Since the change in law earlier this year which gave all employees the right to request flexible working, many lawyers will be working closely with clients to support them in implementing an effective and practical flexible working policy. And more change to how people work day-to-day is on its way, with shared parental leave coming into force next April.

With all this change to the workplace encouraging more flexible ways of working, lawyers may well reflect on their own inflexible working day and long hours culture.

Although more challenges and difficulties can arise for law firms when trying to change or adapt working practices, such as an embedded culture and necessary long hours due to the type of work, it is essential that law firms evolve and think more innovatively to keep up with the rest of the business community.

Implementing a more flexible working culture can mean firms are in a stronger position to attract and retain talent. Younger lawyers now expect a degree of work/life balance and will therefore pick a firm that offers that culture. In terms of retaining talent, female lawyers can find it more challenging to progress on the same career path as their male counterparts after returning from maternity leave. Presenteeism is often still promoted at the expense of flexible/part-time working which can often be equally or sometimes more efficient in the delivery of good client service.

Of course, there are examples of firms embracing a more flexible way of working. For instance, Slaughter and May recently launched a work from home programme which it will pilot for six months, which sees partners and associates working from home for one day every two weeks, and take-up has already been strong.

Meanwhile, new models such as Lawyers on Demand also mean that lawyers can work on a variety of interesting cases and projects, while maintaining flexibility and having autonomy over when and where they work.

Lessons from the regions?

Across the legal profession, regional firms are often better at promoting flexible working – both permitting working hours on a non-conventional timetable or from home and tailoring roles to suit individuals' strengths, rather than shoehorning them into specific roles. This is partly because, in the regions, we see a greater emphasis on lasting, people-orientated relationships, with both staff and clients which go beyond the issue of working hours.

Compared to large City firms, smaller regional firms can be more responsive and often have more confidence to innovate and break away from the traditional law firm structure. For example, being a partner doesn't suit every lawyer, but could suit non-lawyers, and it is a great way to ensure those individuals who contribute strongly to the business are valued and treated as equals.

As a regional firm we have actually benefitted from the inflexibility of the City culture – hiring a number of talented lawyers who no longer wanted to work in the centre of London.

However, while we contemplate the improvements a new culture of flexible working can bring to law firms, are we in danger of becoming too introspective? At the heart of any firm should be its clients and their needs. We should be focused on how flexible working can benefit our clients – if our clients are working more flexibly, we need to think how this impacts the services we provide – and how we provide them.

I do believe that regional firms can have the edge over London-based firms when it comes to flexible working. A more reactive, flexible structure means we can base decisions around our people more than how we implement a firmwide policy. Although flexibility is likely to remain the workplace buzzword, it is important law firms do not forget to give serious thought to how to improve services to help clients work more flexibly, perhaps even more than ourselves.

Steve Ryan is managing partner at SA Law.