How small and SME law firms are approaching the future of work
The latest LexisNexis Bellwether Report revealed a range of new patterns emerging in work models across the UK’s legal sector – with distinct variations by firm size and composition.
Law firms are gradually phasing out what has been an 18-month long ‘work-from-home’ phase, and while a host of virtual and hybrid models have emerged in the meantime – some might actually return to business as usual.
Normality down the line
The latest LexisNexis Bellwether Report reveals that the majority of lawyers at small law firms are considering hybrid models – with employees expected in the office between two and four days per week.
That said, more than 40% of small and SME-sized law firms expect staff to be back in the office full time further down the line. The former bracket appears more traditional with more than half holding this vision of the future, compared to less than a third among SME law firms.
As such, most firms have no plans to change the size of their office space – as noted by one partner from among the respondents: “We are creatures of habit, particularly in this profession. People like working in a certain way, having files and paper surrounding them and so on. People like their own desk.”
Change at the top
Large law seems to have broken away from these habits. Despite the fact that nearly 25% of junior lawyers will likely work from the office full time now and in the future, several top 100 firms – including Clifford Chance, Freshfields and Linklaters – have all launched long-term hybrid working policies.
Staff at these firms can work remotely roughly 50% of the time, with some setting a weekly minimum number of office days.
Others have taken a different route. Late in August, Morrison & Foerster announced that being fully vaccinated will be mandatory for staff to return to its London office. Many firms in the US have introduced similar mandates, although UK-based firms have largely refrained from such policies.
Beyond legal
Economy-wide, workers in the UK want hybrid working to stay. Aviva research from July found that 70% of UK workers expect hybrid working will be the standard going forward, albeit without consensus on how many office days such a paradigm would entail.
Three days a week emerged as the most popular setup, although even this varies by gender and age. Men seem more in favour of going into the office than women, while older workers also prefer to work from home.
Businesses are still working out their best formula – recent data from the Centre for Cities shows only 15% of workers went back to the office in August. Some companies have even deferred their office return to the new year – tech giants Apple and Google will only resume in-office working by January 2022, for instance.
Flexible futures
As workers are unsure about what they want out of flexible working, law firms need to be clear and purposeful about their plans. For the full picture, read The Bellwether Report: The good, the bad and the new
