Credit: Shutterstock.com

Working in-house has long been viewed as an option for those wanting a better work-life balance. But intense company pressures resulting from the pandemic crisis combined with the need to work from home have left many general counsel feeling unable to maintain a distinction between work and home life.

Several U.K. based general counsel recounted their challenges to Law.com International as they attempt to act as trusted advisers to their company leaders while also seeking to have some periods of separation from the job.

"The liability of a GC is going up," said Simon Nasta, general counsel at industrial giant GFG Alliance, who was a senior associate at Allen & Overy from 2005 to 2012.

Nasta said he has currently been busier than he was at the law firm during boom times.

He said it is "incredibly tough right now" for GCs, and the additional pressures mean it is a struggle to maintain a work-life balance and switch off.

"The lines were blurred before but are now increasingly being erased altogether," he added.

"The lines were blurred before but are now increasingly being erased altogether."

A general counsel at a betting company added they have seen those lines blur particularly vividly recently, as his home and work lives have overlapped.

"Remote working can cause frictions – the hours are long and unsociable, but there are both positives and negatives. I see my daughter a lot more. But, negatives can include when I had to change her nappy during a call with the executive board. It feels like I'm not always doing right by her". 

Similarly, one U.K. technology company general counsel said one perk of remote working has been able to give his children a bath in the evenings, but that he has had to return to work calls after that.

The betting company GC said as well as the bulk of usual work pressures, he has felt more responsible for looking after his team's emotional well-being too.

"There's also the added dynamic to look after the mental health of your team", he said. "It's a struggle to always emotionally engage without the face to face interaction and I think people are getting bored of pub quizzes."

The comments mark a change to the traditional logic that private practice lawyers work longer hours. While in-house lawyers struggle to cope, many law firms have offered their lawyers shorter working weeks or the chance to move into busier departments given the drop in transactional work.

U.K. lawyers have recently expressed concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on mental health, according to research by U.K. mental health charity LawCare and Project First 100 Years.

COVID-19 necessitates greater vigilance and anticipation on the part of the GC.

Lesley Wan, general counsel at FBN Bank, added that the usual demands of a GC must still be juggled.

GCs "may also be expected to provide or contribute to calm, focused, reliable and empathetic leadership across the wider organisation", she said, alongside the "uncharted territory".

A GC for an online marketplace said discussions within the GC community have flagged similar pressure points, including a huge increase in emails and the amount of work making it "much harder" to switch off.

But she also said she finds the lack of commute means she has no extra time to "wind down" and separate work and home life.

"If you're also a working parent, when you've finished work you then have to prepare meals, put children to bed as well as attempt to spend proper time with them."

While times may be currently tough, Nasta says that, like the 2008-09 global recession, lessons learned will add to GC's experience.

"Moments like this are educational as change is rapid. Slightly embarrassingly, as a world we now know much more about supply chains and the fragility of them – or not in the case of the dreaded toilet roll panic-buying!" 

Read More:

Mental Health and Gender Inequality Worries Affecting Women in Lockdown, First 100 Years Finds

Less Money, Furloughing and Being Forced Back to Offices: UK Lawyers' COVID-19 Concerns

Why GCs Don't Like It When Firms Impose Lengthy Partner Notice Periods