Founding Partner, Michelle Foster, Interviewed by Forbes on the Effects of the Pandemic on the Legal Industry
/The Effects of the Pandemic On The Legal Industry
The legal community was greatly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and is still seeing the effects. Many law firms were forced to send their attorneys home to quarantine, and lawyers had to contend with setting up their offices at home while continuing their work in a remote setting. But after a year and a half, the legal community has embraced many of the pandemic-driven changes.
Remote Work
One of the most significant results of the pandemic is fully remote work. Along with almost every other profession, attorneys were forced to pack up their offices and move work into their homes. With this change, attorneys had to adjust to video meetings with clients and work with co-workers on projects without the ease of being in the same office. In addition to these challenges, people often had to work with the presence of their families.
Quarantining at home was a big adjustment for professionals used to separating their work from their personal life. While the move from remote work created a learning curve for some, the legal community as a whole was able to navigate this change and many attorneys realized that working from home was both possible and in many ways preferred over in-office work.
Work-Life Balance
The pandemic forcing attorneys to work remotely actually exposed an opportunity to have a better work-life balance. Attorneys are known for having high-stress, high-demand careers that come with long hours in the office. But cutting out the commute time to work and having the ease of working out of a home office made it clear that attorneys can better balance their careers with their personal lives.
Before the pandemic, an attorney working remotely was incredibly rare because it did not seem effective or efficient. But after nearly a year and a half of remote work, many attorneys are realizing working remotely is possible and can even enable a better work-life balance. In fact, I have seen great interest among lawyers who want to continue to work remotely even as law firms are opening back up to in-person work.
Increased Demand For Attorneys
Now that the legal community has recognized that working remotely can be done effectively and lawyers are seeing the personal benefits of a better work-life balance, many want to continue working from home, at least part of the time. When law firms started announcing their return-to-work plans, those that said there will be a requirement to return to the office full time received a great deal of backlash from their employees.
While many lawyers are eager to return to the office, others want to at least have a hybrid work schedule. I know I have seen a noticeable increase of lawyers coming to my company in response to job placements that offer either remote work or a hybrid work schedule. This flux in the job market, coupled with a strong economic recovery, has resulted in a high demand for attorneys across the country.
Office Requirements
The pandemic has prompted employers to evaluate their requirements for employees to come back into the office. The pandemic has cost nearly 5 million lives so far globally and has been a traumatic experience for many communities and families. While effective vaccines have been developed and are widely available, there has been some resistance to the vaccine from people not wanting to receive it. This caused issues with return-to-work plans because law firms had to decide if they were going to require their employees to be vaccinated in order to come back into the office.
The politics that surround vaccine requirements are tricky, but most law firms have made it clear by now that they want a safe environment for employees working in the office. Some firms have added an asterisk to vaccine requirements by saying they will evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis if there is a legitimate concern. Regardless of each situation, all law offices have had to revise rules to accommodate those who are not fully vaccinated, and many require employees to wear masks in the office and get regular Covid-19 tests if they are not vaccinated so that they are less likely to spread the disease to those within the office.
Requirements For New Hires
In a trend across industries, the latest change we are seeing is that many law firm job listings are now requiring new hires to have received the Covid-19 vaccine. Law firms have added a condition to their job listings that all new hires will be required to show proof of their full vaccination. Firms are clarifying that they will comply with all applicable laws regarding the reasonable accommodation of individuals with disabilities and/or strongly held religious beliefs. Law firm leaders are justifying this requirement by stating they are ensuring the health and well-being of their current employees and the community at large by supporting public health efforts.
Unprecedented Change
While there have been major changes to the legal community because of the pandemic, there have been some positive changes that would not have come to light without quarantining. There are now opportunities that on a large scale, employees previously never thought of or were deemed implausible. For example, working remotely and on a hybrid schedule has become the logical solution to fixing the legal community’s work-life balance issue.
Lawyers are advocating for a hybrid work schedule and making changes to match the career path that more closely aligns with their professional and personal goals. While the effects of the pandemic greatly impacted the legal community in dramatic ways, lawyers are gradually working toward returning to work safely and making industry changes that would not have occurred otherwise.