Junior lawyers working remotely

[Donna7898]

I was called to the bar during covid and have been working fully remote since (the firm I work for is fully remote). I keep hearing from senior lawyers outside of my firm that junior lawyers working in litigation who are working remotely are missing out on important experiences and essentially will not be as good as those were working in the office. I've never had any in office experience or any law firm experience prior to the pandemic so I don't understand what I'm missing that is so important. My firm has a good mentorship program and I have carriage of my own files and assist partners with their files. I have an examination for discovery, motion or mediation at least once a week, and I have assisted a partner with a trial. Am I really doing a disservice to my career if I continue to work remotely?

[Rusty Iron Ring]

You are missing out on things that other people experienced.  But plenty of people have missed out on things that you are experiencing.  It sounds like you're learning a lot, so I wouldn't sweat the remote part for now. You're learning to practice law the way it's currently practiced, rather than the way it was practiced 10 years ago. 

[123]

Being in office allows for lots of informal and impromptu chat and discussion. It's a good way to build relationships. And I find knocking on someone's door or bumping into each other in the hall does lead to helpful, spontaneous chats that I haven't really managed to replicate with others who don't work in the same offices. I've been able to hammer out a problem by bouncing ideas off my colleagues when I'm in office. I guess that is possible when I WFH. But I haven't consistently managed to reproduce the conditions for collaboration and mentorship in a remote environment, which naturally occur when I'm in-person.

That said, if you've found a functional mentorship system in a remote environment and that works for everyone, then more power to you.

[Aureliuse]

Also, even though many firms offer full remote practice, being that lawyer who is always in the office is a boon to many clients and potential clients looking for consults in person (or who prefer to call rather than email).

"Can I come drop this envelope to you directly?"

"Sure, I am in by 8:30 a.m., just come in whenever between that and 7:00 p.m."

And when technically unsophisticated partners remotely turned off their PC, getting that sheepish call from them to go press their work station's PC power button is always amusing.

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Aureliuse

[Jaggers]

There are lots of good things about working from home, but there are huge benefits to being together in the office as well, and although WFH has the upper hand right now, the pendulum will swing back again eventually.

[Zarathustra]

I work 100% remotely and I miss working in the office. There are tons of perks WFH but it sure feels lonely at times. 

[Jaggers]

The office also feels lonely a lot of the time these days!

[hiccups]

On 12/27/2022 at 9:19 AM, Donna7898 said:

I have an examination for discovery, motion or mediation at least once a week, and I have assisted a partner with a trial.

This seems like a lot of substantial work. I am also a litigation junior and probably have a discovery or motion once a month. I spend the rest of my time doing drafting and legal research (in the office). Does anyone know what is supposed to be the more common experience? 

[Lawstudents20202020]

15 minutes ago, hiccups said:

This seems like a lot of substantial work. I am also a litigation junior and probably have a discovery or motion once a month. I spend the rest of my time doing drafting and legal research (in the office). Does anyone know what is supposed to be the more common experience? 

Depends highly on practice area and the time of year. When I was doing family legal aid, I was making Atleast 1 appearance a week and spent very little time doing research. 

Now that I'm at a larger firm and splitting my time between private retainer family stuff and commercial litigation, I'll go a couple months without any appearance or examination and then have a couple very busy weeks.