What's New

Comments & Summaries
July 29, 2021

Comment: Lawyering in the Cloud: Can Work-from-Home be the New Norm for IP Firms?

Author: Intern - Gazal Sancheti

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world as we know it. It has redefined the bounds of workspace, and merged it with our homes. Hitherto, working-from-home was unheard of as far as the practice of law in India was concerned. While some firms did allow a modest hybrid work arrangement, most law firms were traditionally set up, requiring lawyers and administrators to be physically present in the office.

The shift from working in a traditional firm setup to working remotely was rather sudden but, over the past year, things have changed, boundaries pushed and new systems developed. Law firms have devised internal policies to be followed by the retained lawyers, invested in technological support to assure smooth functioning like digitisation of documents, evidence, etc., and have been educating their employees on best practices.

However, work-from-home is concomitant with the pandemic. Firms, as well as lawyers, have been waiting to get back to working normally once the situation eases. This is primarily because India’s legal and judicial processes are not yet fully equipped or ready for  a complete shift towards remote work. This is because a lot of the legal-administrative work still needs to be done physically like  examining voluminous pages of evidence or cross-examination of witnesses, etc. .While courts and other forums have started conducting video conference (VC) hearings, there is still much to be accomplished in terms of fixing/upgrading the tech support for conducting smooth VC hearings, digitisation of court records, enabling easy access to general litigation or chamber lawyers.  

In my opinion, IP firms seem to have an edge over general litigation firms. Even before the pandemic wreaked havoc, most IP-related at least transactional or prosecution work could be done via the internet- be it conducting searches, filing registration applications, or communication between the firm and the relevant authorities- to give a few examples. With the pandemic forcing IP authorities to hear even contentious matters online, the primary offline-exclusive work has been brought into the remote work-able category. At present, most IP firms have implemented complete work-from-home, and few operate in a hybrid set-up.

In this author’s view, IP firms can consider going virtual even after the pandemic ends to reap the benefits of work-from-home which inter alia allows greater diversity and inclusion. Remote work offers several advantages, such as reducing costs by minimising the need for physical office space and associated expenses, bringing in the possibility of flexible work timings, attracting a wider talent pool as a potential hire’s geographical location stops being a factor, increased productivity, reduction in overall carbon footprint, etc. If an IP firm does not want to go completely virtual, a hybrid workspace can surely be created, wherein lawyers get to work from their homes for a set number of hours or days each week, and still be efficient and productive.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

Copyright: ALG India Law Offices LLP

  • Non Solicitation
  • Data Privacy & Protection
  • Conflict of Interest Policy
  • Data & Document Retention Practice
  • Firm Management Policy
  • Liability
  • Disclaimer
  • Privilege
  • Copyright
  • Billing Policy
  • Pro Bono