Finally, a solution to the lawyer-change-challenge?
I expected remote freelancing to be a hard sell when Free Range Lawyers launched in 2019.
It was.
For every lawyer placed on assignment, there were dozens of firms saying, “remote won’t suit us.”
Still, I believed a tipping point was close: a moment when remote and flexible working would become an obvious choice. When that moment arrived, I wanted to be established and able to capitalize.
So on we went. I believed our approach could create a more inclusive, diverse, humane, and efficient profession. Why was it so difficult to convince others?
In 2019, I was selling a belief. An idea. A concept. Natural as remote work was to me, it was alien to many law firms. I was asking them, not only to back a new business, but also a new concept. Small wonder it was tough going.
Now in 2022, the fact our Rangers work remotely is rarely discussed. I can’t remember the last time someone said, “great, but we need them in the office.”
So what’s changed? COVID and near-universal remote work, sure. The talent shortage, of course.
But there’s something else.
In 2020, what had previously been an idea to many, became reality. Our “Free Range” concepts morphed into lived experience. With that came an increasing willingness to engage with remote work.
My 10+ years of collaborating with organizational psychologists speaks to this. Conceptual thinking - imagining how things could be - is one of the aspects we've covered in our assessments. Results suggest that lawyers score lower for conceptual thinking than the average respondent. Exceptions exist of course, but indications are that imagining a different world is not most lawyers' strength.
It salves our frustration to explain change aversion as intransigence, inertia, or intractability. However, is there a less pejorative explanation and one that’s also more easily addressed? Could it be that the best way to encourage most lawyers to try something new, is not to share visions, models, and ideas on repeat, but to give them the opportunity to experience it?
Food for thought for those working hard on positive change in the profession we love.
