Lawyers working 20 extra work days due to remote working

Following the transition to home working, lawyers will work the equivalent of an additional 20 days a year, while also gaining the equivalent of 27 extra days off with the additional downtime, according to new research.

Analysis by Atlas Cloud indicates that legal workers are saving an average of 85 minutes each day as they are no longer commuting into the office. The survey’s respondents (188 legal workers) revealed that this additional leisure time was split between spending more time with family (50%), catching up on sleep (43%) and doing more exercise (40%).

Looking to the future, almost two-thirds of respondents want to see a combination of office and remote working (hybrid-working) when lockdown restrictions ease, with 85% stating that working from home at least one day a week would be their preference. Only 15% want to return to working from the office full time and 22% hope to work from home full time.  

CEO of Atlas Cloud Pete Watson said: “One of the few bright spots of the coronavirus is that it has shown we can build a better way of working which will help to create better businesses, a better society and ultimately better lives for ourselves, our colleagues and our families. We now have a golden opportunity to embrace flexible and agile hybrid-working to create a better work-life balance for millions of people.”

Meanwhile, Legal Cheek research revealed the average start and finish times for trainee and junior lawyers working from home. Kirkland & Ellis trainees are finishing work at 9:46pm on average, with Cleary Gottlieb and Sidley Austin also having late finish times at 9:16pm. Trainees at BLM are finishing at 5:31pm, although the average start time for BLM trainees is 8:34am, according to the research.