Everything has changed.

Before the pandemic, one of the biggest lures of a law firm looking to recruit talent was the "remote option"—allowing associates to work certain days from home and certain days in the office. Due to COVID, that advertised perk turned into a necessity. Most of us attorneys were fully working from home and, eventually, "WFH" became the new normal. Over time, my days transformed into a routine of waking up, dropping my masked kids at school, coming back to the home office and logging in. . . with or without a shower. The new WFH regime allowed me to play with my kids, make dinner and sit down with my family to eat together. I loved my new work attire – lycra, sweats and sneakers replaced suits, dresses and heels. All while my productivity increased.

But after 600 days of essentially spending 24/7 in my house, I felt off-balance. My work clothes hung untouched in the closet and collected dust. While I enjoyed being able to spend more time with my kids, working in my workout gear and avoiding endless hours of traffic, I began to miss the spontaneous coffee breaks with colleagues, the impromptu drop-in meetings to discuss what's going on in the market, and the engaging dinners with clients. Shadowing more senior lawyers or sitting down to page-flip a document with an associate became almost impossible. I felt disconnected. The line between home and work was blurred. Nonetheless, I knew I didn't want to go back to the pre-pandemic norm. I wanted something in the middle that allowed me to enjoy both the benefits of working in the office and working from home. So, like many of our colleagues over the course of this past year, I emerged from my cave like a bear groggy from hibernation—cautiously testing the waters of the hybrid work schedule.

A byproduct of the pandemic has not simply been striking the right balance between WFH and office attendance—COVID has put other aspects of the legal profession in the spotlight. In addition to remote/hybrid/office considerations, lawyers have been spending a lot of time thinking about what else they want from their practice. The ABA 2022 Practice Forward Report analyzed feedback from almost 2,000 of its members to assess and distill what lawyers want, and how and where they want it. Not surprisingly, the results are inconclusive— there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Yet, the ABA Report highlighted similar themes throughout the survey: the want for a feasible hybrid work environment, a culture of health and wellness, a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, and advances in technology to navigate this new landscape.

Lawyers adjusted to working from home and with that, gained a new perspective on their priorities and their futures. We had proof that the old “face-time-in-the-office” model wasn’t the ultimate key to success and productivity because WFH was, in fact, working. So that gave us a window of opportunity to look through and see what else could improve from the past. The health and welfare of lawyers, for instance, is more of a focal point now than ever before, and the goal of achieving a more inclusive environment is top of mind for everyone. The difference with these goals and ideas is that they aren’t being dictated by and forced upon anyone because of the pandemic– lawyers are proactively making their own determinations of what they want in their work environment, how it will shape their practice and where they will remain practicing as a result. We as a profession have to be flexible, thoughtful and receptive to new ideas that may result in a very different work environment than what we’ve known for our entire careers. The recommended best practices in the ABA 2022 Practice Forward Report is a great place to start – it came directly from the input of our colleagues. And, like my colleagues, my new normal is evolving. I’d say that is a good thing.