The post-pandemic law firm

“I’m sure every firm had a different experience, but at least for us, having a fully cloud set-up with a flexible culture already made the transition easy. On the service delivery side, we had already mastered the online delivery model, which has meant that things could continue on seamlessly without any additional burden on the lawyer-client relationship.”

COVID-19 has brought long-held concerns about work/life balance, workplace wellness, barriers to career progression, salary and workplace toxicity to a head, forcing firms to place a higher level of importance on workplace culture in order to attract and retain staff.

This is something a number of firms have made a priority – Danny Gilbert, from Gilbert + Tobin, told Lawyers Weekly in February that whilst “the office is terrifically important”, being able to “make the firm a more attractive place to work than your competitors” would likely mean working flexibly.

Speaking on this, Mr Pike said that whilst it’s still “early days in terms of what a post-pandemic world looks like”, HSF is working to find a balance between remote working and human connection.

“There are benefits to both remote and office-based working, which is why we have a hybrid working policy that gives our people the ability to work in the way that best suits them, their colleagues and our clients. All of our people – from grads to partners – have greatly valued this flexibility. It has given them a better work/life balance, with more time for their families, health and other commitments, while still being able to benefit from the connection, collaboration and learning opportunities of the office,” he added.

“We are finding that some of our people, including graduates, are preferring to work more in the office than at home. That’s why our policy is not one-size-fits-all. We believe that empowering our people to make appropriate choices about how they work will be key to how we maintain our high performance.”

Whilst the Hazelbrook Legal office is largely full-time in Canberra, the firm’s Sydney office has adopted a hybrid working culture, which Ms Griffin said was a decision made collaboratively, based on the COVID-19 risk in Sydney and the public transport system.

“We are an ‘in-person’ business – we work at our best when we collaborate with each other and with our clients. But flexibility is also critical, and we have always given our team flexibility and as much as control as possible over their days, and this applies to all staff at all levels – and of course flexibility comes with responsibility. There seems to be an assumption that people prefer a ‘work from home’ arrangement, however in our experience where the team culture is strong, most people prefer working together in an office environment.

“The pandemic has reinforced certain aspects of our culture – including flexibility, being supportive and kind, the importance of personal interactions and gathering together as a team. In particular, we’ve all had to become more adaptable and comfortable with change,” she said.

“Due to the disruption caused by the pandemic and the long periods working from home, we have focused on being more deliberate about initiatives to build culture and attachment to each other and the firm. Notably, the face-to-face interactions we have, and the importance of these moments in building team culture.”

Despite many firms voicing the benefits of in-office working, Ms Bowd said that remote and flexible working is here to stay – and is something her firm has always supported.

“There is no putting the genie back into the lamp. Remote and flexible work is endlessly beneficial. It can support working parents. It can help mental health. It can improve efficiency and productivity. It can and should reduce office overheads,” she said.

“Our workplace culture hasn’t changed, except that we now feel more aligned with other workplaces and less ‘the odd ones out’. We have always been almost entirely fully remote, using our city offices only when needed for client meetings or to collaborate. Now I don’t feel that I have to apologise for not being in the city every day, and that everyone we work with is on the same wavelength.”

In terms of the culture at a NewLaw firm, Mr Hachigo said Sprintlaw is focusing on creating an entirely new culture online.

“The pandemic has completely transformed our ‘office’ to become something that lives in the cloud rather than in any physical space, and so the kind of culture we’re building has to be tailor-made to that new reality. For example, we’ve borrowed many learnings from existing online communities, instead of trying to recreate an online version of an in-person office culture. We have also hired more people from outside of Sydney, which before the pandemic tended to be where most of us were based,” he said.

“Where previously a physical office acted as something that bound everyone together, for a lot of companies, being forced to work from home revealed the limitations of those connections. Now more than ever, I think it is important that workplaces focus on culture and that they are clear about what their mission and purpose is.”

However, in addition to culture, firm benefits and staff initiatives can also play a role in attracting and retaining staff, Mr Pike argued.

“We have been told by our people, including new joiners, that they were attracted to HSF due to the calibre of partners, the quality of work as well as our clients. Our employee value proposition centres around attracting the best people in the market, giving them challenging work and great learning opportunities that will benefit them throughout their careers,” he said.

“We have a number of initiatives in place to attract and retain talent. One of these is our People Forum where people from across the business can contribute ideas and help to shape the direction of the firm.”

HSF also recently extended its paid parental leave offering from 18 weeks to 26 weeks and has a Public Holiday Swap initiative, whereby staff can choose to work on public holidays and take another day as leave.

“We have also committed to numerous significant initiatives such as our 10 Actions for Change – areas that we are focused on to improve representation, support and experience for our Black, First Nations, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues,” Mr Pike added.

“In addition, we recently launched ‘8 Drivers for Gender Equity’, which is a global framework that brings together existing and new areas of focus for the firm with respect to gender, including targets for the proportion of women in our partnership.”

This is something that a number of BigLaw firms, in particular, have placed high importance on – from putting new parental leave policies and wellness days in place to prioritising diversity inclusion initiatives.

Lander & Rogers chief partner Genevieve Collins echoed this sentiment speaking to Lawyers Weekly earlier this year when she said one of the biggest challenges for the profession post-pandemic was “attracting and retaining top talent”.

Part of this, Ms Bowd said, means having a supportive culture, with a variety of events that staff at all different stages of life can enjoy.

“Firms need to think about what their young lawyers need, their working parents need, and their older staff need. To me, this looks like a very conscious and ongoing set of mixed experiences and opportunities for people, from having a tab at a local bar, to special events like a night at the museum, to weekends away with families invited (and paid for).

“Firms need to learn how to make themselves places people want to work and want to stay working at. That is not an initiative; it is a reformation. Firms need to reform themselves so that they are actually attractive and they have something meaningful to offer to their staff. They need to follow through on whatever those attractive elements are so that once staff have started, they want to stay,” she added.

“What matters now is a workplace that genuinely supports and respects the people within it. This means, rather than ‘perks’, the end to cost-cutting and indignities in the workplace, and the return to a respectful and human-centred physical environment.”

Despite Hazelbrook having a number of initiatives and perks for staff, Ms Griffin agreed that firm culture would continue to stand out “in the war for talent”.

“We have a broad range of initiatives, including a wellness program which entails things such as yoga and book club. We have regular career planning sessions and mentoring for all staff within the firm. We also conduct regular whole-office strategy sessions to bring people along on the journey and to ensure we are communicating what the long-term plan is and how they fit in. All of these initiatives are critical to ensuring that for the team, there are clear pathways and transparency,” she said.

“There is also enormous value in building a workplace that provides more than just an opportunity to do the work you’re trained in. Our culture is a critical underpinning to our success – and we live and breathe that culture on a daily basis. As a boutique, it is one of the most important ways we have set our firm apart to attract top tier talent. Of course, firm perks are becoming par for the course, but at the end of the day, perks are not enough to retain staff if you don’t have a healthy culture.”