It may not be a huge surprise that remote working could be here to stay for the foreseeable future, as the legal sector has quickly adapted to the lockdown restrictions imposed to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
In DPS’s report ‘How COVID-19 has affected the UK Legal Industry‘, it reveals that UK law firms will continue to work remotely when the lockdown ends.
Working from home was forced on many of those in the legal sector as the pandemic took hold. However, it has proven to be an effective way of working. This has resulted in some firms envisaging working from home becomes the new ‘norm’.
The survey also found that small firms have been more significantly affected by the coronavirus than their bigger counterparts. As more people entered self-isolation, the level of business for firms with 1-10 employees hit a slump. The same is true for conveyancing work as house moves were delayed and conveyancing work came to a halt, making conveyancing the worst hit practice area.
The disruption to business levels meant that many firms had to make use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and also make redundancies. 60% of firms put staff on furlough, while 15% of firms made redundancies, indicating that firms have been seriously impacted by the pandemic.
The full report is available on the DPS Software website here: https://www.dpssoftware.co.uk/blog/how-has-covid-19-affected-the-legal-business/ and discusses all of these issues and more in a lot more detail as well as how we can move forward following the cessation of the lockdown.
Have you been working from home? How have you found it? Will it become the new ‘normal’ for you?
