This article is written by Ilashri Gaur, from Teerthanker Mahaveer University (CLLS). This article deals with the possibility to work from home with its pros and cons. 

Introduction

In the beginning of 2020, the world is battling against a pandemic. In the midst of coronavirus, entire countries have been locked down for controlling the situation of a pandemic. Even during the situation of complete lockdown, we must keep working and the most effective way to work these days is to ‘work from home’. For many people working from home was a far fetched dream, until we are forced to do so by the pandemic. 

In this article, we will be discussing how firms can be operated during the lockdown and also the advantages and disadvantages of work from home. Jobs that let you work from home, an arrangement known as telecommunicating. Work from home jobs are much more realistic. 

Just imagine your room is your office and your couch is your office chair. Think about this dream? But, it’s no longer a dream. The pandemic has occurred and there is a complete lockdown due to which people are forced to work from home. Working from home affords a lot of flexibility to us but at the same time, it demands a lot from you in return. 

There are pros and cons of everything. Is there a possibility of running a law firm from home; yes, it is possible. Everyone is working remotely whether employees, lawyers, companies, or firms; working remotely is more common nowadays than ever before. 

Pros and Cons of working from home for a lawyer

While working from home for a lawyer sounds really great, we must keep in mind the pros and cons regarding the same. Here are some advantages and cons:

Pros 

1. The benefit of working in your own comfort zone. Working from home can help us develop qualities like self-motivation, focus, self-discipline, and concentration. For example, a lawyer who has to work on a case at home, it is difficult to work in a comfort zone but they develop such qualities to finish their work on time.
2. You can actually become more productive with fewer interruptions and allow more focus to work.
3. The employees who are working from home can lead to an improvement in their health and well-being. People working from home get more time to take care of their health and personal hygiene as compared to those who work in the office while working long hours from an office. 
4. Working from home makes employees happier which reduces the chances of employees quitting their jobs. 
5. Employees will be more loyal towards that firm or company as who wouldn’t want to work from home.
6. You have the flexibility to make appointments and run errands.
7. There is no commute time or expenses.
8. Living in a less stressed life.

Cons

1. People might think that working from home means doing less but in fact, it’s just the opposite. When you don’t go to the office your working time collides with your family time or your own personal time.
2. Working from home means a lot of communication problems which in turn increases the feeling of isolation.
3. It is difficult to maintain team spirit when employees are working from different places.
4. When you don’t have full access to technology, it causes difficulty in work. It means that while working from home, there is full use of technology. Like if any lawyer has to draft something and he/she doesn’t know how to draft a thing by a particular app, so here comes the drawback that a lot of time is wasted to learn that thing and then work on it. 
5. It causes an increase in telephone bills or broadband bills.
6. It creates difficulty in maintaining staff development and upgrading skills.
7. If you are working remotely, it’s possible you are putting sensitive information at risk.
8. It creates difficulty to play different roles at the same time. When employees do work at home, sometimes they cannot manage the time for their family as well as work. 

Need for work from home

Working from home has become a necessity due to the coronavirus outburst. A recent survey of 2,000 working professionals and 1,000 hiring managers, conducted by Linkedin found that 82% of working professionals would like to work from home one day per week or more, with 57% wanting to work from home 3 or more days.

The coronavirus which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has become one of the biggest threats to the economy and the financial market. Social distancing has become the need of the hour. This virus has caused so many deaths all over the world that more than 100 countries have been affected by this pandemic. But, even in this situation, lawyers or employees of law firms do work from home.    

This virus is spreading vigorously all over the world which has made social distancing necessary and all the companies, firms, courts, etc are shut down as people continue to work from home.

India is in a complete lockdown which is affecting the economy and creating problems for daily wage workers. There is a downfall in the share market. Tax collections are dropping. The money which is used by the government as well the other people are only used in the medical healthcare services.

The companies are working remotely and employees are getting paid for their work.  For the lawyers or the employees of law firms who are working from home, it becomes their need to accomplish their task.

How can law firms be operated during quarantine?

It is very much possible to work from home in lockdown days with fewer expenses and with more freedom, feasibility and with the help of virtual connectivity. There are some firms that allow their employees to work from home. Meetings with clients are conducted either at the firm’s office or through video conferencing. However, not every work of a law firm can be done from home. 

A litigating practitioner may still be required to go through heavy paperwork and appear before the court. There are some benefits of running a law firm from home. Remote work is a more popular flex option among both male and female lawyers at every level. Whether you have a big or small firm, every firm should be prepared for pandemics such as the novel coronavirus and other unforeseen circumstances that could require a complete lockdown. How can law firms really work from home in quarantine:

• Care for employees 

Employees are among your most important considerations because every employee is a representative and crisis manager for your organization, whether you want to be or not. As in lockdown days, you should not cut their salary or fire them from the firm.

• Educate your firm members

Some people like to work in an office as compared to home as they are habitual of that, so during lockdown days it becomes difficult for them to work from home, so you must educate them about the importance of staying at home in such a pandemic situation. Most of us are habituated with working in an office, so working from home can be sometimes difficult for most people. 

An employer must educate their employees, the importance of staying at home and the ill effects of stepping out. Working from home doesn’t mean that you are on a vacation, work must be delegated on a regular basis to keep the employee busy and in touch with their jobs.  

• Communication 

Communication is the key to maintaining a healthy relationship with the help of virtual devices or we can say with virtual connectivity. There are various ways to communicate like emails, WhatsApp, Skype, and many more apps. Whatsapp groups help us to connect with more than one client or with other employees.

We can make spreadsheets to keep track of employee’s work progress. Employee time tracking is used by large and small companies, agencies, remote teams, and growing startups, as it provides a quick and easy way to improve the productivity of your firm. Timesheets are a way to log what employees were working on for every hour. This way you can know what everyone is up to.

• Electronic-filing of cases and appeals

Electronic-filing of cases and appeals are done in Supreme Court and High Courts. The Supreme Court of India has provided the facility of e-filing so that it is easy for everyone to file a case, appeal or an application. The electronic court filing is the automated transmission of legal documents from an attorney, party or self-represented litigation to a Court, from a Court to an attorney. E-filing is really helpful for the lawyers in the lockdown days as instead of running to the Courts to submit their case or to file the case they can just file their cases through e-filing by sitting at home only. Swapnil Tripathi vs Supreme Court Of India (2018): this case is regarding the facilities provided for e-filing, video conferencing of cases by the Supreme Court.

• Video conferencing 

Video conferencing is very helpful in lockdown days as when a trial begins the lawyers with their clients are supposed to be present in the court, but, due to quarantine and complete lockdown, the cases are being heard via video conferencing.

It can be used in any legal matter including remand hearing, bail application and even in civil matters like matrimonial disputes, criminal proceedings, etc., the requirement of the court is that the court just requires the oral evidence to be made before it. 

Even the Supreme court said that all work will be formally done via video conferencing. The judges and the lawyer who will appear before them will be in separate rooms. If there is an emergency the Courts remain open but one should take certain care and precautions while going to Court.

• Online arbitration

Online arbitration is really helpful; whenever there is any dispute between the two parties, the arbitrator helps them to solve their dispute. As he is the neutral third party from both sides, fair judgment is passed by him. With the help of technology, arbitration can be done while sitting at home. It is easier than the traditional arbitration, as if we have to choose an arbitrator or for due process or for binding decisions. The entire process is conducted by emails, video conferencing or by web communication.

• Work from home for researchers 

For any employee of a law firm, legal research is very important. Technology makes everything easy for us as we do not need to refer to huge books and printed journals for research. Online research has become the most efficient and effective way and the contents which are available are broad. One can even file an RTI from home using the internet; and due to the internet, the majority of work can be done from home and there is no need for going to the office. Researchers use online resources to investigate cases and find information for the same.

• Work from home for drafters

In a legal firm, the drafter has a work to frame legal documents such as will, contract, agreement, complaints, drafting for insurance, etc related to civil as well as criminal matters. Legal drafting is important as it ensures that the legal document is properly structured because an unstructured document without balance lacks effectiveness. With the help of the internet, we can easily do drafting from home. It is far easier than hand drafting. Even if the person doesn’t know how to draft then they can use the internet to learn that. 

Difficulties caused

The difficulties that occur during working from home are:

You might think that when you work at home there are fewer chances of interruption but that’s not true. I can give an example of mine only when your family member continuously interrupts in between your work.

• The problem regarding internet connectivity, sometimes the internet doesn’t work which creates problems to complete your work.
• Working from home is not effective when it comes to communication between the client and the employee.
• In this lockdown situation when almost everyone is using websites and working online, sometimes websites crash due to excessive internet traffic.
• Due to this lockdown situation, justice is being delayed because court proceedings are not taking place.
• It also creates a lack of discipline as not everyone is self-controlled or disciplined due to which it results in incomplete work.
• This creates a situation of isolation and you will be more isolated than before. Research shows that people who work from home are promoted less often and get small raises.
• Staying at home means devoting your fewer hours for work. If you complete your work within a limited hour then you are free. Stick to a set schedule if you don’t want to keep those working hours from expanding and eating up the whole day.
• It can be tough to be professional while working from home. It creates a situation like the sound of your pets or baby or maybe your dressing style was not appropriate during a video conferencing meeting.
• Sometimes it creates problems in your relationship with your family, friends or your loved ones due to the busy schedule as there is no boundation of time.
• There are problems regarding tax but your taxes look fairly similar whether you are working from home or from the office.

Conclusion 

According to me, working from home should be encouraged because the advantages overcome the disadvantages. If people began to do work from home, it would be really helpful for our pollution-free environment as during working hours, a large number of the population uses vehicles for their office use which creates a lot of noise pollution and air pollution and which further results in the breathing problem and various other diseases. 

And people can also save further expenses related to transportation cost, office expenses, bills on air conditioners, etc. Nowadays, men work like a machine; they do not have time for their family members, but work from home provides time to manage your work time and family time equally.

People may think that working from home is the right thing. If you want to work remotely you should have the following qualities: 

• You must have the quality of time management.
• You must be focused and do not get distracted easily.
• You should be self-disciplined.
• You need to be organized and structured.
• You need to be okay with working alone and spending most of the time alone.
• You need to be able to work on your own without the constant supervision of your employer.

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