YSG Seminar: lawyers emphasise importance of looking at alternative work models but say it needs good management

Seniority is no bar to working flexibly providing there is good management, communication and adaptability, senior lawyers told delegates at a seminar organised by the Young Solicitors Group and the Association of Women Solicitors last month.


Nadia Swann, partner at magic circle firm Linklaters, said it was perfectly possible for partners to work flexibly and emphasised the importance of looking at different models and thinking imaginatively.


She said: ‘We try to work with individuals to suit their personal circumstances. For some partners with school-age children, a pattern of working 60-80% of the year is more appropriate than working a four-day week, so they can be free during school holidays.’


Ms Swann said client and colleague expectations needed to be managed, but added that the key challenge for private practice firms was changing the culture of presenteeism and measuring a lawyer’s worth in terms of hours billed.


Alan Julyan, senior partner of City firm Speechly Bircham, where a number of partners have alternative working arrangements, agreed: ‘We need to shift the focus onto productivity. Some male partners want to spend time out of the office to concentrate on their work without office disturbances.’


David Hunter, a partner in the projects department at Bristol-headquartered Bevan Brittan, has been working a four-day week since 2003. He waited until after he had been made a partner to request flexibility.


He said: ‘I talked through with my team what I was intending to do and they expressed no resistance.’


Mr Hunter admitted there was a long process of acclimatisation for himself, colleagues and clients, and warned it was important not to become obsessed with getting the same amount of work done in less time.


He said he has to be flexible too and reverts to a five-day week for limited periods to get projects completed.


‘I am more relaxed and approach my work with greater gusto. Bevan Brittan gets a more productive, efficient and energetic lawyer,’ he added.


Working flexibly is more easily achieved in the public sector, however, delegates were told.


Rachel Sandby-Thomas, a solicitor and senior civil servant working full-time at the Department of Trade and Industry, has worked from home one day a week for the last four years.


She said: ‘When I became pregnant I didn’t even have to ask to change my working pattern on return from maternity leave.’


Ms Sandby-Thomas said making the arrangement work required her to be organised, determined and conscientious. She added: ‘It took a while to get into the routine, but I wouldn’t change it. When I applied for my current job, I checked that I would be able to continue working flexibly.’