Adapting to the future

The legal industry, like so many other industries, is ever changing. As trainees we need to learn how to be adaptable in order to deal with these changes as we progress in our careers.

One of the biggest factors to recent developments in the way we, in the legal industry, are working is technology. Changing attitudes to technology are changing not only how we work but also how our clients want us to work. We are seeing an increase in our meetings being conducted over zoom and clients are often preferring that we email them rather than send them letters.

Even the way we obtain ID has changed. Gone are the days of taking time off work to come into the solicitor’s office for a meeting and having your documents copied and certified. You can now book a zoom meeting and submit your ID documents online (the solicitor having seen the originals at the online meeting), all arranged over email, without ever stepping foot in your solicitor’s office. This might make things seem more remote and distanced but actually, when we communicate over email people often let their personalities shine through more and it can lead to feeling closer and more connected to clients in a way that a formal letter just can’t provide. However, with emails being so instant we need to make sure we are vigilant that we are sending the right information to the right recipient since emails will often autofill a recipient where a letter does not, and careful proof reading is still always required.

Hybrid working is becoming more and more commonplace and with that is the shift towards paperless, completely electronic files. This means we can work at home without carrying home lots of paperwork and my small home office, which only has one filing cabinet, actually feels like it is more than enough space – despite what we see on TV, with lawyers drowning in paperwork, leads us to believe.

With these welcome developments there are also developments to the things we must be aware of and protect against. The legal industry might be changing but the duty of confidentiality remains a constant. How we assess the risks to confidentiality are vastly different now than they would have been even just a short time ago (pre-pandemic entirely office based working? Remember that?).

Working at home, we must now think about things such as do we have a private place to work? And that is not just to ensure peace and quiet to get on with the work, as important as that is. Working at home must not reduce the level of security your client’s information and documents receive. A private office or at least a locking filing cabinet is essential. Ensuring not to use personal devices such as our mobile phones unless we have an approved workplace app to make calls on which is linked to the office phone means we can receive phone calls to our work number but this is just as safe as if we used our desk phone in the office.

This shows that the way we adapt to the future is so much more than just taking meetings online and sending a client an email rather than a letter. The importance of us adapting to the future within our careers is also adapting the way we protect our clients – whilst always providing them with the best service possible.