Emergency brings some home comforts

Hong Kong has escaped the rigid lockdowns imposed in many parts of the world but Covid-19 has still forced large numbers of employees in the city to work from home. Boase Cohen & Collins Partner Alex Liu examines the pros and cons of working remotely and how it affects law firms.

Hong Kong, 12 May 2020: Out of crisis comes opportunity. As Covid-19 continues to cause global upheaval, we can also use it as a learning experience to improve our efficiency and productivity for when, eventually, we return to normality.

A prime example is working remotely. After the coronavirus outbreak began to seriously affect Hong Kong in the second half of January, tens of thousands of public and private sector employees were asked to work from home. Some are still doing so. As a result, we are discovering the benefits and pitfalls of such arrangements and, hopefully, gaining an insight into how we might make better use of flexible working policies in the future.

Remote working is not new to the legal profession. The United Kingdom’s first “virtual” law firm – that is, one without a traditional office – was set up in 1987, even before dial-up internet. But the IT revolution of the past 10 years has brought a proliferation of such firms while also allowing lawyers at traditional firms such as ours, Boase Cohen & Collins, to enjoy the advantages of occasionally working away from the office.

What’s good about it? Comfort – no need for a suit and tie, for starters – plus increased availability over evenings and weekends, flexibility with regard to schedule (especially helpful to those of us with families), general convenience and lack of office distractions.

The downsides are obvious. First, there is a limit to what we can do. Research, writing and phone calls are easy enough, but we still need to leave home for court or tribunal hearings while face-to-face meetings with clients and colleagues are often essential. As well, home distractions can be greater than those in the office, particularly if there are children around, and the dividing line between work and leisure becomes blurred. You also need to be fairly IT savvy to access and store documents. Working from home necessitates organisation and discipline.

It also requires trust. In the early days of Hong Kong’s coronavirus outbreak, we saw a story widely reported in the media about a group of banking management trainees who went hiking instead of working from home and were busted after posting photos on social media. While we laughed at their naivety, there was the serious issue of letting down their employer, not to mention the resulting public relations damage.

And then there is the question of data protection. While most law firms have in-house servers with proper VPNs, firewalls and anti-virus software, such measures can be compromised by remote access when a lawyer is using home or public networks. Data leakage and vulnerability to hacking become more of a risk.

With many countries under extended lockdown, law firms which have failed to invest time and resources in IT have faced much greater disruption. Those which have already embraced what is widely termed “agile working” and thus have the required protocols, infrastructure and IT capability in place are much better equipped to deal with the current restrictions.

Of course, for the vast majority of firms, including Boase Cohen & Collins, the office will always be the centre of work activity. Communication between lawyers and support staff is vital. Teams of legal professionals – from Partners to Associates to Trainees – often work on a case together. It is one thing for a Partner to work remotely, quite another for most of a team to be in separate locations.

The office is also a place of learning for younger legal professionals. Trainees gain much of their knowledge, not to mention their communication skills and ability to work in a team, from more experienced colleagues and they require daily exposure to this environment. Quite simply, there is no substitute for face-to-face teaching.

If there is a silver lining to Covid-19, it may be that businesses in general – not just law firms – who have been stubbornly resistant to flexible work arrangements can now appreciate some of the benefits. Working remotely is still a challenge and contains pitfalls for firms and employees who are not properly prepared for it, but the concept is here to stay.

Alex Liu has been a Partner in Boase Cohen & Collins since 2000. His key areas of practice include commercial and corporate litigation, investigations by governmental bodies such as the Securities and Futures Commission, Independent Commission Against Corruption and Commercial Crime Bureau, insolvency and debt restructuring, intellectual property, defamation, real property and commercial contract drafting. He can be contacted at alex@boasecohencollins.com.

Working from home has become the new normal for some, but it requires discipline.