Working Remotely in the Legal Industry

Now the team at Legal People often see candidates with a working arrangement wish list. We help candidates negotiate flexible conditions with our clients, many of whom are employers of choice.

At Legal People we interview and place many talented lawyers. Over the last five years, we have witnessed a significant increase in the number of flexible working arrangements offered to the right talented candidate. As many as 25% of senior lawyers placed by Legal People in the last financial year have gone into flexible arrangements – a stark contrast to 2017/2018 when this figure was only 9%.

Law firms of all types now consider flexibility in the right circumstances. In our experience, this most often applies to senior professional staff, such as Senior Associate and above. We have not seen the same interest in flexible arrangements in other levels.

Why are firms offering flexibility?

• Cloud-based technology allows both data security and easy communication
• It is a talent attraction policy
• Firms have seen a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing
• It improves employee engagement.

What are candidates asking for?

A mix of requests to remote working are being embraced by both men and women, for example:

• Caring for children or elderly relatives
• Further study
• Volunteering
• Board opportunities
• Staggered start times to avoid peak travel times.

What does a typical flexible arrangement look like?

• The type of arrangement our client base is typically agreeing to is working part-time (usually 3 or 4 day per week), working from home 1-2 days per week and/or staggered start/finish times.
• Any remote working or flexible arrangement needs to be well managed by employers. The team member working from home needs to feel included in the team and communication is very important. Firms are using technology like Zoom.us and Appear.in to ensure that virtual team meetings still occur.
• An employee working from home needs to understand it is a work day and they must be contactable. These are arrangements very much based on trust. An employer is trusting their team member to put hours in to get the job done. Any remote working or flexible arrangement needs to be viable for both the firm and their client base.

The Best of Both Worlds?

• The shift towards flexible and remote working has also been embraced at Legal People. Our team has flexible arrangements and the opportunity to work from home, which has resulted in a positive return on productivity and staff engagement.
• Remote working allows a staff member the best of both worlds. They are still in the office a large proportion of the time which allows them to build a sense of community and see clients.

It is heartening to see the Legal industry moving towards flexible work practices. Any working arrangement that has a positive impact on the mental health of employees and delivers productivity gains has to be a good thing!

Are you looking for a new and challenging role in the legal industry in Victoria? Legal People is your gateway to legal career opportunities. We are specialists in the Legal Industry. We recruit Lawyers, Support staff and HR professionals in Melbourne, Australia. If you enjoyed reading this article, you can follow our Company Page on LinkedIn for regular updates. To browse our currently available roles click here.

This article first appeared in the Young Lawyers Journal for the Law Institute of Victoria and can be viewed in full with a membership here.