Job Seekers

Working from home is here to stay for a while in the legal field amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So when are lawyers and their staff expected to come back into the office? Not until 2021, according to several law firms. 

This year has delivered huge changes to the way our world lives and works. But, will American law firms be ready to recognize and use what is going on in our world as an opportunity to create real change? In her book “Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen,” business professor Rita McGrath defines an inflection point as a moment that ““upends the basic assumptions that a business model is built on.”

The coronavirus pandemic brought sudden changes and unusual challenges to many general counsel and other corporate law department leadership. However, the good news is that the experience of successfully navigating their way through the storm could give in-house counsel a boost to the next rung on the career ladder.

In-house counsel may be overspending on outside counsel despite functioning in an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic economy. 

Law firms and corporate legal departments were pulling from the cybersecurity talent pool before the outbreak of COVID-19. This pool was not exactly overflowing though. With the sudden influx of employees working remotely and a host of other pandemic-related needs, this pool might have even further narrowed the already hyperspecific criteria that legal professionals are looking for in cybersecurity support. 

In the time before the COVID-19 pandemic, law firm partners that were looking to make a lateral move, particularly to a firm with a national presence, can expect to spend substantial time in the air. However, that is currently no longer the case. And cutting out that travel is serving to compress the timeline for bringing new lawyers on board.

As a way to avoid completely shutting down legal proceedings, court systems across the United States have adopted more remote proceedings during the pandemic. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court upended tradition when it moved oral arguments to a telephone-based venue for the first time in its 230-year history.

About 32% of in-house lawyers were uneasy with using videoconferencing before the pandemic. 

After years of hard work, Rachel Elsby of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld made partner this year in the firm’s intellectual property litigation practice. 

There are new top lawyers who are taking the helm of legal departments as businesses reopen (and reclose) corporate offices and retail locations across the U.S.