At home with innovation

As the latest lockdown starts to lift here in the UK, thoughts turn to becoming a bit more mobile and sociable once again. But more law firms, as many businesses, have now clarified that they won’t be expecting a return to an office-based working week. With the success of collaboration tools, and no visible signs of a productivity drop this past year, they are happy to go public on hybrid.

Those that don’t relish the daily commute as that sunlit transition time between work and home life – whether it’s final prep for a breakfast meeting, or getting into a good book rather than boxset binge – breathe a sigh of relief. And there is, of course, a serious case for hybrid supporting under-pressure work-life balance. Others, though, are concerned – for culture, in-person communication, relationships and development.

There’s much to be asked about all of that. But there’s also the immediate reality we’ll see of people working in different places at different times, and needing different information from other people (or systems) when they do so. Team members are only a call away, but evidence suggests it’s not unlikely they’ll be unavailable – on another call of course. It was interesting to read about one law firm recently suggesting a ‘no internal meeting day’ to mitigate risk of burnout. No doubt what actually happens in those meetings is also a subject for some scrutiny. And we know many are looking to tools to help replicate some of that meeting-room experience of old when people are calling in from all corners.

CRISIS INNOVATIONS

The global pandemic has forced all businesses to change at a speed that they couldn’t have imagined possible – but keeping a step ahead is part of the job of innovation. Josh Adcock asks leaders of law firms’ various innovation initiatives how the crisis has affected the rate and substance of their transformation.

TRADE IN TRANSFORMATION

Richard Brent meets key players in the process-improvement team at DLA Piper, and hears how significant investment in the mechanics of robotic process automation, alongside careful prioritisation of projects, is transforming legal service delivery.

VIRTUAL REALITIES

Hosted by Briefing and Pulsant, legal business management leaders recently assembled to discuss addressing the challenges of visibility, security and control in a much more dispersed workforce. Richard Brent reports on roundtable learnings for the future.