Christopher Mills, Schillings partner and COO, said the key reason behind the new policy was to enable staff to have greater work-life balance and to encourage collaboration between divisions within the firm, such as between cyber and intelligence staff and lawyers. He added that the firm needed to be a more ‘modern’ business and think flexibly about its working conditions in order to attract more cyber professionals and intelligence consultants.

Voluntary

The scheme is voluntary and allows lawyers and some staff to decide how many days per week they want to work in the office, with the firm suggesting they only need to come in two days each week. Staff can book particular desks for the days that they are in the office and can also work in the firm’s new coffee shop, with the intention being that staff will sit next to someone different in terms of hierarchy and across different disciplines.

The programme will not be open to paralegals, legal secretaries or client services staff, as these roles ‘require staff to be on premises’. It is already live and will be officially finalised in the second week of September.

Source: The Lawyer