5 Things from Lockdown we will keep in the Legal Industry

In this article, we discuss the changes we expect to see in the Legal Industry here in Melbourne post the global pandemic. These are the ways our working lives have changed during 7+ months of working from home.

When law firms started to work from home in March 2020, there was an element of novelty involved. Melbourne embraced working from home and quickly adopted technology to keep us virtually connected to our workplaces. We iso-baked, had Zoom drinks with friends and colleagues and complained about home schooling our children.

As businesses start to get into the tricky and complex planning involved with potentially bringing part of their workforces back into office buildings, we look at the parts of lockdown that have improved our working lives.

These are the bits we plan to keep.

Gone are the days of arguing that a role could not be done remotely. Working from home is here to stay and we expect to see a continued demand from candidates to keep some of this work life balance and flexibility in their role.

We particularly expect to see a rise in those wanting the best of both worlds, a couple of days in the office and a couple of days from home.

Sometimes the legal industry has been slow to adopt technology. 2020 has seen the biggest advances and adoption of technology driven by the need to get off paper based systems and work remotely. We have seen online dispute resolution, smart legal contracts, e-signatures and even electronic execution of documentation. This, combined with virtual meetings, courts and mediation proceedings being held online, has really been a stunning year of innovation and achievement.

In our 2020 Impact of Coronavirus survey we found that 40% of respondents were feeling more productive from home. Less time spent commuting, less meetings and less distracting co-workers all meant that more was getting done.

Particularly if we see employees asking to keep at least some flexibility in their working lives, we expect to see this productivity bump continue.

Firms that have taken exceptional care of their people during the global pandemic will have earned a certain amount of employee loyalty. These firms communicated well, looked out for their company culture and were very focused on the health and safety of their people. They sent iso-gifts, they managed to facilitate team building activities. They encouraged team members to remain a part of the company mission. There will be an element of solidarity in teams in having come through these challenging times together.

Virtual meetings are here to stay. Why travel interstate or long distance when we have demonstrated what is achievable via Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, Skype for Business and Webex. Some firms are even having less or shorter meetings than pre-Covid, allowing more time for action and productivity!

Without access to a vaccine, there is no real way of knowing when life will return to normal in Melbourne. Fully occupied offices and commuter trains are a little hard to contemplate after so many months of working from home. The usual December Christmas parties or client entertaining remain hard to imagine and are likely to look very different, possibly with an outdoor or virtual theme!

The legal industry as a whole, has navigated the challenge of Covid-19 and Melbourne’s 2 ^nd wave of the virus well and is expected to bounce back over time.

We think taking the positives from the experience and embedding them into future work practices is the best way to prove we have all learned something!

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