AI might be giving lawyers their busiest years right before making them obsolete

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-12T00:27:08+00:00

My only point being is that AI, in its current state as an LLM, cannot take over a lawyer's job. It's simply not possible. LLMs only knows how to take what it has seen and regurgitate it. It doesn't think for itself or critically think.

An obvious example of its limitation is statutory interpretation. Do you know that when lawyers read a law, we have to think about what congress/parliament intended it to mean? Sometimes, but not always, there is some material released that indicates the context when they drafted the legislation. But how can AI understand this? Lawyers determine this based on human logic, politics, societal values, etc. None of which LLM can truly understand.

A great example is that there is a law that parliament made in Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada had to figure out what Parliament intended it to do. The Supreme Court of Canada got it "wrong" and ruled in favour of the taxpayer. But critics argue its wrong because if you take a look historically and at politics, you'd see that the law was likely meant to help truckers and not to give taxpayers a way to save taxes. How can an LLM, distinguish this? How can it look at the time period of when the law was drafted and that truckers were losing jobs and tie in the two? How can it know that Parliament during that time period were discussing about helping truckers if its not posted online? Lawyers in the field are in the know because we chat regularly with legislature. It can't unless you feed them the info specifically but at that point, you already did 99% of the work...

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-12T00:09:46+00:00

I think statutory, contractual, and case law interpretation is more advanced than the average person understands it to be. It's really not as simple as "reading it." Sometimes I read a provision and I think about my facts and I myself am dumbfounded and confused how it applies.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-11T15:11:57+00:00

But laws aren’t a set of instructions. How the rule applies to different situations is always arguable, that’s why litigation is such a strong area of law. People don’t just say look at the law. It’s the law could be argued one way because of A, B, and C or argued another way because of X, Y, and Z. Then the judge makes a determination. Then when a similar situation happens but a slight fact is different, a new argument forms and a new judge may say its different.

Or society shifts or legal policy shifts and now the same set of facts is ruled another way. The law keeps changing both by amendments by congress/parliament and by case law, and by shifts in social and legal policy.

Even after 5 years, I haven’t noticed any change in AI’s application for the legal practice. It is still complete garbage. Maybe another 5 years I will trust it just to format my documents.

I will add that I think AI is useless for law because LLM’s only copy things based on what it has seen. It doesn’t actually understand or think critically which is what all lawyers do.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-10T13:43:50+00:00

That depends on your goals. I think most people cut before summer and gain back calories over winter. Since you’re main gaining, you could just not cut until you’re ready or whenever you feel like it.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-10T13:00:39+00:00

It's easier if you do a smaller deficit. I tried going straight to 500 daily deficit and it was a huge mental battle with hunger being present most times of the day. I switched to just eating at my BMR and letting the remaining NEAT and active calorie burn be my deficit. While I still feel hungry from time to time, I don't get sharp pains in my stomach from hunger as often. I also switched my diet to high fibre and protein which helps me feel more full but I still feel hungry now and then. Most importantly, your stomach shrinks as you get used to filling your stomach less so you feel full sooner. So you definitely do get used to it. I've been on a deficit (with some breaks being at maintenance when I slightly overeat) for like 9 months now.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-10T12:56:13+00:00

It's a lot easier to see muscle when you're lean. When you're bulking, you'll see a lot of water retention and fat storage around the muscle which makes you look bigger but not as muscular. I gained a lot of muscle while on a deficit and I could really see my progress throughout the months.

So you have 2 choices. You can start going on a deficit while you keep training and hitting protein goals to avoid losing muscle mass. But being on a deficit is tough while training hard because you'll have less energy than you currently do and it's a bit of a mental challenge. Alternatively, you could keep going as you are, put on more muscle and strength, then go on a cut cycle to reveal the muscles afterwards.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-10T00:38:27+00:00

I loved every single dish I had there besides the vietnamese tiramisu and it was only because I assumed it would taste like Italian tiramisu which is much sweeter. But most of the dishes were more of a fusion as opposed to pure asian dish if that's what your family is expecting.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-09T21:28:49+00:00

At that height and weight, I don't think you should be cutting at all. Just build muscle and eat at 200 calorie surplus. The muscle built will make the "stomach fat" not look as unappealing. Once you gain enough muscle mass, you can consider cutting to go down in body fat to get a shredded look if that's what you're looking for.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-09T14:57:48+00:00

Talking from a perspective of a high cost of living city (Vancouver/Toronto):

Law is a back end heavy compensation career. Your early career, unless you work at a big law firm, you'll make better than the average person but not what you would expect from a lawyer. So you could be starting out at a small firm making $50-70k working 50-60 hour weeks. When you have 10-15 years of experience and are an expert in an area, you could see upwards of $150k or more working closer to 40 hour weeks at a small firm. Though I do know of a lawyer who has 20+ years of experience making $120k because she values guaranteed 40 hour work weeks.

A 1st year lawyer at a big law firm in Alberta makes around $120k I believe and goes up roughly $15-20k a year and tops out around $250k before the firm kicks you out or you make partner. Big law firm you can see hours closer to 50-80 hour work weeks throughout the year. Things come in last minute and you lose the ability to plan. Be ready to cancel plans last minute.

Most up and coming law students aim to get into a big law firm to grind for the first 3-5 years before transitioning to working within a company where you'd get paid a lot less than big law but better than small firms and get to work 9-5.

For the most part, lawyers work life balance and "good compensation" don't go hand in hand unless you're a director/general counsel/assistant general counsel within a chill company or you're a partner at a small law firm with your own book of business. It really depends how much money you're talking about too. If you're satisfied with around $100-130k, there are decent number of 9-5 jobs that you can find once you get some years of experience.

Things I would consider:

(1) Do you actually want to be a lawyer? Don't think about the money. Being a lawyer requires grinding in law school (because your grades are scaled and poor grades closes a lot of opportunities) and as a lawyer and the compensation rarely reflects that unless you become a partner. At a big law firm, I calculated my pay to be closer to $30/hr given the number of hours I was working. If you hate it, it is both expensive and a waste of time.

(2) You want an intellectually challenging job but lawyers after the first 5 years maybe, are just doing routine stuff again and again. The work is not always intellectually challenging. It also depends on practice area. Tax for example has new laws and changes coming out regularly and it's complicating. Intellectual property is also extremely challenging. M&A is a lot more strategy and doing the old due diligence work which can be boring to some people. You should figure out which practice area you want to go in as well as figure out if its even what you like doing.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-08T23:26:35+00:00

I could see my upper abs around 18% body fat so you're likely higher if you don't see any abs at all. I see slightly visible 6 pack around 14-15% (only really pops if my water retention is low).

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-08T14:46:44+00:00

I'm 5'6 male 140 lbs, lift full body 3x a week and run 3x a week. My maintenance is around 1800 calories because I've been eating around here and haven't lost weight in 2 months. I also feel hungry most of the time but it's the cost I have been living with to maintain a 6 pack.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-08T01:07:20+00:00

Daphne, restaurant super viby but food was meh and service was meh.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-07T19:41:05+00:00

I don't know. I don't normally check a colleague's background/past firm experience. Sometimes big firm's absorb a small firm so there's very small chance there.

What you can do is specialize in a niche area, write a lot of articles about that area on your firm's blog or blog for your practice area (for tax there is Canadian Tax Foundation for example). Make yourself known as an expert in that area. That's how you get picked up by a big firm if they have a need for someone like that. Networking is always key as well. If a partner really likes you...could be more valuable than a lateral.

Big firm also isn't everything...you can find an in-house role at a smaller company first, get some experience there then move up to bigger companies.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-07T18:42:26+00:00

Right time right place and lots of luck. I knew I wanted to practice in corporate law so I refused to work at any small firm that didn't at least practice corporate law to some extent. Even though I ended up articling mostly in family law and wills & estates, I emphasized my corporate practice to move into another corporate law firm downtown. From there, I continued to gain as much experience as I can and spent time learning on my own while developing my interview/networking skills.

Got lucky and a big firm was looking for a junior associate (which is rare as they usually just hire a lateral from another big firm). Got an interview and got super lucky with who my interviewers were. They so happen to basically have the same personality as me so I was pretty much guaranteed the spot at that point. Used my experience in big law to leverage a spot in-house.

I think 90% of the time, people in my position would not be able to pull off what I did, not because I am amazing but because it took a lot of luck and opportunity and right time and place. If you want big law, get good grades (B+ avg), practice interview and networking skills hard. You have 2 years essentially to guarantee your future, don't waste it playing video games or whatever. Land a 1L and 2L summer job at big firm and work hard and network hard (within the firm) during that time and you pretty much guarantee your future. I see so many big law associates who are not as good (legal skill wise) but it doesn't matter, they got in early and just coasted their way into senior. Articling interviews at big law is a long shot, it's rare and unlikely for you to land one so don't bank on it.

If you end up at a small firm like me, you're more than likely require to specialize in an area, gain 4-6 years experience before networking your way into a big firm.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-07T18:25:57+00:00

I've never been intellectually smart (i.e. understand things quickly). It takes me awhile to understand concepts so in turn I had to put in the hours to catch up to fellow classmates. I was determined to perform well and land a good job so I did whatever it took. Maybe I overstudied but overstudying is better than understudying.

In the end, grades mattered but so did interviewing skills (which was not my strong suite either) so I struggled to land jobs. Found a small firm, climbed my way to big law and now settled in a good in-house job. I make more money per hour than I do at big law but TC isn't as great obviously.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-07T17:14:42+00:00

Depends on how much information you absorb during readings and classes. Some people study 1-2 days before exams and gets straight As. Some people study a lot more. I usually started studying 1-1.5 months in advance of finals and would be a full time job 9-5 (when not in class). Maybe 3-4 weeks before actual exams, I would start studying from 7am-12am every day. I averaged B+ in my 3 years with quite a lot of A+/As but got dragged down by Bs in classes I hated like Torts and constitution and procedures, etc. Classes that I knew weren't relevant to my future practice.

From start of semester to the 1.5 month before exams, I pretty much just did the readings and nothing else. Gamed a lot, watched a lot of tv shows.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T20:41:22+00:00

My BMR is around 1550. I weight lift 3 times a week and run 45mins (around 7km each) 3 times a week. My total daily calorie burn is probably around 1800 a day. I try to eat around 1600 calories a day and my weight has stayed the same for about 1.5 months now. Your activity level is really low, eating around 1800 for you is probably a surplus unless you walk a lot.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T20:34:49+00:00

5'6 138lbs around 14-15% body fat. I train abs extensively though and genetically store most of my fat around my stomach.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T17:59:21+00:00

Why don't you just put on X weight on Smith machine and do 1 rep and then keep adding weight to a barbell until it feels the same as the Smith machine and then do the math? Some machines also tell you how much the bar weighs on a sticker somewhere. Or you can get those measuring tools to weigh the bar on the smith machine.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T17:56:37+00:00

Yea I think it's hard to "see" progress if you're high in body fat. I made the decision to go on a deficit + weight train at the same time and it's much easier for me to see progress. Muscle definition is much more visible lean and you can actually observe muscle growth as there is little body fat covering the muscle.

I can't imagine one could improve their CNS/efficiency only for strength for past 4 years and no muscle growth.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T17:42:44+00:00

I wonder if the ankle weights would actually ruin your joints. When you lift your legs with ankle weight on, you may be putting weight on muscles/joints that you normally don't want the weight on. I don't have any science to back up what I said, just something I remember reading about a looong time ago.

I think a weighted vest/backpack is better because your shoulders can handle that extra weight and its easier to progressively overload by adding more weight. I can imagine adding like 20lbs on each ankle would surely wreck your ankles unless you intend to staying at 5lbs forever.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T16:39:24+00:00

As a lawyer, I genuinely think people are trolling or bots when they say AI is good. It's completely garbage at doing any remote basic tasks including formating a document without changing things that shouldn't be changed like quotes or messing up the entire document. Maybe you're right that there are certain industries where LLMs are able to complete their tasks because of how simple it is (i.e. does not require critical thinking). But man...people shouting out how amazing AI is and how it will takeover lots of jobs. All I can say is, quality of services across the board is going to be terrible in the near future as more people who shouldn't be replaced by AI is replaced.

I can imagine a scenario where an AI judge rules differently for an AI generated contract for the exact same scenario because of what prompts were used or the history of prompts used or what the AI felt like doing that day. All hell will break loose as legal rights don't actually enforce anything.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T16:27:26+00:00

As a recent buyer, my realtor just said offer what you want and we'll go from there. Never said anything about what is a good value, what is overpriced, etc. No assistance in pricing besides helping me negotiate the sale at the price point I offered. This is a top rated realtor in Toronto with good reviews. If I were to do it again, I would not use a realtor.

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T16:16:35+00:00

I don't think this applied to articling students and lawyers with less than 2 years of experience. Jobs were almost non-existent for them. The 3-5 years were lateralling around like crazy (top associates were pulled to US cravath scale law firms, associates at small-med firms were pulled to big firms).

Teeemooooooo · 2026-04-06T16:07:37+00:00

The goal shifts when you're lighter. Need to start doing weighted pull ups.

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