P2P

29 I L T A N E T . O R G W hen COVID-19 arrived, law firms did one of two things. Either they were caught off guard and scrambled to put remote working provision in place, or they made small adjustments because they were already there. So the first impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on law firms was on the way it exposed the firms that had not innovated or kept up with reality. Dynamic firms, with a proactive and innovative mindset and the capacity to make timely decisions, had already adopted a remote working model as standard because of the strong advantages it confers in today's highly competitive legal environment. That said, a second impact of COVID-19 has been in the way it has forced the less technologically savvy firms to catch up with respect to working outside of the office. While initially they may have been caught flat-footed and may have lost ground and clients as a result, by now, the laggards have pretty much drawn level in terms of being able to work remotely. And whether they know it or not, are now in a position to exploit its intrinsic advantages and stay remote going forward, if they choose to do so. The consequences of this rapid acceleration should not be lost on dynamic firms. The risk they face now is that the competitive edge remote working gave them will be eroded. To counter that, we believe that their next strategic play should be to go beyond remote working. Remote working is a great foundation, but true mobility – that is, working from any location – should be where firms are headed. Why remote working works But first, why is remote working such a game-changer? The firms that were forced into it might not yet recognize its advantages beyond sheer necessity, but recent data has underlined the benefits. Remote workers are up to 40% more productive, produce 40% fewer quality defects, have 41% less absenteeism, and are 12% less likely to change jobs. 1 In the context of law firms, alongside these gains, remote working makes firms more competitive by significantly lowering fixed costs—including the need to spend so much money on Class A real estate in expensive cities. Remote working also enables firms to recruit further afield and thereby from a bigger and more diverse talent pool, which further increases the quality of the firm's legal product and its capacity to dynamically adopt new and better working models. Furthermore, it also allows for workers to be balance the work life metric by having the flexibility during the work week. It's important that clients also benefit from remote working, and they do. It turns out they do not have much interest in visiting your prestigious downtown address or paying for the artwork on your walls. They want law firms that are value-driven, offering accessible lawyers and excellent service and efficiency. Remember that clients are representative of the general working age population; and that within the next five years, Millennials and Generation Z will constitute the majority of the workforce. They have grown up in a digital world. They don't need to see bricks and mortar to believe their law firm is substantial. They would rather work with firms that embrace all the advantages that modern technology can supply. 1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2020/02/12/top-5-benefits-of-remote-work-for-companies/#405a71916c8e

• Cover