Shearman gives London staff, including trainees, option to work remotely for whole of August

Hopes to encourage productivity and support wellbeing

US outfit Shearman & Sterling is giving all its London staff the option to work remotely for the entire month of August.

The remote option includes trainees and follows an internal survey carried out by the firm into its working policies. Shearman currently operates a hybrid working model where lawyers spend at least three days-a-week in the office.

Matthew Readings, head of Shearman’s London office, said: “We are implementing this initiative to encourage productivity and support the wellbeing of our most important asset, our people. New working practices have been formalised over the past few months and hybrid and remote working are now commonplace within the legal industry and many others. During the pandemic all of our people demonstrated they could continue to meet client service expectations whilst working remotely.”

He added:

“We, like so many firms, see value in being in the office together regularly, while also being able to provide our people more flexibility.”

According to the responses to Legal Cheek’s annual Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, it appears that three days working in the office is becoming a fairly common practice.

But some firms have gone even further. RPC, for example, has told lawyers and staff they can work from home permanently so long as this doesn’t impact on client service and collaborating with colleagues.