Slater and Gordon is preparing its London staff to work remotely for the "majority of the time".

When news broke that Slater & Gordon would not renew its lease on its London office and would instead set up all its London staff to work remotely, some were skeptical.

The Anglo-Australian firm announced on Wednesday that once the lease for its Holborn office expires in September, it will be looking to move to a more flexible office and will encourage its workforce to work from home "for the majority of the time".

But one former lawyer said: "I just wonder if something is lost when you don't have an opportunity for people to have a collegiate working environment. Law can be a bit lonely. It's just something quite different when you're only based at home.

"There's a lot of networking involved in law: a lot of lunches, breakfasts and going to events. Does that go by the wayside? And are [junior lawyers] really going to get the training from wherever they live?"

The firm will operate with a smaller London office premises that will be used primarily for meetings, although it is unclear whether this will be in place by the time the September lease comes to an end.

On Friday, the firm's chief people officer, Alicia Alinia, responded to the comments, saying: "We are moving towards a flexible culture. During this lockdown period, we took into account the demographics of our staff, what they needed and what we could provide to them. If they needed more screens, desks, chairs, etc., we delivered it to them. Working from home made us realise: 'Actually, I don't need to be seen at work for my manager to know that I'm working.'

"The new office will be designed for meeting space. It won't be somewhere where you store things, and we encourage people to come in for a real purpose such as team-building and meeting their colleagues and/or clients, as opposed to expecting to see traditional 9am to 5pm employee presenteism in the office. We won't expect our people to hop on a busy Central Line for work. Everyone just learns to manage their time better, and we'll become a much more output-driven business."

Throughout the lockdown, the firm has kept skeleton staff in its digital post room to print or scan documents and send them to fee-earners, and will continue to support its lawyers that way but, according to Alinia, the firm will review its use of technology as it evolves to better support its lawyers later on.

She added that throughout the lockdown, the firm had seen their internal engagement and  productivity go up. She said that the firm's Manchester and Liverpool offices "have felt more engaged than ever before" thanks to virtual bi-weekly events, and other virtual socialising events.

Alinia added: "Working from places where your talent is the most productive is the way forward. It's not about policy anymore, it's about culture. Millenials want to choose to come into an office for a real purpose. Mothers coming back from maternity leave, who would previously often be worried about asking for more flexible work schedules, don't have to worry about that anymore. Remote working is encouraging for a diverse workforce."

The firm has put in place a virtual induction process for its junior lawyers throughout the lockdown, and created a virtual learning supervisory environment. Moving forward, it will look to ensure that trainees and apprentices will still get a mix of face to face training whilst also remote-working.

Alinia said: "How much more can you get out of trainees if you have a flexible working environment and provide the work-life balance they so heavily demand?"

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