Op-Ed: Remote Work is the Future of Law

Another student recently posted about how new lawyers should avoid fully remote jobs. I respectfully disagree and would like to take this opportunity to share my thoughts. If a firm offers remote work, it should have the infrastructure available to ensure associates still have opportunities to meet with partners, interact with support staff, and freely ask questions. There are many fully remote law firms which operate successfully without the overhead of maintaining a physical workspace. If the firm has the infrastructure established, such as required one-on-one or roundtable meetings, there is plenty of time for both individual work and brainstorming together.

As it becomes more expensive to operate office spaces and employees demand higher salaries to compensate for the hassle of commuting, remote work offers significant cost savings. Even if every employee of a fully remote firm is provided with a computer to use at their home and even if their internet and phone service is paid for by the firm, it would still be cheaper to operate that business than paying rent for an office space, plus the utilities for that space. Removing the cost of overhead would ideally allow the firm to invest in better employee benefits (such as paid parental leave) and to host periodic meetings for the team to meet in person. While this idealistic model may be more difficult to achieve on a larger scale, many large companies work with many remote employees.

I agree with the other student that many new lawyers don't know what they don't know. However, for the right new lawyer who is confident enough to speak up when they "don't know" a remote environment may work well for them. Remote work is not for everyone or for all practice areas, however, I certainly feel new lawyers may find success working remotely. Personally, having worked remotely in professional roles prior to law school and working in hybrid roles during law school, I feel confident beginning my career as an attorney working from home.