How to: work from home

  |   27 October, 2014   |   887   |   3980

A15-year-qualified solicitor tells the Gazette that she would rather ‘poke sharp sticks’ in her eyes than work from home. She would be isolated at home, she explains, with no colleagues to discuss a case with or share a rant. There would be no handy IT guru, either, for when the computer screen goes blank. And anyway, home is where she goes to be at home, not at work.

Fans of working from home are equally passionate arguing the contrary case. Why waste hours each day crammed into a train with other morose commuters?

In fact, there are so many good reasons cited for working from home that it is startling that anyone still works 40 hours-plus in a traditional law firm office. Experience an improved work-life balance, some converts proclaim. Others talk about choice: work when you want, where you want. Some speak of escaping the shackles of partnerships, billable targets, key performance indicators and the firm’s gruesome Christmas parties. And anyway, others claim, email and the internet mean you are fully connected, with access to the same resources that previously only substantial law firms could afford.