Remote working for lawyers – How to maintain confidence, clarity and connection
As the UK goes through another spell in lockdown, lawyers around the country are probably heaving a collective sigh of frustration mixed with a little bit of relief (if they’re honest).
Sure the novelty of working from home has a myriad of advantages, not least, a feeling of extra hours in the day when the daily commute is removed. But the reality is that there are a heap of disadvantages that can leave us feeling wrung out, demotivated and drained.
As a lawyer myself (and a qualified Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach) I’m only too aware of the challenges of working remotely and trying to balance your health with all the other competing objectives. Covid has, for most of us, thrown us deep into a pit of obstacles that we haven’t had to face previously.
Here, I’ve honed in on 3 key areas that lawyers might be impacted by during the lockdown.
I hope these tips help you to stay productive and efficient as well as feeling healthy and balanced.
Confidence
For me to feel confident in my work and the output for clients and colleagues, I need to know that I’m able to respond effectively and efficiently to any requests. This means being responsive and presenting the best quality advice that I can. Yes this may be my personal ‘control issue’ but I’m pretty sure that most of us have the same desires to provide quality service to our clients and colleagues. Key tips for this:
Where possible ensure that you have a strong IT set up at home. Seek support for that where needed. You can feel reassured knowing that you have the connectivity for multiple devices, access to all documents, data and matter notes that you need.
Boost your confidence during lockdown by staying on top of technical updates. Ensure that you can attend any online knowledge sharing sessions provided by your firm or team and keep an eye open for any external online training that you might have time to attend. This might be particularly important for lawyers at the early stages of your careers. You’ll know that feeling only too well of being out of your depth on a technical point. Without the face to face or physical contact with senior colleagues, and the usual discussions that might happen in the office on an ad hoc basis when tricky issues arise, it is easy to feel exposed.
Clarity
Things can get tricky without the usual boundaries that delineate work and home life, although for most lawyers there is always an overlap where one encroaches on the other and we all know which way round! But we want to feel that we are working with clear purpose and focus on the task at hand. Clarity comes from ensuring that we’re taking care of ourselves properly on a regular basis. A few key tips on this:
Where possible create a private workspace at home where you can take calls and attend zoom meetings comfortably and without interruption. This helps in matters of confidentiality but also allows you the headspace to think and present advice in a coherent way.
Create a routine that enables you to come at your work feeling refreshed and with motivation. This means eating well and developing a sleep routine where you go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. For me, self-care is probably better labelled as an increased form of self-awareness. Tune in to your body and what it needs to work at your optimum, to feel clear headed and energised. The more you can understand your body and how your lifestyle patterns impact you, the faster you can move to optimum health and better productivity at work. Law is a challenging career with pressures that can feel relentless, but you can equip yourself to feel mentally and physically more resilient.
For help on foods to increase energy and anti-anxiety diets contact Antonia.
Connection
‘Connection is the currency of wellness’.
Even if you are a lawyer who prefers to work on a matter in isolation , getting your head into research and drafting etc, it is important to keep our sense of being supported and being part of the wider team. This also extends to our clients. We may not ‘all be in the same boat’ but we are ‘weathering the same storm’.
Reach out to colleagues frequently. Attend all online team meetings and think of ways to support colleagues who may be struggling. Remember that some will be living alone or in shared houses with people they may not know well (this could apply to ex pat colleagues who’ve been seconded). Think about holding regular team social catch ups on zoom.
Take this opportunity to reach out to clients. Not to sell services necessarily but to show a genuine concern for them and their businesses. Take the time to understand the changes affecting clients’ business, you may well find business development opportunities there, but at the same time extend the hand of friendship to clients. Check on their wellbeing. These also serve as reminders that clients are being thought of despite the fact that physical social and networking events are not taking place.
Antonia is a dual UK/Hong Kong qualified lawyer and a qualified Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach. She is the founder of Vitaflow, a holistic Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching practice and can help lawyers work through issues they may be facing in the workplace whilst focusing on increasing overall wellbeing, emotional and physical resilience.
If you’d like to talk out your current Health and Wellbeing struggles, Antonia is currently running a Winter offer on a one hour nutrition & wellness consultation with follow up diet analysis report and 3 key recommendations to improve immunity and diet, provide more peace of mind and leave you feeling stronger and healthier.
Good health comes from within. Give yourself some TLC this winter, and book your consultation.