“By the way, you know, when, when you’re telling these little stories, here’s a good idea. Have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener!”
Neal Page (played by Steve Martin) in the 1987 movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Clio’s Legal Trends Report came out this week at Clio’s annual conference. One of the key findings is that lawyers and legal professionals don’t want to return to the office like they used to. I know. It’s those lazy younger workers who want to drink coffee and sit around in their pajamas at home and not work. I mean, who wouldn’t want to commute an hour each way to get to an office to do the same thing they do at home. And be berated by a senior partner for being so uncommitted.
But the numbers from the Clio study and a recent ABA survey (more about both later) don’t lie. According to Clio, 49% of the lawyers surveyed preferred to work from home. A key reason the 1 in 5 lawyers Clio surveyed who changed jobs in the last year: they want a better work life balance. A balance that remote work and being able to work at the most convenient time provides. As Josh Lenon, Lawyer in Residence at Clio, and Rio Peterson, Clio Senior Affinity Partnerships Manager, said yesterday in an depth dive into the Survey results: law firms are becoming less a location and more a state of mind.
But you always get the contrary argument, mainly by partners who relish being in the office all the time and expect everyone else to love it too. The argument goes like this: we can’t instill our “firm Culture” (whatever that is) without having our younger lawyers in the office all