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Lawyers want more flexible working hours and very few want to return completely to the office

With the return of the holidays, a number of law firms are wondering whether to implement back-to-office policies or whether to maintain their remote work or hybrid models. 

Lawyers in the UK, at least, are clear. According to a recent survey by Thomson Reuters, one in ten lawyers want to return to full face-to-face work. 

The lawyer's mentality has changed in the aftermath of the pandemic. Whereas before Covid-19 only 22% of British lawyers were in favour of flexible working hours, today 63% are in favour of such policies. 

Working from home has won the hearts of many lawyers, who see that they still maintain their productivity and gain in well-being and work-life balance. According to the same study, British lawyers want, on average, to work from home two days a week, whereas before the pandemic they hardly considered this possibility. 

Significantly, almost half of the lawyers who responded to the survey (49%) were reluctant to set time limits with their clients, accepting the possibility of being available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

While it is true that 13% of respondents want to be free of the obligation to answer emails or calls at weekends, and 23% of them want to restrict certain hours during the week for communication with their clients.

While the pandemic has brought great misfortune to the world's population, lawyers in the UK believe that it has also brought positive issues to law firms: it has improved internal communication between lawyers, reduced formalities between colleagues and, on the other hand, increased the involvement and integration of younger lawyers.

This interesting study involved nearly 2,500 lawyers from all regions of the UK.