8 Top Tips for Solicitors Working From Home

Due to the Coronavirus or Covid19 to be exact, we are all having to readjust ourselves to this new reality and at least for the short to medium term working from home is going to be one of those things we are all going to have to learn to love. However to help reduce the chance of us all going crazy I have compiled a list of the 8 best tips to support solicitors when working from home.

You may love the idea of lounging around in your onesie typing furious onto your laptop however washing and getting dressed improves you’re state of mind as well as psychologically preparing you for the day ahead.

Whether you need to change into business attire depends on the type of person you are. Some people find that dressing formally is helpful, and also useful if they need to dial into a video call. Just don’t be like that Jordanian gent who decided to only half get dressed and didn’t realise the camera would pan out during his interview 😬

No one likes to be deep in thought when you partner suddenly wanders in aimlessly to chat about how lovely the weather is outside or to be half way through a conference call with a client when your children come hurtling through the door at a million miles an hour like the infamous Prof Robert Kelly’s live tv interview. Set boundaries it’s helps everyone.

If you’re a workaholic who usually is working 12 hour days then carry right on. But for the rest of us just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you should always be on your laptop/phone checking your emails. It’s important to keep some structure to your day and try to replicate the hours you would normally work if you were at the office.

If you have children then work in shifts, giving each of you a chance to focus properly on your work at least for a short bursts.

We work in industry dominated by paper. There are medical records, reports, court documents, your personal case notes, the list is endless and you don’t have the space at home to store notes and records like you would at the office. There is only one solution… It’s time to wake up and go paperless.

At Inneg we have been paperless for 10 years and we have solutions to ensure that you can instruct and proceed with all your expert requirements paperlessly.

• Upload medical records directly to our server with an easy drag n drop function.
• Upload all medical imagery again directly to our server, no hassle.

For those who don’t have those capabilities our Inneg office is open for receipt of records and discs and on receipt all records are scanned and together with medical images are uploaded to the cloud and can be shared and viewed online remotely with your clients, with the experts, with counsel and for team meetings.

Just imagine a conference call where all parties involved be it several experts, solicitors and barristers can all be looking at the same images and discussing the same records.

Plus don’t forget reducing printing is not only time efficient it’s good for the environment too. Email us for more info

Not having to leave the house often means you just don’t and slowly start turning into a couch potato. However it’s vitally important to your health to make sure you get out for exercise as long as it is safe to do so. I recommend taking an early morning walk and ensuring that you get up from your desk and move around at least once an hour to keep your body fresh. But if you want to practise your downward dog in your living room with the help of an instructor, you can do so by joining in CorePower Yoga’s live classes.

And this doesn’t stop with you. Get your children in on the action with fitness instructor Joe Wicks for a Live PE session every day.

Without the luxury of a short trip to the shops, lunch at home can often seem a daunting and thankless task ending up with you endlessly raiding the biscuit tin.

Most of us by adulthood have mastered the skill of forward-planning our meals, but the interruption to normal plans by working from home can undo that for even the most competent of us. Get ready to have something healthy for lunch and plan it in advance!

It’s good to unwind and just because we’re all locked up at home doesn’t mean we can’t meet up with our friends, at least virtually. Arrange a cocktail hour every couple of days with colleagues or friends over FaceTime or Zoom and spend a little time relaxing and catching up.

Or for those really missing the local boozer you can get on Facebook and join The Virtual Pub with live music, a weekly pub quiz, bingo, karaoke, comedy night and so much more.

You may find isolation hard, if you have children you will find it exceptionally tiring and either way it is foreign to most of us.

However this period of forced isolation has a silver lining in that it offers us all a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with our family. Make time to sit and chat with your partner, play with your children and overall look to create great memories that can be kept and cherished for years to come.

Above all keep safe and follow the government guidelines. See you on the other side!

About the Author:

Leo Lachs is a Director at Inneg and the father to two little boys.