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Navigating office returns & rebellions

23 February 2024 / Nathan Peart
Issue: 8060 / Categories: Features , Profession , Career focus
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Nathan Peart explores the challenge of encouraging workers back to the office
  • Post-pandemic, law firms now want employees back in the office.
  • This creates a challenge as some employees resist.
  • Junior lawyers gain from mentorship and learning opportunities in the office.

After several attempts to find a new normal over the past few years, the current climate represents a shifting pattern in workplace culture. The office is increasingly resembling pre-pandemic life, which comes as a reality check for junior workers who have been used to a hybrid way of working. Law firms are a great example of these changes, where traditional values of client work first and a five-day office week seem to be making something of a comeback.

Amid a challenging economic climate and uncertain deal flow, corporate directive makes clear that executive leadership wants workers at their desks. Clients are asking what they are paying for in their service fees, and there is a strong emphasis that presenteeism will underpin a successful and sustained company culture. Meanwhile, there

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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