'I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can do that.'
Baker McKenzie is laying off up to a tenth of its global business services workforce as part of a reorganisation driven in part by its increased use of AI.
Sources told RollOnFriday this week that Bakers was cutting “dozens of roles in London and Belfast” and “100s across the firm including in their offshore centers”, across functions including know-how, research, marketing, secretarial”.
RollOnFriday understands the firm is seeking to make less than 10% of the worldwide support workforce redundant, equivalent to approximately 600-1,000 people.
A spokesperson said, "we recently undertook a careful review of our business professionals functions” in order to “position the Firm for continued growth and remain agile in a fast-evolving business context”.
Sources told ROF this week that Bakers was cutting “dozens of roles in London and Belfast” and “100s across the firm including in their offshore centers”, across functions including know-how, research, marketing, secretarial”.
The spokesperson said, “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”.
Pointing out that Bakers was not the only law firm making swingeing cuts to its legal support teams, the spokesperson said that “Following the review, and consistent with many other organizations, we are proposing a series of changes to how we operate and deliver important business services”.
In November, Clifford Chance cut 10% of its UK business services staff while Irwin Mitchell slashed all its litigation paralegals. Freshfields cited AI as it laid off paralegals in September
Bakers suggested cryptically that “some roles will likely be phased out” but “others will evolve”.
“We have not taken decisions around these proposed changes lightly, but felt it was necessary to deliver on our long-term plans. We appreciate the valuable contributions our impacted colleagues have made to the Firm and will be supporting them", they said.
The reaction from some of those facing the chop was less measured, with one employee telling ROF their bosses were "short sighted" (plus several expletives).
Comments
163
14
Mark my words, this will end in tears and the ruin of many Law Firms previously considered to be decent and well-run.
🤧
141
16
Glad this has made it onto ROF. Management is minimising this as just business services but it impacts all lawyers as it includes knowledge lawyers. They say CoPilot can do it(!) but we all know this means more pressure on fee earners to do knowhow at a time when we are already under huge billing pressures.
67
14
More are coming mark my words...
86
14
Makes you wonder if this is why their global COO is leaving!
94
12
Feels like a decision made from on high who will not be impacted by the lack of actual, talented, knowledgeable know how lawyers who contribute vastly to service that clients come to the firm for. If they think fee earners are going to plug the gap given the ridiculous high hours target, they are greatly mistaken and have a huge shock coming.
120
15
Baker McKenzie: where experience is temporary, loyalty is obsolete, and greed masquerades as innovation.
87
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Poor Partners at Bakers not able to maximise their profits. I really hope they can earn more now at the expense of their loyal workforce. The clients will lose out too in the end. The personal service will go replaced by a bot.
34
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Sadly mid-tier law firms are going to find out that clients will prefer using AI than asking them for advice.
101
14
We're going to see a marked difference soon between (1) the law firms that wisely value their colleagues by seeing AI as an enhancer rather than a replacement for people and (2) the law firms that go all in on AI without realising that AI still creates slop that needs humans to fine-tune the results.
93
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Congratulations to the firm. Years of loyalty replaced by a few lines of code. Don’t worry, the partners’ champagne budget is fully AI-proof.
95
13
We won't be using Bakers going forward.
24
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This isn’t mainly about AI anyway - read the actual comments by the firm.
45
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The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms.
77
9
Many of the roles impacted can not be done by AI, the only motivation is cutting costs to make more PPP…..
21
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to translate 11:36: 'I won't be working at Bakers going forward'
72
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@11.39 I am one of those at risk. They were not so shy then about telling us AI will take over in the meetings.
61
11
Co-Pilot is ok but it still makes some epic fails.
10
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Test
101
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They did not just cut in London and Belfast. They cut in every office around the world. They are doing the cuts in every office. This is only happening because a select number of sociopathic partners in London and US thinks Bakers needs to rise a couple of spots in PPP rankings.
It's not just 10%. Some teams have been completely dismantled and eliminated. They treated employees like criminals in some locations. This has been happening for quite some time.
61
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"We appreciate the valuable contributions our impacted colleagues have made to the Firm and will be supporting them"
Let us know when you're planning to start this Sunny!
107
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Good luck getting lawyers to do any non-billable work. It'll be dumped on remaining BD staff who now have no co-ordinators, no admin support, and no research team. Then there'll be some sort of scandal because AI will generate something completely false for a client. It's all so predictable.
57
9
You can't have a career at this firm. Just not possible.
47
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AI is an excuse as clear as day. Recession looming.
113
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It’s not really about AI. It’s to artificially increase profits through internal cuts as there’s no real growth. Maybe partners should focus on cutting their own expenses such as first class flights and spending thousands in a nightclub for a “practice group meeting”.
49
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They did something similar with new billing software a few years ago, when it was clear it wasn't fit for purpose. They made the cuts regardless as growth was slow and expenses were rising.
48
7
Delighted to hear AI is the future. Should be fun when a partner confidently quotes a hallucinated precedent and has to pretend they ‘meant to do that’. Truly a golden age for professional dignity.
70
7
Ah yes, the Baker McKenzie culture we hear so much about. Apparently it now involves quietly axing entire teams and calling it innovation. Inspirational stuff - well done!
23
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No NI charged on AI bots. Cheers Rachel.
69
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The ‘culture of friendship’ is more a culture of vulture s. Businesses services team have had no job security as far back as 2018 when the brainchild pbs21 was birthed; it’s been one expensive disaster after another, with a leadership vacuum running alongside.
25
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The robots are coming
66
7
Found out more from this than from leadership at Bakers. Not a single communication sent to staff 4 days after meetings were held with those impacted. It's like they're hoping people won't notice. I'm an AI though so thankfully I'm safe.
38
11
Another fine example from a decision made by those at the top without talking to the people that actually do the work. Let's have a quick catch up! Brutal.
16
9
Harbinger of what is to come.
Exit law. It is no longer attractive.
131
8
Let me give you a bit more insider tea on this.
1. The current global management committee insists on higher profitability. Bakers is not winning more high-value work so they insist on a combination of higher pricing and workforce cuts. However, they are not willing to scale back on business travel and vanity events.
2. Bakers business centers across four regions (Belfast, Buenos Aires, Manila and Tampa) experienced massive cuts that are somewhere between 20-30%. Several teams have been dismantled completely. In local offices, the cuts focused on operations (assistants), human resources (we call it People team internally), finance and technology. Even fee-earning business units under operations have been cut. It's not true that it's just a maximum of 10%. They did more than that.
3. No strategy was communicated to the entire firm. There is no communication whatsoever. Every time there were cuts, people were told 'this is the last one' but that is not true. The management always lets things settle then do more cuts when their desired outcomes are not reached.
4. The firm is now operating with skeletal operations team, business development and marketing team, and a non-existent knowledge function. 'Safe' employees have spent the last week fielding calls from concerned partners who are worried no one will take over their projects. There is no management backing or communications so far. Everyone is basically like pigs waiting to be slaughtered. That is how bad they fumbled this one. It's no longer a culture of friendship. It's a culture of distrust. No one believes what leaders are saying anymore. It is that bad.
5. This entire reorganization is driven by a select few partners in the global management committee who are more interested in adding a few thousands in Bakers' PPP. There is also a rumor going around that Bakers is looking to merge or acquire so they are trying to streamline more. Ask the US partners why they are so interested in this. Maybe because we are not performing well here in the US that we insist on this?
6. It has been more than a year since the Firm did a global town hall. No one in leadership wants to be accountable for this mess. Anyone who has been part of Bakers in the 2000s or the 2010s will not recognize this Bakers anymore. Change is inevitable, but Bakers culture is now in the distant past, killed by a select number of individuals hell-bent on keeping their senior roles than protecting the institution and its culture. Previous transformation projects have not been this bad and the firm is able to keep its culture of friendship alive. This is not true anymore. All you have are partners who want to add a few thousands on their bonuses, and a select group of senior partners who want to assert their power over the firm because they never became executive chairs in the old structure.
56
13
Glad this finally made into the news. Bakers has already cut dozens of roles across all offices - quietly but mercilessly. The only reason they decided to announce this is because they will hit the freehold for consultation in the UK, but combined cuts far exceeded 10%.
Some changes are just BAU - law firms are always restructuring and, let’s not kid ourselves, business services folks are the first to go. Other changes are just bonkers driven by the profit greedy partners charged with the firm’s integration.
21
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It's concerning that the South African office is cutting the lowest-paid staff, especially when their roles can’t be replaced by AI. This seems contradictory to the Firm's stated reasons for the job cuts.
78
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As someone in the group that was shown the door this week by this law firm, they ruined peoples lives. People with children, people needing health insurance due to undergoing treatment for serious illnesses, and people who made salaries so low they were already living paycheck to paycheck. Many of us were told that a “study of the market” dictated that AI could do our jobs when the firm didn’t even possess an AI product that had proven such a reality to be true.
34
7
I was also one who was removed from the firm, without prior notice, nobody expected it. I have two kids, my performance was always on top and still I was kicked out. My life was turned upside down. I‘m devastated. Never in the world I thought this was going to happen after more than 10 years in the firm. For the first time ever I had to register myself as unemployed, and I feel so empty. I‘m lost for words…
12
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BAKER DOESNT HAVE HARVEY OR LEGORA FOR A START
4
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Hey, Baker McKenzie! Yo’ AI so crap, yo” think Legora is on the Pizza Express menu
28
4
AI...that's an interesting abbreviation for "new management committee wants to drive PPP and revenue growth is lagging"
27
5
I'm amazed that the Linklaters cuts haven't made the news yet?!? Are they keeping a lid on it as they know it's not a good look as they move to their fancy new offices?
28
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Let’s be clear, a lot of the people in tech actually can’t be replaced by AI. The technology isn’t there yet and may infact never get there. Ultimately this law firm will suffer for the decision it’s made.
42
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It is disappointing to see Bakers prioritize partner luxuries and 'lavish' corporate perks over the livelihoods of the hardworking admin staff. Cutting the lowest earners while maintaining an extravagant lifestyle at the top isn't leadership—it’s an easy way out.
17
5
Look at Links - former giant trying to cut its way to the top.
18
8
Typical scapegoating AI. We know standard and proprietary AI systems are nowhere near as good enough without human intervention and prompt engineering to fix its guranteed errors. Bakers have shot themselves in the foot; loss of knowledge specialists and client relationship support from good secretaries will be felt. Clearly it's about PEP, not clients who Bakers will just treat as cash cows!
8
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AI is exponentially improving, even from just a few months ago. Most of the mistakes ("AI slop") referred to aren't happening anymore. I'm not saying I approve of the impact of AI on workforces, I'm just saying most people don't seem to realize how far AI has come in a very short time and how much better it will be in the near future. Prepare.