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.
Family law solicitor
Ruth Taylor Family Law
2 solicitors and one secretary/ assistant
Purely family law such as divorce, separation, children issues, financial settlements, injunction proceedings, change of name deeds, living together agreements
2.When did you first become aware of Coronavirus and what were your initial thoughts?
Initially late 2019/early 2020, particularly as I visited Cambodia and Vietnam in February 2020 so more seriously after that. Initially some concern but concern progressed in March when our government were more vocal about it
3.What steps did you/your firm initially take and what problems did you encounter?
Care to begin with but after the main government announcement we worked remotely except for secretary/ assistant who worked in the office alone to be safe. It was a new way of working for us working remotely. No major problems.
4.Now we are slowly coming out of lockdown, how are you tackling this, what are your plans?
It is easier for us as there is only 3 of us. The solicitor and secretary/ assistant have separate rooms and are very careful. I am continuing to work more more remotely than in the office to deal with administrative work.
5.Have you seen different sectors of Law, more affected than others, if so which eg. Conveyancing
no not in my professional role.
6. Have you seen any positives for you, your firm or more widely the legal sector come out of the pandemic?
We have been productive working remotely and has made me realise it is possible to do so, especially when a staff member has children at home wheh previously I might have thought it would not be possible.
For our clients a big positive is telephone hearings as they are very much less expensive than us physically attending Court due to no travel and waiting time / expense. This has allowed us to represent clients at Court who may otherwise bot have been able to instruct us.
7.How do you see the future for you, your firm and the wider profession?
I think we will revert to being office based. I think it is good to keep work and home separate. It is also good to see work colleagues. But we know that we can work remotely if we need to.
8.Any top tips?
No, but having hard working, conscientious and committed staff has been a huge bonus. They just rolled up their sleeves and got on with it. We worked well as a team, sharing the duties appropriately, one or two slight changes from how we did in the office. I am very proud of them and grateful to them for that.
9. Any other thoughts you would like to share?
I am interested to hear from others how the situation has affected them. I think everyone has been affected in many different ways. I have wondered what is going on with the rest of the local profession as there has been less interaction. I have checked on some I have worried about but they are fine.
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