🍋 AI Coming for Lawyers

AI is coming for lawyers' jobs, inflation was lower in March, and the Fed thinks we're heading for a recession.

April 13, 2023

Together With

“Everybody can read what I read, it’s a level playing field.” — Warren Buffett

Good Morning! Inflation only rose by 5% last month, its lowest level in almost two years. Egg prices led the way providing relief for consumers, plummeting by 11%.

OpenAI is offering up to $20k to users who can find bugs in their AI systems. E&Y paused its split after partners couldn't agree on terms for their breakup plan. Swiss regulators are calling on Credit Suisse to halt layoffs, and disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was finally ordered to report to prison to begin serving her 11-year sentence on April 27.

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1. Story of the Day: AI Coming for Lawyers

The legal industry is facing an existential crisis, and it's coming in the form of artificial intelligence. ChatGPT-style software, with its human-like language fluency, is poised to take over much of the grunt work that lawyers do.

Lawyers’ day-to-day responsibilities are ripe with paperwork. But AI can instantaneously perform various mundane tasks that have traditionally been the bread and butter of lawyers.

Goldman thinks nearly 50% of legal work could be automated in the coming decades. But while some law firms remain skeptical about the potential of AI to automate jobs, others are embracing it as a game-changer that could make lawyers more productive and efficient.

Some law partners are comparing ChatGPT to a "smarter paralegal," and AI technology could enable lawyers to automate the grunt work and focus on developing industry expertise and stronger relationships with clients.

Chatbots could help lawyers become more productive, but that’s not necessarily beneficial to a law firm’s bottom line. With some partners billing thousands of dollars per hour, higher productivity from AI automation would likely result in fewer billable hours.

Takeaway: Brace yourselves, AI is coming to take your jobs, and professional services jobs seem to be especially in danger. AI could reduce billing for mundane grunt work, and service fees could become more reflective of the value a project adds. Better alignment of incentives we’d say!

2. Markets Rundown

For access to Wall Street insider interviews, industry deep-dives, premium research/resources and weekly Knowledge Drop newsletter, check out our Insiders membership.

Stocks closed lower over new recession fears.

Movers & Shakers

  • (+) Trition International ($TRTN) +32% after the company agreed to a take-private by Brookfield.

  • (–) American Airlines ($AAL) -9% after the airline took a profit hit from rising labor and fuel costs.

  • (–) Peloton ($PTON) -11% after Morgan Stanley warned of slowing online growth.

Private Dealmaking

  • Emerson Electric bought National Instruments for $8.2 billion 

  • Brookfield Infrastructure Partners bought Triton International, an owner of shipping containers, for $4.7 billion

  • Clear Street, a capital markets infrastructure startup, raised $270 million

  • VintaBio, a contract manufacturing organization, raised $64 million

  • AutoLeap, an auto repair software startup, raised $30 million 

  • Pili, a sustainable dye and pigments producer, raised $15.8 million

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3. Top Reads

  • The state of venture in 5 charts (CB)

  • Unpacking the market’s commercial real estate problem (Axios)

  • Warren Buffett says we’re not through with bank failures (CNBC)

  • Venture capital keeps flowing past the warning signs (Axios)

  • Why Tesla is losing its EV dominance (YF)

  • Juul will pay $462M to 6 states in its largest settlement ever (CNBC)

  • The top 25 entry-level jobs for college grads in 2023 (Fortune)

  • ‘By far’ the largest contributor to inflation (YF)

  • How big companies choose who is laid off (WSJ)

  • Elon Musk says Twitter is now roughly breakeven (CNBC)

4. Shortform Book of the Day: Both/And Thinking

 

Life is full of paradoxes. How can we each express our individuality while also being a team player? How do we balance work and life? How can we improve diversity while promoting opportunities for all? How can we manage the core business while innovating for the future?

For many of us, these competing and interwoven demands are a source of conflict. Since our brains love to make either-or choices, we choose one option over the other. We deal with the uncertainty by asserting certainty.

There's a better way.

In Both/And Thinking, Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis help readers cope with multiple, knotted tensions at the same time. Drawing from more than twenty years of pioneering research, they provide tools and lessons for transforming these tensions into opportunities for innovation and personal growth.

Filled with practical advice and fascinating stories—including firsthand tales from IBM, LEGO, and Unilever, as well as from startups, nonprofits, and even an inn at one of the four corners of the world—Both/And Thinking will change the way you approach your most vexing problems.

“Many of us believe that truth is ubiquitous—that if something is true, its opposite must be false. “Yes, and” reminds us that there are multiple truths and that we, therefore, do not have to simply reject someone when they challenge our assumptions.”

Read More Books in Finance, Economics, and More with Shortform

5. Short Squeez Picks

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6. Daily Visual: Share of Commercial Real Estate Loans, by Lender Type

Out of $4.5 billion in US debt backed by income-producing real estate; as of March 2023

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen

Here’s how to make your relationship amazing:

Positive emotion beats problem-solving: Good feelings come first otherwise you’re solving problems with… someone you don’t like very much.

Avoid The Four Horsemen: Less criticism, defensiveness, and stonewalling. And no contempt.

Perpetual problems don’t get solved: You can walk fine on a trick knee if you understand its quirks and don’t let it frustrate you.

Soft startup to conflict discussions: Ladies, complain but don’t criticize. Conversations that begin negative almost always end negative.

Time-outs beat stonewalling: Guys, don’t tune out if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Ask for a 20 minute break.

Don’t resist — repair: Laughing, being nice or acknowledging what was said doesn’t mean you immediately lose the argument. And it might stop you from losing your partner.

Happy couples don’t just “interact well” moment for moment. They create a culture together. Their own little world. Shared rituals, roles, goals, symbols… In short, a shared meaning system. It starts with understanding and honoring one another’s dreams and extends to a meshing of life dreams.

8. Memes of the Day

 

 

 

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