The type of changes to our way of working brought about by the most recent economic downturn have I think been quite interesting and has caused the entrepreneurs among us to get creative in our thinking of how to make the best of a bad situation and in a lot of cases the doom and gloom of late has brought about quite enterprising and more fulfilling ways to work. Life’s most difficult situations can also be the most transformative as I expect many of us have come to learn.
Take for example the world of law and how severely it has been impacted by what has been going on in the economy of late. Bearing in mind the historically traditional approach to work in this profession, there have been a number of successful spin-offs where lawyers having found themselves out of work are making the most of combining their considerable experience, while also utilising technology to join forces with other equally talented lawyers across the various disciplines of law to offer a solution that provides the same professional service the client would expect from a leading law firm that’s extremely more affordable – Virtual Law, who’d have thought Cyber Space law would work in the law profession, which is steeped in tradition. But work it does for Anna and Janet: two clients who have established their work in this way.
Anna is a senior Commercial Lawyer, who has joined forces with a newly formed virtual law company. Janet is a family lawyer who choose this way of working to facilitate being a mum and wanting to be at home bringing up her daughter with the ability of being able to attend those all so important school events, in the knowledge that a sudden transaction won’t take over her life.
Both women provide quality work in the same way they would have done within the organisations they worked in. Surely this has to be a win/win situation all round, the client is happy and each lawyer has created a way of working that in the short term provides them with a great way of working that fits into their lifestyle in the way they want it.
They may choose to continue with this arrangement and they may find that it completely works for them, or they may choose to return to a more corporate environment, and if so it’s a great way of demonstrating their ability to develop business, which of course is a key factor on that road to partnership and beyond.
Published with client permission. Names have been changed.
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