Abstract
Technology in professional service firms (PSFs) has evolved from digitisation to machine learning and, most recently, Generative AI. The latter, in particular, has been adopted by PSFs with remarkable speed and intensity. While promises of GenAI-driven gains in productivity and efficiency continue to grow, what we know about their actual transformation in PSFs remains limited. Business lawyers, the focus of our study, are increasingly engaging with legal specialized collaborative GenAI (e.g., Harvey, Legora, CoCounsel) as well as all-purpose GenAI (e.g., Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT). From administrative to core advisory work, GenAI has the potential to both automate repetitive tasks and augment professional expertise through enhanced analytical capabilities. It is known that workers in PSFs are intrinsically motivated by high performance and excellence in delivery. Yet, even if the ‘ideal worker norm’ remains at the centre of how lawyers and other professionals arrange their working activities and careers, a growing group have been attempting to overcome the unrealistic expectations around work and strive for a more balanced life. Given the pressures emerging from the intensive use of GenAI for legal services as well as the potential disruption of the professional logic for business lawyers, we are conducting an exploratory study to examine how the ‘ideal worker’ norms are destabilized as GenAI alters the basis of career advancement. We draw on qualitative longitudinal data from BifrostLaw, which allow us to follow the progress of such pressures over a period of one year, starting from the firm’s introduction of Legora, in February 2025. In this paper, we present a preliminary insight of the fieldwork and introduce the rationale for the ‘unanchored worker’.