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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

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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