Edge International

Designing Law Firm 2030: start now, rethink everything, stay agile

Chris Bull

2022 has opened to news of yet another wave of Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions across many parts of the globe due to the Omicron variant.  It can be tough to see much light at the end of the tunnel.  But on 19 January the UK government signaled what they dearly hope will be ‘the beginning of the end’ for pandemic restrictions there.  Compulsory face-mask wearing in indoor public spaces has ended and the requirement to self-isolate if testing positive is likely to end in March.  Most immediately, and significantly for legal businesses, the work-from-home guidance that has been in place for most of the last two years has been retracted.  

How do firms need to react to in those countries (which, we sincerely hope and expect, will be all countries before too long) where restrictions are being more emphatically dismantled? In particular, how do we ensure that long-range thinking isn’t swept aside in a rush to be seen to be ‘returning to the office?’

First, of course, there are short-term imperatives that all leadership teams will be addressing right now:

  • Clear communication is critical – as we have learned during the pandemic, your people have been assessing the quality of leadership at their firm partly on the basis of how clear your messaging is in the wake of each government announcement.  Staff expect the firm to track and anticipate those policy switches, have contingency plans prepared and provide teams with prompt guidance on what it means for them;
  • Individual consultation – while there’s a sense of fatigue about big internal attitude surveys, firms need to listen to staff before triggering a big shift from home to office working, especially in the middle of winter and as personal finances come under acute pressure from inflation (including rising travel and subsistence costs, which will be especially painful as attendance at the office takes off);
  • Office readiness – some form of office modification and, probably, capacity cap is still going to be required before any full-scale return to the office whilst the highly contagious Omicron variant is still around. For many firms, offices have been pretty much mothballed for a very long period and getting that infrastructure ready for a much bigger daily footfall needs planning and time; and
  • Support readiness – just focusing on the hard office and facilities component of supporting your teams would be a big mistake.  In the UK, leading outsourced legal support business Intelligent Office recently reported that they are already busy ramping back up on-site business support where scaled-back pandemic-era resources are not going to be enough for law firm’s 2022 demands.  Intelligent Office Director of Business Development and Marketing, Jo Styles, also highlights a new trend post-pandemic; “we are also enhancing off-site remote support from our Intelligent Shared Service Centres, to help firms who want to ensure that the flexibility and coverage that hybrid, agile support teams have delivered during the pandemic isn’t suddenly lost by switching back to conventional, all office-based support teams.”

It is longer-term evolution that is most at risk of being side-lined as working from home advice ends and we get a buzz from being out and about again.  In survey after survey over the pandemic period at least 90% of responding firms stated that hybrid working would be a permanent feature of the way they work going forward. It would be easy in the immediate rush that accompanies an end to working from home guidance and other restrictions to lose sight of this and easy to derail efforts to evolve and enhance a new hybrid working model that still has multiple imperfections.  When advising and assisting firms with the detailed planning for long-term, seamless hybrid operations, I am starting with some basic principles:

  • Hybrid is a wide spectrum of options which mix office and remote working, not a one-size-fits-all solution. Hybrid is not a euphemism for working from home and we should avoid a 2022 backlash which stigmatises or side-lines hybrid working.  Enforced home working is, we hope, in the pandemic past, genuine hybrid working is the future;
  • The shift of professional and knowledge businesses towards hybrid pre-dates the pandemic and leading firms, led by the Big Four, had dramatically overhauled their workspaces in the years before 2020.  As the digitisation of the legal sector continues apace, so new hybrid-friendly tools will make working from anywhere (WFA) even more effective;
  • Nearly two years of enforced remote working for many is long enough to create substantial and permanent change in business and personal habits and in the preferences and attitudes of staff.  Our collective task now is to retain and reflect the best of these changes whilst also seeking to rapidly restore the best aspects of communal, in-person activity;
  • The damaging wellbeing and psychological impact of lockdown and enforced home working on many individuals has been highlighted and is a top priority to address as we build new ways of working in 2022.  But we also need to address the likely negative impacts for others who will now struggle to adjust to a less flexible work/family balance and a long commute. The negative wellbeing and retention impacts of inflexibly pushing those people back to office working could haunt organisations for at least as long as the impact of the lockdowns; 
  • Firms should think about the practical operational issues of long-term hybrid working model for business support services by examining two issues: how seamless business services can support fee earners who are working in a more flexible, hybrid way (notably how excellent services can deal with a constantly shifting and unpredictable fee earner working location) and also where support staff themselves can be most efficiently and effectively located, blending employed and outsourced, office and remote resources

A final thought is that building a hybrid working model with more face-to-face interaction than we’ve become used to will rely on clearly communicating both business and personal benefits of spending more time in the office: as Sarah-Jane Osborne, Head of Workscape at international design consultancy Arcadis, asks ‘are you going to magnetise or mandate people back to the office?’

.

Remote Working Checklist for Managing Partners

Gerry Riskin

This article is derived from actual counseling sessions with managing partners who are operating under tremendous pressure and are doing the best they can to prioritize the the key elements of Remote Working.

Topics:

  • financial viability
  • staff who were mainly office-related – receptionist, etc.
  • protecting existing relationships
  • care of staff and vendors
  • effectiveness at marketing and business development
  • video production (including equipment)
  • quality standards of excellence
  • engendering high satisfaction levels
  • adherence to the firm’s culture and values
  • peak performance of your people
  • analyzing short-term viability of specific practice areas
  • esprit de corps

To achieve these objectives, here is a partial (but growing) list of the kinds of topic we are helping our managing partner clients address.

  • The tone of both internal and external communication (In the name of disseminating information rapidly, there is a high risk of damaging relationships with clients and staff)
  • Technology
    • Capacity
    • Platforms – technology that allows teams to communicate without email (can NOT help with Citrix but augment with Slack, etc.?)
  • Nature of jobs/responsibilities that do not lend themselves easily to the transition
  • Mindset of people involved – some calm, some afraid, some panicking
  • Home situations
    • space
    • children
    • pets
    • ill family members
  • Suddenly succession issues (or position mapping)
    • replacing those who fall ill
    • capacity to rapidly reassign responsibilities
  • Use of video in communications
    • fundamental video training
    • positive video usage role modeling
    • discouraging negative role modeling
  • Understanding the many advantages of video over “phone calls”
    • positive impact on client relations
    • positive impact on staff morale
    • positive impact on focus and concentration
  • Adding some level of sophistication
    • eye contact
    • sound quality
    • how to encourage a client/co-worker to meet by video
  • Leadership
    • What the managing partner must do effectively
    • Communication plan
      • what must be imparted and how
      • the right tone
      • frequency
      • mode (video live, video recorded, length etc)
    • What the managing partner can not do effectively and what must be delegated to other leaders:
      • practice group leaders
      • industry group leaders
      • client team leaders
      • administration
    • Listening internally and externally. Includes creating survey-fatigue-proof surveys:
      • short and obviously beneficial to survey taker
      • for clients, measuring satisfaction, feeling valued, and ease of dealing with firm virtually
      • for staff, measuring satisfaction, feeling valued, and ease of dealing with firm virtually, sensitivity of firm to special needs of staff
    • Firm personnel training – the 20/20-style training approach is ideal for virtual workers.
      • Topics for all:
        • continuing professional development training
        • identifying the invisible challenges
        • feeling out of the loop
        • how to replace the real coffee break/lunch with a virtual one
        • how to really listen
        • how to demonstrate genuine empathy
        • how to communicate virtually with clients – what is different now
      • Topics for leaders:
        • facilitating virtual meetings
        • ensuring individuals are not being orphaned
        • the frequent (relatively short) check-in (individual/group)
        • getting the tone right (even brilliant people get this wrong)
        • empathizing – the reality of what people are facing
        • maintaining awareness of values
        • (demonstrably) trusting your people
        • teaching your people how to communicate
          • with firm’s people
          • with clients
      • “Dynamic Resilience” required from us at Edge and our clients to overcome unforeseen challenges.
      • How the 20/20-style training approach works (timing not year).

If you would like to have an informal discussion about this topic, please let me know and I’ll set up an initial, without fee, meeting with you.

This article will be supplemented and/or updated based on the evolution of the topic of “remote working” as it evolves with our clients.

How to Run a Remote Working Meeting

David Cruickshank

Frustrated when your online meeting starts 15 minutes late because participants struggle to join? Annoyed by the barking dogs, background traffic and participant chatter? Can’t wait until this badly run meeting is over? If this is your experience as a participant, think about how poorly this reflects on the meeting chair and the firm’s IT support. If you are a meeting organizer or chair, you can control many of the problems, and save your reputation, by trying some of these tips.

Preparation

This article addresses two types of meetings: (1) group conference calls, and (2) video conferences on platforms like Zoom or Go to Meeting. Tech preparation for the video conferences is more extensive. As chair of a meeting, you have to team with IT to fully understand the tools on the platform and be able to use them without much support. For example, on a conference call platform, can you mute all participants from the call originator? On a video call, do you know how to share the slides on your screen with others, then stop sharing?

Tech Tips Sheet

Working with IT, prepare a “tech tips sheet” that will go to all participants in advance. Some typical tips will include:

  • First-time users should log on 15 minutes ahead of the start time, and have a “help” text number or email address to contact IT with concerns.
  • All participants should be able to locate their “mute sound” buttons – phone, laptop or in the video platform.
  • Know how to stop video and start it (while maintaining audio).
  • Recommend that participants wear earbuds and use a headset if they plan to speak.
  • Indicate the location and function of chat tool and “hands up” tool (on video platforms).
  • Identify the meeting code (and password if required) with a colored link.
  • Set out the “normal mode” expected for the meeting (e.g., all participants on mute until asked to speak).

Circulate the tips sheet when the call is first announced and again on the morning of the call.

Timed Agenda

An informative agenda, with suggested timing for each item, will help the chair keep the meeting on track. Timing should be in real time. For a 10:00 a.m. meeting, the overview and first information item might take seven minutes. The next item would be set for 10:07 a.m. In a video platform, you can share a slide of the agenda every 10 to 15 minutes, just as you would ask participants to look at their printed agenda in a live meeting.

I recommend an annotation for each agenda item. Is the item a matter for discussion and decision? Or is it for information? These codes will determine how to handle the item, as I discuss later. They also help you to sequence the agenda, with most information items toward the end. If you don’t get to them, you have other means to disseminate information.

If there is a presentation, and perhaps a different presenter, indicate something like “Jane Smith to present” beside the item.

At the top of the agenda, state the start and stop time in the time zone of the chair. I recommend 45 minutes for most meetings. Massive amounts of billable time are being consumed in most law firm meetings; remote work meetings could be worse. As with tech tips, send the agenda when the call is announced and again the morning of the meeting.

During the Meeting

The chair should start on time and should immediately request that all participants mute sound, and then direct them on video participation (camera-sharing or not). Refer them to the tech tips sheet then, again, start on time – no matter how many participants have joined.

Information Agenda Items – Protocols

If you have information items (updates, financial reports, directing participants to other reading, etc.), put one of these first on the agenda. This lets latecomers join while the meeting is not yet in discussion mode. Save other information items for “need to know” in advance of a discussion item or for the end of the agenda.

In a video platform, show a slide of the timed agenda and state your hope that the group can respect the allocated timing (but also demonstrate some flexibility). Whether in a conference call or on a video meeting, I recommend that comments and questions about information items should not take up meeting time. On conference calls, those comments or questions can be sent to your assistant’s email or a Slack channel. On video platforms, ask participants to type their comments in the chat pod of the platform. You will review and deal with them offline.

Discussion and Decision Items – Protocols

Items that are marked for discussion and decision can be managed with the acronym DAPS: Discussion, Decision, Action, Person, Summary.

Discussion and Decision

The chair should state the agenda item and the time allocation, then frame the decision to be made (e.g., “We’re here to decide whether to add two junior associates to the litigation department”).

To control discussion, a chair can benefit from the protocols of air traffic controllers (ATCs). ATCs are efficient and inclusive in their communications. Here’s an example:

ATC: “Delta 350”

Pilot: “Delta 350”

ATC: “Maintain 25,000 feet, to heading 270, call at beacon.”

Pilot: “Maintain 25,000, heading 270, call at beacon, 350”

This entire conversation can be heard by everyone on that radio frequency.

In a conference or video call with large numbers, it is more often a free-for-all than air-traffic efficiency. The first and loudest voice is heard – perhaps more often than most would care for. The chair can use the following protocols to avoid chaos and manage discussion:

  • If you expect multiple speakers on an issue, ask for the names of those who want to contribute. Keep a speakers’ list.
  • Recognize a speaker by name, and ask them to unmute.
  • If there are subgroups by practice or by geography, canvass each group (e.g., “We’ll start with contributions from the Phoenix office”).
  • Consider giving the speaker a time guideline, as TV interviewers do: “Jim, we have about a minute left.”
  • Close that contribution with a thank you and a “please mute” suggestion.
  • Toward the end of each item, ask for any additional speakers or limit to a couple more.
  • State your view of the consensus. Votes tend to be infrequent in this type of meeting. Then declare a decision: “We’re going ahead with those two hires for this fall.”

Action

Further action is usually required to implement the decision. The chair should state that action or ask for action. For example, on the hiring decision, the chair might say that he’ll put it in the hands of the recruiting committee. A participant might suggest that the diversity committee be involved as well.

Person

The chair should name the person responsible to carry out the decision and report back, where that is warranted. Too many law firm decisions are left with no accountability or implied accountability, and timely implementation doesn’t happen.

Summary

Like the pilot receiving ATC instructions, the chair should succinctly summarize the decision, action and person. Ideally, a separate note-taker for the meeting will record this.

Video Call Practices

A video call, most often a webinar platform, has a tech method for recognizing speakers. There is a “hands up” tool that allows participants to raise a hand virtually, and thus signal that they wish to contribute. Here again, an assistant to the chair could help by taking down the names from the “hands up” tool. Your tech tips sheet will illustrate how to find and use that tool. Don’t take time in the call to try to train a user. In fact, even for a conference call, I think that a video platform, with audio only, is superior to traditional conference-call technology. You can present, you can mute speakers on most platforms, you can have a chat room and a “hands up” tool.

My colleagues at Edge suggest that for smaller video meetings (ten participants or fewer), a chair can ask for “hands up” in the old-fashioned way – by looking at the Zoom screen and seeing who has a raised hand.

A recent article from the New York Times offers a broader consideration of video call best practices.

Conclusion

Whether you realize it or not, your leadership reputation is going to be tested by conference-call and video-call management. We’re tempted to blame the problems on the users. Instead, meeting organizers should get ahead of the tech-challenged users, set timed agendas, start on time and follow proven protocols for efficient meetings of remote work forces. It’s a measure of effective leadership.