Home-working lawyers doing longer hours, research finds
Over two-thirds of respondents to new survey say their work-life balance has improved since lockdown
Lawyers who work from home are clocking up longer hours, new research has found.
Two-thirds of the 154 lawyers who responded to the survey by legal technology provider Clio said they were working longer hours as result of agile working and working from home. Two-thirds of lawyers also believe they have better work-life balance now lockdown is over.
The findings follow research undertaken by Legal Cheek which found a slight drop in the average hours clocked up by trainee and junior lawyers last year compared to 2021 when many lockdown restrictions remained in place.
Clio’s General Manager for EMEA, Sarah Murphy, said:
“While it’s great news that legal professionals have more flexibility in their working arrangements, it’s essential that they maintain a positive work-life balance. Overworking is still overworking, even if you’re at home and have flexible hours.”
The tech provider said the new research supported the findings of its 2022 Legal Trends Report, where a whopping 86% of lawyers said they worked outside the 9-5 working day, 74% worked “after hours” and 69% spoke to clients on weekends.
Last week, a newly qualified lawyer in London attracted praise on social media after sharing a breakdown of her working hours during “a super standard working week”. Megan Hulme, who recently joined the London office of Mishcon de Reya, worked for 46.6 hours across the five days, with Thursday being the longest at 11.8 hours and Friday the shortest at 7.5 hours.
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21 Comments
Alan
Well of course they would say that. Now juniors are allowed to work wherever they wish, they can pop out to the shops for an hour, come home and wash and walk the dog, spend an hour on Tick Tock or whatever and then log off, all while the rest of us who bother to go to the office pick up the slack. It’s regretful the pandemic has permitted malingering and laziness to pervade and the results are clear from the economic downturn we are experiencing. The government really should have followed Mr Rees Mogg’s vision and lead and mandate a full five day office week, so we can go back to the way things were.
Anan
Who hurt you?
Shmees shmogg
My mum’s neighbour used to have a Rees Mogg. Nice temperament but always used to bring in dead mice
Alan Partridge
Just because you’re a boomer that wants to be in the office full time and spend as little time as possible with your unhappy wife and kids at home, that doesn’t mean the vast majority of us feel the same.
US NQ
What a sad little life Alan.
Dark Alan
I wonder what Alan thinks about the 4 day week, probably wait and see what his oracle Rees Mogg’s position is first I suppose…
7 years PQE
WFH 3 days per week and in the office 2. I get more done in the days at home and productivity is way up, in part to the fact that I don’t have to spend 2 hours a day commuting and can log on at the time I would usually leave the house and put that time towards work. Alan’s comments about lazy juniors certainly isn’t representative of my experience or anyone else’s that I work with – if you don’t complete work or hit your numbers you’ll quickly be rumbled.
Alan
Rest assured, they are indeed “rumbled”. I personally contact those I suspect as the culprits every day, often more than once, to subtly ensure they are doing what they should be. The number of camera off calls and no replies are carefully monitored and properly recorded and reported.
Just saying
You really need to trust your colleagues more
Stasi Alan
meanwhile Alan’s productively is way down as he is curtain twitching on his colleagues all day
Anon
I worked entirely from home for many years. It’s very hard to get away from work even when you have a dedicated office. During the week I had zero free time, no personal life as I supported clients in multiple time zones.
Weekends were spent recovering even though I inevitably worked for at least part of them.
I’d liken it to being in prison.
Alan
Your idea of prison is perhaps more in line with what the left want than reality.
John
No one seems to agree with your view. And you sound like Rees Mogg. Most people think he’s a t**t.
Alan
Here we go. The Wokerati out in force, trying to cancel anyone voicing what the silent majority are thinking. Heaven forbid anyone not want to live in a socialist society.
John
Not trying to silence you. Keep talking. You’re not doing yourself any favours.
Mr. Face 🤔
Hmm… disagreement is silencing now, is it?
Basic Alan
A centre right party has been in power in the UK since 2010 and yet every grievance you have is down to socialists, the wokerati, people who work form home, and young people. I would truly hate to be so deluded.
USQAnon
@Alan…at 10.38am on a Thursday, shouldnt you be working?
Graham
He’s sat in an empty office, absolutely furious (before he goes to the pub for lunch).
Alan
It’s interesting that someone who considers themselves intelligent enough to make such a comment displays a toddler like level of awareness of the concept of time zones and that a time in one place may be different to a time in another.
Alannis
While Alan is a troll, sadly the attitude in those posts reflects a mindset that is the target demographic for policies for the Tory party now that it is little more than a populist English nationalist party. A charmless, basic bunch those voters.
Comments are closed.