For Austin Blessing-Nelson, it came down to the people — and the coffee.
He began his legal career at a small firm in 2020 as pandemic restrictions were becoming the norm for workers. He later worked for a slightly larger firm and although restrictions had eased, employees — including attorneys — and their desire to work remotely had not.
It was at that second job where Blessing-Nelson said he could see the best of both worlds.
“I chose to go into the office the majority of the time because I liked talking to coworkers and being in the office (which had free coffee and snacks too), but I also enjoyed the flexibility to work from home and did it often,” he said.
Remote work is part of a new era for legal professionals, transforming the landscape for both private and non-private practice attorneys. The State Bar of Michigan 2023 Economics of Law report shows the dynamics of work environments, not only in law offices but also in courtrooms, have significantly evolved since the onset of the pandemic.
The majority of attorneys in private practice no longer work in the office five days a week and only 30.5% of non-private practice attorneys do so. The number of remote days varied, and 11.9% of private practitioners and 9.3% of non-private practice attorneys worked entirely remote.
Remote and hybrid schedules have become more common, and some firms and offices are now using it as a way to retain employees. In the report, 23.7% of private practice attorneys said that employers offered remote work flexibility as an incentive. (A total of 39.9% of private practitioners said their firms offered some form of incentive, with 23.2% saying they were offered increased compensation and 19.9% offered bonuses.) Non-private practitioners reported similar figures, with 40.5% receiving some form of incentive and 32.2% saying remote work flexibility was an option.
While employees seem to be on board, navigating business practices under remote conditions brought forth specific challenges, according to the report. For private practitioners, adapting to changing court directives and policies (32%) and handling reduced collaboration due to remote work (28.4%) emerged as primary concerns. Meanwhile, non-private practitioners highlighted issues such as managing staff working remotely (35.2%) and grappling with limited in-person networking opportunities (24.4%).
Both private and non-private practitioners shared concerns regarding pandemic-related challenges. For private practitioners, issues included managing stress (26.2%), fear of getting sick (38.9%), and balancing work and home demands (37.3%). Conversely, non-private practitioners expressed concerns about learning new technology (28.8%), balancing work and home demands (20.2%), and fear of getting sick (24.6%).
It isn’t only legal offices where drastic changes have taken place. In fact, while the COVID-19 pandemic is largely responsible for the normalizing of virtual court proceedings, Michigan was ahead of the curve when it came to using videoconferencing technology like Zoom in the courtroom. The Michigan Supreme Court announced it 2019 that it would allow some courtroom proceedings to take place via technology rather than in person. When the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, many courtrooms were at least somewhat prepared to work fully remote.
For criminal attorney Steve Fishman, those changes were particularly positive for the legal profession.
Fishman said there were a lot of things in the legal process that he saw as a waste of time. Pre-trials, for example, or setting court dates
required an attorney to dress up and head downtown for something that was almost automatic.
“Basically, you’re there for 15 minutes and you go home,” he said.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, and everything changed.
“The best thing that came of (the pandemic) was that we were able to avoid a lot of unnecessary courtroom appearances and just do them on Zoom, which would take five minutes,” Fishman said.
Since then, virtual proceedings have not only become the norm, but are here to stay. In 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court adopted an administrative order to increase access to justice through use of videoconferencing technology.
Flexibility and having remote options available is key, said Blessing-Nelson, who enjoys a hybrid schedule as associate counsel for the Attorney Grievance Commission.
“I personally love the flexibility to work remotely, but also enjoy being able to converse with coworkers and bounce ideas off of them,” he said.