header-logo header-logo

03 December 2020 / Richard Crook
Issue: 7913 / Categories: Features , Profession , Covid-19
printer mail-detail

Leaving ‘business as usual’ behind

33616
Richard Crook explains why lawyers need to become multi-hyphenates in the COVID world
  • The unprecedented demands of the COVID era mean that legal advisers need to adapt to wearing more than one hat to provide clients with the support they need.
  • The benefits of these new ways of working include far closer and more personal lawyer-client relationships.

Pre-COVID, we had the luxury of being able to meet people and network, or search the internet for answers to far-reaching questions, or to find inspiration for problem-solving. However, this changed in late March 2020 when the pandemic took hold: what happened next was of course a ‘first’ for the majority of people. We lacked precedents and answers to an array of matters, but the pressure was on to continue delivering work, against a backdrop of economic decline across a number of sectors. Businesses went into survival mode and business development professionals, and the fee-earners with whom they worked, realised what it truly meant to live in an online-first world. The relationship between

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Nikki Bowker, Devonshires

NLJ Career Profile: Nikki Bowker, Devonshires

Nikki Bowker, head of dispute resolution at Devonshires, on career resilience, diversity in law and channelling Elle Woods when the pressure is on

Ellisons—Sarah Osborne

Ellisons—Sarah Osborne

Leasehold enfranchisement specialist joins residential property team

DWF—Chris Air

DWF—Chris Air

Firm strengthens commercial team in Manchester with partner appointment

NEWS
The government will aim to pass legislation banning leasehold for new flats and capping ground rent, introducing non-compulsory digital ID and creating a ‘duty of candour’ for public servants (also known as the Hillsborough law) in the next Parliament

An Italian financier has lost his bid to block his Australian wife from filing divorce papers in England on the basis it was no longer her domicile of choice

Reforms to the disclosure regime in the business and property courts have not achieved their objectives, lawyers have warned
The Law Society has urged ministers to hold a public consultation on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the justice system as a whole
Ministers have proposed bringing inquest work under a single fee scheme for legal help and advocacy legal aid work
back-to-top-scroll