Report: Lawyers want full-time flex, biglaw better adapt Forum

[Germaine]

Why wouldn't they be able to? This is probably one of the most conservative and internally conformist professions in the country.

Which is why it's one of the last dominos to fall.

What are you talking about? Did I miss some tectonic shift last night wherein the vast majority of office jobs in this country have stopped requiring physical presence? Or is one of us just radically out of touch with the realities of ordinary work environments.

Don't know what you consider tectonic, but % of people working at least one day from home went up 35% btwn 2001 and 2010. You think it's slowed since then?

A 35% increase from what percent?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2 ... g-over-60/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/your- ... ctive.html

"This number is expected to reach a staggering 63 million – or 43 percent of the U.S. workforce – by 2016. This number is so significant, it bears repeating – 43 percent of the U.S. workforce will work from home just three years from today."

(from http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/06/t ... he-office/)

[A. Nony Mouse]

Eh, Wired.

[ymmv]

That's a little higher than I'd have expected, but it's still including those working from home only one day a week. Only 3.2 million people with full-time flexibility is still a tiny fraction of the workforce, and one of many industries remaining outside that trend is hardly "the last domino to fall."

[totesTheGoat]

A phone convo would usually be sufficient. Still unsure why the face-to-face thing is still a thing.

When dealing with a bunch of documents, I prefer face-to-face. Sometimes the conversation goes in a different direction than I expected, and it's much easier to just flip through a document looking for that one sentence that caught my eye a couple days ago than pulling up an electronic copy and doing a search for a bunch of words I don't remember verbatim.

video conferencing is almost as good as face-to-face, but it costs money and it's sometime more of a PITA than just walking down the hall.

But this seems more like an argument for keeping some office/face time in place, not for keeping people in offices all day. I work better from office too, so I wouldn't be work from home guy. But people are different and work well in different setups. The idea that firms are somehow going to be able to retain the old one-size-fits-all model seems totally ludicrous to me.

I agree. I work at a firm that allows work from home, but they look at you funny if you use it more than a couple times per year. The only time I use it is if I'm sick and wouldn't want to be spreading my germs around the office anyway or if I have some goofy schedule because of school (or I'm working outside of business hours, which is rare since I'm in school). We're half paper and half electronic at this point, so it wouldn't be hard to go to a more lenient work from home policy.

I worked at a telecom company prior to law school, and I could work from home 1 or 2 times per week without anybody batting an eye. I'd much prefer that. My back porch has a much better view than my windowless office.

[rpupkin]

I have considerable more flexibility than anyone else I know.

In my experience, the big law environment allows for a lot of flexibility when it comes to how, when, and where you do your work.

The problem is the volume of work. I'd trade flexibility for hours.

[Germaine]

That's a little higher than I'd have expected, but it's still including those working from home only one day a week. Only 3.2 million people with full-time flexibility is still a tiny fraction of the workforce, and one of many industries remaining outside that trend is hardly "the last domino to fall."

I'm saying last domino as in last major sector to resist even partial flexibility. Not saying lawyering is going to be a full-time from home job anytime soon. Just that it will become significantly more home/office split within next 5-10 years, especially w/ competition from the successful "New Model" firms highlighted in that report in the OP.

[dixiecupdrinking]

I have considerable more flexibility than anyone else I know.

This. I have no boss making sure I'm at my desk all day. As long as I get my shit done nobody cares where I am 90% of the time. Sometimes that shit requires me to be in a particular place at a particular time and then I had better be there, but otherwise, nope.

It's the flip side to never being truly off duty. You also don't have such strict "business hours" if you're slow.

[dixiecupdrinking]

I guess what I'm saying is IMO big law already seems pretty close to flex time by default. But the "flex" part is usually "flexing into your nights and weekends."

[Turtledove]

Pretty big lit/corporate divide here I think. Corporate requires lots of quick confirmatory calls and you are expected to be physically in the office to answer client calls during normal business hours. Working from home on a weekday is generally frowned upon unless you're sick or are having emergency work done at your appartment or something. That being said most everyone works from home rather than coming to the office on the weekends.

[rpupkin]

Pretty big lit/corporate divide here I think. Corporate requires lots of quick confirmatory calls and you are expected to be physically in the office to answer client calls during normal business hours. Working from home on a weekday is generally frowned upon unless you're sick or are having emergency work done at your appartment or something. That being said most everyone works from home rather than coming to the office on the weekends.

Fair point. I've only worked in lit.

[Desert Fox]

[rpupkin]

Pretty big lit/corporate divide here I think. Corporate requires lots of quick confirmatory calls and you are expected to be physically in the office to answer client calls during normal business hours. Working from home on a weekday is generally frowned upon unless you're sick or are having emergency work done at your appartment or something. That being said most everyone works from home rather than coming to the office on the weekends.

Yea, nobody cares if I (litmo) are working from Paris as long as I'm billing some dank horas. My trannie buddy has to be in her seat til 7pm no matter what. Same office, same firm.

I have no idea how corporate/transactional juniors stand their lives.

[Desert Fox]

[rpupkin]

I have no idea how corporate/transactional juniors stand their lives.

They are very well paid for a secretary.

True. But secretaries are usually done with work by 5 or 6. There isn't enough adderall and coke in the world to keep me awake and focused for the kind of work that corporate juniors have to do late at night.

[DELG]

i think face to face shit is still pretty important in law.

[Anonymous User]

fasdf

[Turtledove]

Pretty big lit/corporate divide here I think. Corporate requires lots of quick confirmatory calls and you are expected to be physically in the office to answer client calls during normal business hours. Working from home on a weekday is generally frowned upon unless you're sick or are having emergency work done at your appartment or something. That being said most everyone works from home rather than coming to the office on the weekends.

Yea, nobody cares if I (litmo) are working from Paris as long as I'm billing some dank horas. My trannie buddy has to be in her seat til 7pm no matter what. Same office, same firm.

I have no idea how corporate/transactional juniors stand their lives.

They are very well paid for a secretary.

All your exit opportunities are belong to us.