With the world adopting remote working in some form, other people are working from home permanently or part-time. The legal fraternity has been slow to embrace change, which needs to change. The transition can be scary for some, but law firms can work remotely. Below are ways to help legal teams prepare for the transition.
1- Scheduled Meetings
Most legal teams conduct daily meetings either within the team or with the clients. These meetings do not have to be face to face; they can be remote. Various platforms enable teams to work together remotely. Instead of meeting physically, teams can communicate via Zoom or Microsoft teams. Law firms can conduct group chats or send instant messages with these communication tools. Scheduled virtual meetings can replace physical meetings efficiently. Virtual meetings can save time and resources for the law firm in the long run.
2- Communicate Regularly between legal Team and Clients
A feeling of loneliness might develop due to mandatory social distancing practice. This may have a detrimental effect on one’s psychology. You must communicate with your team through various communication options to properly deal with the situation. You can use these technologies to monitor your legal team’s work. You can reassure your clients that you will not forget them when they require legal aid.
3- Integration of Digital Technology
In today’s global business environment, losing client business is something you must avoid at all costs. You must make effective use of digital technology. Therefore, begin utilizing collaborative technologies (some of which are free) to assist in protecting your law firm from commercial loss. You can use collaboration technologies like Slack to enable your law associates to collaborate remotely on cases. They can provide each other with status updates or share case files. Today, most cloud storage platforms adhere to privacy rules like HIPAA and GDPR. These encrypt sensitive client information, allowing lawyers to share legal databases securely.
4- Establish Reasonable Growth Expectations for Your Law Firm
Given the unusual nature of the current circumstances, you must accept that the effectiveness of your lawyers may suffer. As a result, you must establish reasonable growth projections for the following months. While working remotely, you can evaluate your effectiveness by tracking task scheduling, meeting deadlines, and evaluating deliverables for each task/case. You may distribute tasks/cases, track progress, and keep organized via chat within the task/case using communication platforms like Asana.
5- Efficiencies of Team-based Outcomes Rather than Daily Activity
You cannot manage every facet of your legal team’s work remotely; instead, focus on the outcomes and evaluate your team. You can monitor your team’s performance remotely using Time Doctor or Jira applications. Additionally, you can track your team’s efficiency and success using tools such as do this.
6- Provide Your Team with the Appropriate Resources
When lawyers or marketing work remotely, they need access to all necessary resources. These include laptops, software, mobile devices, and even a high-speed internet connection and any other resources essential for remote work. This work-from-home notion will succeed; otherwise, you’ll wonder what your team is doing after a few days.
7– Identify and Manage Distractions
With mandatory “remote working” resulting from this lockdown situation, work-related stress and diversions will increase. You and your teammates are all dealing with the burden of managing personal and professional lives. Thus, it is critical to manage distractions to maximize work effectiveness and minimize stress. To work stress-free at home, you must establish a specialized workspace and guarantee no one distracts you while you work. We recommend using time tracking software such as RescueTime to keep track of your everyday activities. It helps maintain an efficient work-life balance. Additionally, it enables proactive task scheduling, which aids with distraction management.
8- Adopt Flexible Work Schedules
Regular eight-hour workdays are obsolete in the contemporary environment! Now you must establish trust with your staff and provide them with the freedom to work flexible hours. You can still track and analyze your team’s work using Taskworld, Confluence, or similar tools. Your legal company can develop a ‘firm culture’ that benefits clients by embracing these flexible working hours. You will have enhanced flexibility and timely communication.
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These are just a few recommendations to assist you and your law company in working remotely effectively. With good digital connectivity and technological advancements, virtual law practices and law firms are becoming a reality.
If you’re still concerned about not being able to see your team at your firm, that’s quite normal! Each adjustment takes time. Have faith in your team; you did employ them for their abilities.