International firm Dentons is shutting two of its UK offices to cater for full-time remote working and shrink its real estate footprint.

Offices in Aberdeen and Watford will be vacated with all partners and employees continuing with their current virtual working arrangements. Staff will be able to work in offices in Edinburgh and Milton Keynes when required. The firm said it is not currently planning to close any other offices but will review the situation when the lease on its London office expires in 2025.

A project team has also been established to review the way lockdown has changed working arrangements. The firm is looking to make greater use of technology and to encourage a ‘more agile’ way of resourcing work.

Lisa Sewell, managing director for the UK, Ireland and Middle East said: 'We have seen far less use of paper, more self-service and confidence using new technology and no drop in productivity or service levels despite teams not being co-located 100% of the time.

'The success of remote working during lockdown has made us really stop and think about how we can learn from this new way of working to accelerate the physical and behavioural changes that form part of our strategy to build the law firm of the future. In that way, the lockdown has forced the behavioural shifts that are the basis of any real change of this type, so we want to use this to ensure we don't just assume we will return to the way we used to work post lockdown. It's an exciting shift for us, our people and for how we will be able to serve our clients in different ways in the future'.