One of the lawyer facebook groups I follow featured a post on Saturday about an office share opportunity. “Covid has really made me rethink my overheads and the way I practice, which also means taking a good hard look at the practicalities of my big, beautiful office in South Melbourne” the poster states. “I have 18 months left on my lease and then a 5 year option and I really don’t want to leave…..If anyone has a small team looking for space to rent, please get in touch”.*
Wise reasoning. It got me thinking about the essential ingredients of a legal business in 2020. What is a law firm today? A corporate entity? Sure. Registered with the regulator? Yes. With insurance? Yep. Comprising at least one qualified lawyer? Of course. With a client account? Needed. Website? Most likely. Branding? Makes sense. Practice management software? You’d think. Employees? Errrr…..maybe. Office……desks….meeting rooms? Not so sure.
Turns out that there are fewer essential ingredients to a law firm than we thought.
Now, legal news is awash with firms declaring a reduced reliance on office space in the future. Who can blame them? With a clear indication that legal practices can operate effectively outside the office, only a few aren’t reviewing the extent of their commitment to real estate. Indications are that we’ll see more of a blended workstyle develop, combining a greater proportion of remote working with in-office operations.
If this happens en masse and for the long-run, it will be interesting to see how the recipe for a law firm develops. Combine these changes in workstyles with the existing trend towards more opensourced legal knowledge and it begs the question, 'What is a law firm in 2020?'
*If your circumstances are such that you can help the original poster, let me know and I’ll point you to the post.
Read on:
Working with firms to shift to a more remote, agile future: https://www.freerangelawyers.com/consulting/
Counterfactual? A manifesto for in-office work:
https://www.freerangelawyers.com/a-counterfactual-manifesto-for-in-office-work/
