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01 April 2020 / Matthew Kay
Issue: 7881 / Categories: Opinion , Profession
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The home office

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Top tips to manage your career from home: Matthew Kay outlines how lawyers can get comfortable with the UK’s new way of working
  • Stick to a schedule: establishing a routine.
  • Create a conducive working environment: a productive workspace.
  • Look after yourself: self-care.

As I sit here writing this, working from my home office—something I (nor anyone) would have envisaged to be our life for the foreseeable future—I am astounded as to how many companies have adapted seamlessly to the ‘new normal’ of working from home.

From big corporations to the smallest of businesses, we’ve all been reading numerous stories about how companies have made a seismic change to their working habits in the space of a few days. For some, including law firms, agile working was a more widespread culture, while others have had to overcome obstacles in a matter of days to ensure business continuity.

I’m sure many of us, myself included, have been warmed by the positive encouragement in articles, funny social media posts and comforting TV segments

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NEWS
Refusing ADR is risky—but not always fatal. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed and Sanjay Dave Singh of the University of Leicester analyse Assensus Ltd v Wirsol Energy Ltd: despite repeated invitations to mediate, the defendant stood firm, made a £100,000 Part 36 offer and was ultimately ‘wholly vindicated’ at trial
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 transformed criminal justice. Writing in NLJ this week, Ed Cape of UWE and Matthew Hardcastle and Sandra Paul of Kingsley Napley trace its ‘seismic impact’
Operational resilience is no longer optional. Writing in NLJ this week, Emma Radmore and Michael Lewis of Womble Bond Dickinson explain how UK regulators expect firms to identify ‘important business services’ that could cause ‘intolerable levels of harm’ if disrupted
Criminal juries may be convicting—or acquitting—on a misunderstanding. Writing in NLJ this week Paul McKeown, Adrian Keane and Sally Stares of The City Law School and LSE report troubling survey findings on the meaning of ‘sure’
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has narrowly preserved a key weapon in its anti-corruption arsenal. In this week's NLJ, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers examines Guralp Systems Ltd v SFO, in which the High Court ruled that a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) remained in force despite the company’s failure to disgorge £2m by the stated deadline
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