Intelligent Office: We need to recognise, celebrate and support our unsung law firm leaders

That’s the simple and passionate message for this blog post. It is born out of observing the once-in-a-generation transformations brought out by this community over the last two years. Often in a matter of weeks. Always against the backdrop of almost daily changes in the government guidelines and legislation, and in medical advice. Dealing with a tsunami of questions and requests from colleagues, many of which had no precedent. Grappling with technology that was, at best, highly sophisticated but poorly understood and utilised by the majority of users or, at worst, hopelessly inadequate and under-invested for a sudden switch to digital working. Typically, working almost alone in emptied-out buildings for months, maybe years (if law firms 2020 were Thunderbirds, the facilities and office services teams were surely Alan Tracy, alone on Thunderbird 5 in echo-filled orbit whilst the rest of the crew sat at home by their pools to a groovy jazz soundtrack). Habitually mentioned and thanked in communications, but quickly and in passing compared to the praise often lavished on the IT department for pulling home working rabbits out of hats.

But my focus on the people who keep legal offices running is more than lobbying for more recognition of what they have been, and continue, achieving in the Covid-skewed present. I believe we need to look at the recent past and the near future and reappraise the strategic significance and critical contribution of office service professionals.

Why look back to the first two decades of the 21st century? Because we can trace a steady downgrading of the perceived value and managerial status of office and facilities leaders. To some extent this has been mitigated in the largest firms by the knock-on impact of their inexorable growth; a Head of Real Estate or Facilities responsible for one or two offices 20 years ago might find themselves overseeing 10, 20 or more locations dotted across the country or globe today. Their remit, skill set and challenge has transformed and that will usually bring development, achievement and meaningfully increased remuneration.

But that is not the same as relative status, influence and respect. And I believe we have seen those all dip as the legal industry, belatedly, focused attention and investment (and no small amount of hype) on catching up in the technology and innovation stakes. Never mind that anyone managing today’s offices has had to reinvent themselves as a master/mistress of technological infrastructure; what’s the biggest, most expensive piece of ‘tech’ in your firm? That’s right – your office, powered by a Building Management System, secured and accessed by technology, reliant on complex IT to create a sustainable and efficient environment.

The rise of the Chief Operating Officer role in law firms since the turn of the century (back when I first took on that role) has also introduced a new, very senior multidisciplinary operations management layer into many firms. Intelligent Office COO Ali Bilgin and I will, indeed, be picking up on this thread when we speak at The Law Society annual Law Management Section conference in May 2022. Many COOs have been huge allies, partners and supporters to facilities, but there is no getting away from the fact that their arrival has often eliminated opportunities to contribute directly to senior management discussions and decisions. The drift of various activities and responsibilities into IT’s domain – telecoms, printers and copiers, audio visual – has also tended to chip away at standing of physical infrastructure relative to digital.

At the same time, the proliferation of specialist business support management roles in the mid to large law segment has tended to leave some senior managers, including some in facilities, outside of reconfigured and slimmed down senior leader teams (SLT), executive committees (ExCo) or operational boards. This isn’t always necessarily a ‘bad thing’ I reckon – attending long weekly management meetings does not always make for the most effective group of managers! But, it can leave the office and facilities remit out of the loop and positioned as a purely tactical, not strategic function.

Which brings me back to, as Doc Brown would say, the future. And this is the most important dimension of all for the office and facilities leaders. Looking forward from 2022, there is an almost universal determination across the professional services world to reimagine and redesign the modern workplace. In reality, an evolution has been underway for many years; partition walls have come down, collaboration spaces have bloomed, cafes, bike racks, showers, gyms and sometimes creches have become more common, and technology has created the opportunity to work anywhere, anyplace, anytime. But, today, we are sat at an undeniably crucial watershed. In responding to a sudden, unexpected global emergency event the working world has accelerated many years down the track towards a much more flexible way of integrating work into our lives. Our professional cohort now find themselves tasked with steering their firm through this transformation.

Although the conclusion that we have moved decisively and permanently into a hybrid, agile working era isn’t much disputed, there are some strong views on how much or little office-based and remote working there should be in that mix. What is undeniable is that there are some serious, unresolved challenges to working as effectively outside of an office environment as in it, particularly clustered around learning, collaboration, career development and wellbeing. At the same time, most of our office buildings – however new and shiny they may be – are proving inadequate to the task of highly unpredictable occupation levels and an even more concentrated onsite working week (in many cases with just three ‘busy’ days – maybe 30 hours – in a 168 hour week). Two big practical obstacles that office and facilities professionals need to find solutions for quickly will dominate the next few years. Firstly, digitising to overcome the obstacle that is paper-based processes, whilst retaining the many positive and familiar benefits of using paper where it is supremely suited to draft and communicate. And secondly, re-tooling meeting rooms, desks and working areas (as well as home office environments and tech) to make meetings work seamlessly regardless of how many participants are in a room versus joining remotely.

At Intelligent Office we believe that over the next few years firms of all shapes and sizes will rely on the experience, cutting-edge information and knowledge, and practical leadership of their office and facilities leaders to create a really effective new model for legal work. We’re still early in this period of seismic transformation and it won’t be an easy, or uncontroversial, journey. That’s why we are committing ourselves to support those professionals through a new IO-sponsored Forum. We believe strongly that there are great solutions out there to every issue we currently face in transforming the legal workplace but that firms will not arrive at the best options for them working in isolation. By pulling together this community of often under-recognised leaders and managers we aim to help create a big boost to cross-sector collaboration and innovation over the coming years.

We will shortly be inviting office services and facilities leaders at law firms to join the Legal Office and Facilities Forum and to work with us to share best practice and jointly develop ideas and solutions. We look forward to welcoming your firm to the Forum!

By Chris Bull, Commercial Director and a member of the Leadership Team at Intelligent Office