven
years
out
of
law
school
that
are
more
easily
replaced,
where
you
can
get
less
lawyers
to
do
more
using
AI.”
In
The
AI
Era,
Who
Needs
Lawyers?
Now
that
AI
is
ubiquitous
and
free,
potential
legal
consumers,
especially
those
who
can’t
afford
an
attorney,
are
questioning
whether
lawyers
are
even
necessary.
Why
pay
for
a
lawyer
when
AI
can
help
you
represent
yourself?
Because
of
this
attitude,
the
rate
of
pro
se
litigants
relying
on
AI
tools
is
increasing,
with
some
achieving
successful
outcomes.
In
one
recent
case,
a
California
woman
appeared
pro
se
in
an
eviction
matter.
While
she
was
working
with
a
local
tenant
advocacy
network,
a
jury
decided
in
favor
of
her
landlord.
Rather
than
continuing
to
work
the
advocacy
network,
she
turned
to
AI.
With
the
assistance
of
ChatGPT
and
Perplexity,
she
identified
errors
in
the
court’s
procedural
rulings,
ultimately
winning
on
appeal.
She
explained
that
AI
was
the
key
to
her
success:
“I
can’t
overemphasize
the
usefulness
of
AI
in
my
case.
I
never,
ever,
ever,
ever
could
have
won
this
appeal
without
AI.”
In
another
case,
a
pro
se
litigant
relied
on
ChatGPT
to
dispute
allegations
of
an
unpaid
debt.
She
asked
the
chatbot
for
advice
on
how
to
respond
to
the
lawsuit
and
used
it
to
create
templates
and
draft
arguments
in
her
favor.
She
was
able
to
negotiate
a
settlement
that
reduced
the
amount
owed
by
$2,000.
Facing
The
Music
And
Adapting
Not
all
lawyers
are
reacting
to
this
newfound
reality
with
dismay.
Some
are
proactively
pivoting
and
identifying
ways
to
use
AI
to
bridge
the
access
to
justice
gap.
For
example,
Zoe
Dolan,
a
supervising
attorney
at
Public
Counsel,
a
nonprofit
public
interest
law
firm
and
legal
advocacy
center
in
Los
Angeles,
decided
to
offer
educational
resources
for
self-represented
litigants.
She
helped
design
a
course
that
would
assist
LA
County
residents
in
understanding
how
to
responsibly
use
AI
for
advocacy
purposes.
Topics
covered
included
crafting
prompts,
creating
documents,
and
analyzing
the
accuracy
of
AI
outputs.
The
Choice
Is
Yours
AI
isn’t
just
changing
the
way
lawyers
work.
It’s
changing
how
people
obtain
legal
assistance,
and
blurring
the
boundaries
between
attorney
and
algorithm.
Some
lawyers
perceive
this
trend
as
a
threat,
but
others
recognize
it
as
an
opportunity
to
rethink
how
legal
help
is
delivered.
As
the
number
of
AI-assisted
pro
se
litigants
increases,
legal
professionals
must
adapt
by
using
AI
to
streamline
tasks,
educate
clients,
and
focus
on
complex,
human-driven
advocacy.
Lawyers
won’t
be
replaced,
but
their
role
may
very
well
be
redefined.
So
what
better
time
than
now
to
change
how
you
think
about
your
work?
The
future
of
law
isn’t
lawyers
versus
AI,
it’s
lawyers
with
AI.
Attorneys
who
understand
that
distinction
will
shape
the
next
chapter
of
the
profession,
their
law
firms,
and
the
way
legal
services
are
provided.
Nicole
Black is
a
Rochester,
New
York
attorney
and
Principal
Legal
Insight
Strategist
at 8am,
the
team
behind
8am
MyCase,
LawPay,
CasePeer,
and
DocketWise.
She’s
been blogging since
2005,
has
written
a weekly
column for
the
Daily
Record
since
2007,
is
the
author
of Cloud
Computing
for
Lawyers,
co-authors Social
Media
for
Lawyers:
the
Next
Frontier,
and
co-authors Criminal
Law
in
New
York.
She’s
easily
distracted
by
the
potential
of
bright
and
shiny
tech
gadgets,
along
with
good
food
and
wine.
You
can
follow
her
on
Twitter
at @nikiblack and
she
can
be
reached
at [email protected].