As the world locks down to fight the spread of COVID-19, we are all having to adapt rapidly to a new normal. Our communications, beyond those with our immediate household, have shifted entirely online. From the informal interactions (video calls with extended family, virtual drinks with friends, Netflix Party with schoolmates and Joe Wicks exercise sessions for the kids) - through to the formal (virtual offices and schoolrooms) - we have turned to technology to allow us to carry on with our lives. And we are all on a steep learning curve.

Our current situation reinforces the importance of remaining flexible and creative in the face of uncertainty. Businesses have been reminded that building resilience is vital for survival - and adaptability is emerging as the most important skill, for individuals and businesses alike.

It has been particularly encouraging to see how adaptive law firms have been in reacting to the crisis. The Lawyer magazine, which is monitoring responses of law firms across the UK, reports that most large law firms have pivoted to remote working and are adopting online tools to continue to serve clients. Anecdotally, although there have been some teething problems, most law firms appear to be coping well.

This is of course good news; but why should it come as a surprise? After all, professional services lend themselves well to remote working. The Big 4 have been operating in this way for years, atomised across the globe in various clients’ offices. Why should law firms be any different?

The truth is that law firms have been significantly slower than other professional service providers to move to a remote model. There are a number of possible explanations for this. Lawyers are by their nature risk averse - and a reluctance to embrace Cloud tools (such as Teams in Office 365) given the highly confidential nature of lawyers’ work is undoubtedly a factor. Another explanation could be underinvestment in technology - both hardware and software. This has left some firms struggling with clunky legacy systems that make remote working very painful. The most likely explanation, however, is a cultural one. A culture of ‘face time’ or presenteeism persists in many law firms. There is still hero status attached to working an all nighter in the office, and regular working from home - or leaving ‘early’ and continuing to work from home - is simply not encouraged. This has deep implications for the cultural health of a law firm, with knock on effects on the mental health and wellbeing of employees, and the gender diversity of legal teams.

It feels as though we are at a pivotal moment - and law firms should seize this opportunity to drive new ways of working. It would be a good outcome for the profession if law firms were to continue to embrace and develop remote working patterns. It is better for those with families. It is better for diversity. It is better for wellbeing and mental health. It may even become a differentiator within the legal services industry.

Graduates looking to enter the profession will be accustomed to a virtual world and comfortable with a range of tools and technologies that enable remote working. They will expect - perhaps demand - a seamless user experience from workplace to home. The ability to meet these needs as part of the employee value proposition will be key to attracting and retaining the best talent. It is notable also that universities producing our young lawyers are also moving swiftly (albeit with varying degrees of comfort) to patch together remote learning solutions.

This new approach must continue to filter down to legal training and education. In the UK, the vast majority of law firms’ learning and development is still classroom based - and the same is true of most UK providers of postgraduate legal education. It’s fair to say there has been scepticism amongst some law firms about the value of shifting to a virtual model of legal education. Many were of the view that only a classroom environment could build the shared experience that is so important for a cohort of future trainees. Our recent experiences, both professional and domestic, challenge the legitimacy of this view. In recent weeks, we have all seen first-hand that experiences are no less poignant and intense for being virtual.

It is now time for law firms to challenge their thinking around legal education, and to put pressure on providers of postgraduate legal education to be more creative in their approach. The benefits of digital learning, when done well, are clear: it is more cost effective as there are no real estate overheads - which means that providers can pass those savings on to students. This makes education more accessible to a more diverse student body - increasing access to the profession and helping law firms improve their own diversity profiles. Digital learning is also far more sustainable from a climate change perspective than classroom-based learning - which should be important to law firms looking to reduce their own carbon footprint.

Law firms should think carefully about their choice of provider. There is much more to effective digital learning than simply live streaming classes. Those with children at home over the last weeks who have watched teachers making heroic efforts to adapt classroom teaching ‘on the fly’ will recognise that high quality, personalised digital learning is not easy to achieve. It must be thoughtfully planned, explained, practiced - in short, it needs to be digital education by design, not by necessity. Effective digital learning has to be consciously constructed to provide the best student experiences. This means making provision not only for academic learning but also all that surrounds it - including pastoral care and other support.

In particular well-designed digital learning can train lawyers to serve clients in a business-focused manner, producing the advice, solutions, strategies, plans and documents they have to produce in practice. This is the transactional, outcomes-focused approach that lends itself to virtual delivery for young lawyers, training them in the matters that lawyers work on for clients.

With every crisis comes fresh learning. In the words of The World Economic Forum , “The slow pace of change in academic institutions globally is lamentable, with centuries-old, lecture-based approaches to teaching, entrenched institutional biases, and outmoded classrooms. However, COVID-19 has become a catalyst for educational institutions worldwide to search for innovative solutions in a relatively short period of time.”

Law firms and educational providers should seize this opportunity to innovate, so that we can open up the profession to a more diverse pool of students and embrace technology solutions that help create the adaptive and flexible lawyers we will need in the future.