Osprey Approach’s blog by Amy Bruce: Is flexible working the new norm for law firms?
Embracing Flexibility: The New Normal for UK Law Firms?
In recent weeks, there’s been a notable shift in the narrative around flexible working, with UK businesses and public sector organisations—including Amazon and HM Land Registry—applying increased pressure on staff to return to the office. It’s something that law firm leaders continue to grapple with when weighing up the challenges and opportunities that flexible working presents. While some firms mandate staff to return to the office several days a week, others have closed offices and fully embraced a remote working model.
Productivity and client service
When it comes to flexible working arrangements, maintaining high levels of productivity and client service is perhaps the biggest challenge facing law firms. Lawyers often work to tight deadlines, and leaders have expressed reservations that flexible working policies could ultimately reduce productivity and the quality of work.
Maintaining effective communication and collaboration among team members is also crucial, especially for junior staff looking to build relationships and benefit from the experience of more senior team members.
The power to flex
Despite these challenges, flexible working has emerged as a powerful strategy for law firms to thrive in today’s dynamic legal landscape and revolutionise the way legal professionals work and interact with clients.
Tina Wisener, chief executive at law firm Doyle Clayton, agrees that flexible working is a good thing, and hasn’t impacted the team’s high performance: – “It’s about understanding what the strategy is; what the goals are; where we’re going; why we’re doing it; and what [the staff’s] role to play is, and you don’t need to be in the office to do that. But my own view is you do need to be in the office some of the time… and that’s what we’re trying to encourage.
“[Hybrid working] was thrust upon us in 2020. And here we are, in 2025,
happy, successful, and growing. I think the key thing – and I’ve talked about this quite a lot – is trust. You’ve got to trust your employees. If someone’s at home working, you trust them to do their job. … if you haven’t got trust, you haven’t got anything really.”
A strategy to attract and retain talent
By offering greater flexibility, firms can increase job satisfaction, reduce overhead costs and importantly, attract and retain top talent. It’s something that Lindsey Kidd, managing director of HM3 Legal, advocates, but she highlights that retaining great staff isn’t down to just one thing: “It’s lots of little things. It’s the fact that we deliver law differently; we’ve got great clients that are all great to work for; and we are B-Corp certified. It’s the fact that if you come here, you’ll have flexibility from day one.
“I’m a working mum and of the three of us that own the business, two of us have young children, and we’re two-thirds female led with lots of flexible workers. It’s empowering them to know that they can have the flexibility that they need, and trusting them to do the job rather than micromanaging.”
The role of tech
Like many firms, Milner Elledge has become a digital-first legal practice, spurred on by the need for the team to be able to work entirely remotely in recent years. Georgia Smith, a senior lawyer with the firm, explains: – “During lockdown… the business was busy and we needed to review our systems so we could go fully digital.
“Everyone needed access to case files because they were working from home and that was when we had the realisation that we had a system in place that we weren’t taking full advantage of.”
Building a digital-first culture within a firm means to consider digital tools and tech when solving problems or strategising for the future. By utilising the tools in Osprey, Milner Elledge has seen benefits across the firm that have helped them achieve a more agile operation and work towards their goals of growing the firm.
Georgia continues: “We want to keep developing how we use Osprey because there’s so much we still don’t know. Implementing the client portal is the next stage for us.”
Embracing flexibility for long-term success
There is no doubt that flexible working is reshaping the world of work. While the debate around working patterns will rumble on over the coming months, the benefits are clear; the associated flexibility and improved work-life balance are creating a more dynamic and inclusive legal profession. By embracing this approach, law firms can create a more productive, efficient, and resilient workforce that is better equipped to meet the needs of clients in a rapidly changing world.
You can hear expertise, advice, and secrets from the sector’s experts and law firm leaders on Osprey Approach’s popular podcast series, Empowering Law Firm Leaders, designed to empower leaders, manage teams, and make running a law firm easier.
Amy Bruce is head of marketing at Osprey Approach
Kindly shared by Osprey Approach
