Even as it becomes increasingly possible to imagine a post-COVID future, law firm leaders face three key questions about how work gets done. And if you're confident about what the "new normal" for law firms is going to look like, please tell me. You'll be the first bold enough to do so. Email me here. Want this dispatch in your inbox every Thursday? Sign up here.

Rethinking the Office: Three Questions About the Legal Workplace

As we approach the one-year anniversary of when we packed our laptops up, watered our plants one last time, and said goodbye to the office for an indefinite hiatus that no one anticipated would last this long, it finally feels like the finish line is in sight.

The administration of vaccines is steadily accelerating, and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projection has half of the total U.S. population at least partially vaccinated around early July, and nearly all around late November.

But that good news doesn't obviate several huge questions law firm leaders are facing:

  • When is it realistic to expect a widespread return to the office?
  • How can they continue to preserve their firm's culture and client ties as the "social distancing" era strides past the one-year mark?
  • What does the "new normal" look like once it's safe to return?

Baker & Hostetler chairman Paul Schmidt reflected a growing consensus when answering the first question in a conversation Wednesday: "I'm very, very hopeful that we get back sooner rather than later. Whether that's any time before the summer, it's hard to imagine for me at this point."