Today we will provide information and reviews about Revisiting the remote vs. physical office debate, post-pandemic
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Once upon a time, the biggest question a newbie faced was whether to work remotely from a home office or a physical office. In fact, I’ve devoted lengthy blog posts here and here to deciding between the two, assuring lawyers that there really is no right answer.
Fast forward to 2021, and nearly a year after the pandemic, there is one correct answer: A remote office, and remote work environment should always be an option.
A recent ABA Journal article questions whether the current trend of working from home will continue after the pandemic ends. This article interviews several lawyers who share their positive experiences working remotely, but also several predict that law firms will return to business as usual after the pandemic.
Here is the issue. Just like you can’t put the genie back in the bottle, we can’t erase the past year either. The ability to work remotely has changed all of us, including our expectations. Clients find that they don’t have to leave the comfort of their own home to drive 30 minutes to meet with an attorney. Young parents find that they no longer have to put up with the child missing a midday event because a boss needed them to run errands in the office. In other words, remote offices no longer only cater to the preferences of lawyers, but to the demands of clients and the workforce.
As for me, I like to go out as much as anyone. I keep my small office at WeWork downtown and go downstairs once a week for a change of scenery and access to a large conference room. I prefer a professional address that is not my home for privacy reasons. In short, physical offices will not disappear, but we will use them less and use them differently. Meanwhile, attorney regulators need to recognize this new reality and ditch their ridiculous office rules once and for all — or attorneys won’t survive the post-pandemic world.
Has the pandemic caused you to rethink your plans for your law firm, and if so, how?
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