AI Power/Mobility Reset: Junior Lawyers Could Shake Up Law Firm Business Model

One of those we-all-know is that last March Paul, Weiss chair Brad Karp stated in The Lawyer Monthly: 

"Junior Lawyers Will Be ‘Significantly Replaced’ by AI & Tech" 

But now we're getting a fresh perspective on this. 

Sure, there'll be reduced demand for junior lawyers. But what about those junior lawyers who become wunderkinds at managing AI tool? Everything from strategy to overseeing operations?

Actually it's the CEO of AI Harvey Winston Weinberg who created that new lens for sizing up what could potentially play out in not only the Law of Supply and Demand but also mobility and power. In Lawfuel, Weinberg notes:  

"Junior lawyers who can drive AI platforms and handle structured risk will move faster than seniors who treat the tools as decoration. That factor will force firms to rethink how they route work and how they evaluate early career performance."

What Weinberg predicts isn't unthinkable. It's already a given that if equity partners and other senior players at law firms aren't generating the expected revenue they could be demoted to non-shareholder status or forced out. According to a survey by Law.com, 27% of equity partners anticipate their firms will conduct de-equitizations in 2025. 

Junior lawyers with advanced AI expertise could be the ones directly or indirectly increasing revenue and Profits Per Equity Partner. Clients are often driving the use of AI. In proposals they want to see how AI will be leveraged. Also they could be requesting details about how much the law firm is investing in technology.

Part of that ehanced financial performance could come from monetizing AI so that it's marketed to other law firms and other sectors. Also not unthinkable is that a law firm would evolve into a technology corporation. Former management consultant Booz Allen did just that. 

Partnering with Harvey, Paul Weiss has been the first law firm to custom-make an AI workflow tool. That creates new forms of value for clients and boosts efficiencies. That could be the beginning of myriad other AI firsts.

Obvious are the implications for law schools. Their objective has to go beyond simply equipping students with AI expertise. What about, as with Harvard Business School, creating unique approaches to the training, launching JDs who are tech stars?

Confidential tips about Paul, Weiss are welcome. So are bylined articles/op-eds. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com or text 203-468-8579.

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