“I think we’ll see more hot-desking; we know now that firms have the capability to allow staff to work remotely, or they know what they need to do in order to make this happen. We have people who can be far more productive when given the choice of office or home – particularly parents, those that have to commute or those that just need to drop distractions whilst they get through larger projects,” she said.

“This pandemic has forced employers to understand that remote working is easily achievable and yields the same, if not better results and should be incorporated into the ‘norm’ moving forward. The benefit to them is not just greater engagement but importantly reduced overheads in terms of rent, and other central overheads incurred with having everyone work from the one inner-city location.”

Cassandra Heilbronn, who is the immediate past president of WLAQ, agreed with this.

“For me, flexible work in the future is not about a lawyer having to put together a quasi-business case for why they should be allowed to work flexibly. The mind shift should change from it being ‘a benefit’ or the employer ‘relaxing’ office norms to flexible working being the office norm,” she said.

“Another shift would be from flexible work only being accessible to working parents. I think this is a misconception as in my experience firms do offer it to all employees.”

Understanding the personal preferences and contextual needs of individual lawyers and legal staff is fundamental, Ms Heilbronn continued.

“My preference is to work in the office, but that does not mean I would expect that of junior lawyers as it is a personal preference. I loved having access to all of the resources an office brings, but most of all the interaction with my colleagues and the sharing of information,” she mused.

VIEW ALL

“I also liked having access to flexible work arrangements so I can be home to collect a delivery, have the internet fixed type scenarios. I know a partner who started coming in later on some mornings, when they did not necessarily have a need to, in order to show their team that it was ok to drop the kids at school etc, and what worked for the partner (coming into the office early) was not an expectation for the whole team.”

“Meeting client standards and delivering work was the expectation and that can be achieved while still meeting parental and life commitments,” she surmised.

Moreover, greater access to flexible working arrangements could have a positive impact upon workplace wellness, Ms Heilbronn hypothesised.

“I cannot talk from a parent perspective, but I have been part of conversations with working parents who have added ‘guilt’ when asking to start at 9:00am instead of 8:30am one day a week so they can do the school drop-off,” she said.

“By flexible work becoming more commonplace, it will hopefully take away the stigma of those accessing it are an exception to the expectations of a lawyer.”

College of Law Queensland executive director Ann-Maree David argued that current WFH arrangements in the age of coronavirus “should not be used as the yardstick” – a broader perspective is still needed in order for longer term behavioural shifts to occur.

“People are under immense pressure in addition to/unrelated to their work. Those of us who are managing a usual workload (be it full- or part-time) including managing teams, clients, budgets and deadlines, may also be managing additional non-work-related stressors (homeschooling; elder care; reduced hours for reduced pay; family members who have lost jobs etc),” she outlined.

“Many are carrying burdens that they do not bring to their office (domestic violence and mental illness scenarios are now receiving some coverage). Flexible work cannot be treated as one-size-fits-all just as standardised ‘in-office’ conditions should not.”

Ms Heilbronn supported this idea, saying that the constitution of flexible working arrangements depends on the idiosyncrasies of each lawyer.

“Not one size fits all. What is flexible for a working parent is different from a working lawyer with no children. The idea of flexibility for me (when in private practice) would be to leave early to go coach a kids’ soccer team or get to soccer training for my team, also to work from a client premise for a couple of hours once a month, etc.,” she said.

Looking ahead, Ms Heilbronn said that flexibility will have to be a “two-way street based on trust”.

“Lawyers record their time (in one form or another), and I disagree with the position that flexible work, which may include work from home arrangements, would lead to a decrease in productivity,” she said.

“If there is a positive to come from COVID-19 arrangements, I hope it is that firms recognise flexible work in terms of working from home is a good thing, and that client service standards can still be met. But it does require proper planning – including a good home office set-up that is ergonomically sound!”

To share how COVID-19 has impacted you and your business, please complete this anonymous, two-minute survey here. For more information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.