Lawyers May Work From Home, but Will Firms Ditch Those Expensive Leases?

Bloomberg reports that in the last week of December, 2021, over 40% of US workdays were worked from home, according to economists. Before the pandemic, that number was 5%.

In a survey, respondents said they expect to continue working from home 30-40% of workdays, even after the pandemic. But those numbers cover the entire workforce, including jobs that cannot be performed remotely. The likelihood is that white collar workdays will increasingly be performed from home.

Many expect lawyers to return to the office at most 2-3 days per week. While some firms have accepted this reality, most have been slow to adapt–even expanding office space in many cases. Law firms typically devote 5-15% of revenue to office space, so it’s clear they could reduce overhead and improve the economics for lawyers at their firms simply by embracing new working preferences. It remains to be seen whether they will.