Questions for Northamptonshire Law Society Bulletin Autumn 2020 – COVID Edition
1.Please provide a brief description of you, your organisation, number of employees and areas of work.
We are Aardvark Planning Law, a specialist planning and environmental law firm with three solicitors.
2.When did you first become aware of Coronavirus and what were your initial thoughts?
News reports in the Autumn sounded like Ebola and Asian Bird flu: scary but a long way away. I very much hoped they wouldn’t reach here.
3.What steps did you/your firm initially take and what problems did you encounter?
Stocked up on wine! Cancelled my big birthday party. As a firm we actually adapted really quickly as our IT was designed to allow us to work remotely when doing planning public inquiries around the country. The switch to frequent Teams/Zoom video calls did catch us out a bit and we had to order more webcams from China which took a while to arrive. I bought a new, more comfortable office chair as it soon became apparent there would be less time travelling to clients and more time working from my desk.
4.Now we are slowly coming out of lockdown, how are you tackling this, what are your plans?
We are being cautious and having got used to working remotely we aren’t rushing back to the office. Also we are meeting clients in person less, but still need to get out and visit sites. Avoiding public transport and travelling by car, which contravenes our environmental policy!
5.Have you seen different sectors of Law, more affected than others, if so which eg. Conveyancing
Disputes seems to be busy. The impact seems to be very patchy with some areas busier and some much less busy.
6. Have you seen any positives for you, your firm or more widely the legal sector come out of the pandemic? However the government has decided to launch a review of the whole planning system. So we have lots to do getting to grips with that. Also no one knows about the impact on development property so clients are asking us about the options going forward.
We have picked up quite a lot of new work, particularly from public sector clients who weren’t able to move to remote working so seamlessly. Not spending hours on the train is a bonus. But missing banter with colleagues and the buzz that used to be in the office when we were pitching for new work, or had got a good result or brainstorming a new issue.
7.How do you see the future for you, your firm and the wider profession?
Evolution, innovation and resilience. It will be a case of survival of the fittest and adapt to survive. But there will always be a need for legal advice and in times of crisis that is greater than ever.
8.Any top tips?
Laptop docking station, two big screens and a comfy chair! Lots of your favourite coffee. Smile whenever you can, and remember it could be much worse…
9. Any other thoughts you would like to share?
The post Aardvark Planning Law appeared first on Northamptonshire Law Society.