According to Financial Times News, law firm Clifford Chance is cutting about 10% of its London business services staff, with artificial intelligence cited as a key reason. Roughly 550 employees were notified last month that approximately 50 positions will be eliminated while up to 35 others will face role changes. The firm, where partners earned an average of £2.1 million last financial year, told staff that increased AI adoption and reduced demand for certain services necessitated the cuts. Additional work being shifted to hubs in Poland and India also contributed to the decision. The redundancies won’t take effect until January, but the timing right before Christmas has left staff unhappy, especially given the firm’s strong recent financial performance.
AI Reality Check
Here’s the thing about these AI-driven layoffs – there’s often a gap between the corporate narrative and the on-the-ground reality. Clifford Chance staff are reportedly skeptical that their AI tools are actually good enough to replace human workers. And honestly, that skepticism makes sense. We’re still in the early days of enterprise AI implementation, particularly in complex professional services environments. The technology might handle routine document processing or basic queries, but can it really replace the nuanced decision-making that happens in finance, HR, and IT functions? Probably not yet.
Bigger Trend
This isn’t isolated to Clifford Chance. Law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner made similar cuts earlier this year, reducing their global business services workforce by about 8% and also citing technology as a factor. There’s clearly pressure from clients who want to see efficiency gains from their expensive legal counsel. Most major firms are either using third-party legal tech from companies like Harvey or Legora, or building their own internal tools. But here’s what’s interesting – while these tools might automate mundane tasks, the real driver could be simpler: cost arbitrage through those overseas hubs in Poland and India.
Human Cost
Announcing job cuts right before Christmas feels particularly brutal, even by corporate standards. Employees who just learned they’re losing their jobs now have to navigate the holiday season with that uncertainty hanging over them. And the timing raises questions – if the firm performed so well financially last year, why the sudden urgency to cut 10% of business services staff? It suggests this might be more about future-proofing the balance sheet than responding to immediate financial pressures. The creation of “new roles” and “revised team structures” sounds like corporate speak for doing more with less people.
What’s Next
Look, this is likely just the beginning. As AI tools become more sophisticated and firms get better at integrating them, we’ll probably see more back-office restructuring across professional services. The challenge for companies will be balancing efficiency gains with maintaining service quality. And for employees in these roles? It’s time to think about what skills AI can’t easily replicate – strategic thinking, complex problem-solving, and human judgment. Because while AI might handle the routine stuff, the messy, complicated work still needs people. At least for now.
