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03 December 2020 / Richard Crook
Issue: 7913 / Categories: Features , Profession , Covid-19
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Leaving ‘business as usual’ behind

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Richard Crook explains why lawyers need to become multi-hyphenates in the COVID world
  • The unprecedented demands of the COVID era mean that legal advisers need to adapt to wearing more than one hat to provide clients with the support they need.
  • The benefits of these new ways of working include far closer and more personal lawyer-client relationships.

Pre-COVID, we had the luxury of being able to meet people and network, or search the internet for answers to far-reaching questions, or to find inspiration for problem-solving. However, this changed in late March 2020 when the pandemic took hold: what happened next was of course a ‘first’ for the majority of people. We lacked precedents and answers to an array of matters, but the pressure was on to continue delivering work, against a backdrop of economic decline across a number of sectors. Businesses went into survival mode and business development professionals, and the fee-earners with whom they worked, realised what it truly meant to live in an online-first world. The relationship between lawyers and their clients had to evolve overnight, but

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Partner hire strengthens global infrastructure and energy financing practice

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Legal director bolsters international expertise in dispute resolution team

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Corporate governance and company law specialist joins the team

NEWS

NOTICE UNDER THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925

HERBERT SMITH STAFF PENSION SCHEME (THE “SCHEME”)

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND BENEFICIARIES UNDER SECTION 27 OF THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925
Law firm HFW is offering clients lawyers on call for dawn raids, sanctions issues and other regulatory emergencies
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Non-molestation orders are meant to be the frontline defence against domestic abuse, yet their enforcement often falls short. Writing in NLJ this week, Jeni Kavanagh, Jessica Mortimer and Oliver Kavanagh analyse why the criminalisation of breach has failed to deliver consistent protection
Assisted dying remains one of the most fraught fault lines in English law, where compassion and criminal liability sit uncomfortably close. Writing in NLJ this week, Julie Gowland and Barny Croft of Birketts examine how acts motivated by care—booking travel, completing paperwork, or offering emotional support—can still fall within the wide reach of the Suicide Act 1961
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