In listing sources of burnout, people throughout the legal industry have noted the erosion of work-life boundaries—from things as simple as the decompression time allotted during a commute to the very tangible separation from work and home provided by a traditional office. Those boundaries no longer exist for most, and may not reappear even when offices widely reopen.

Between the uncertainty of what a return to the office looks like and the continued blurring of the line between home and work, the road toward a new normal is still being paved. Three firm leaders interviewed for this article agreed that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and that any working fix will be based on trial and error.