We are living in unprecedented times. The outside world is changing so quickly and it is requiring new and different things from all of us, whether that’s personally or professionally. It also requires us to collaborate more, across companies and sectors. Which is why I wanted to share what we’re doing at Legl and how we are supporting the legal industry during this period.
How Legl has adapted
Last week we, like many other companies and organisations, made the decision to operate as a remote-first organisation. Our priority is the health and safety of our employees and customers. We are open for business as usual and conducting all meetings virtually. We are not “working from home”, but switching to a new operating paradigm around remote-first working.
As a technology company, we are well set up to make this transition, but it doesn’t mean that it is not a profound change for us as a company. Like the law firms we work with, this is an experiment which has risks for us as a business, as well as opportunities.
What does this mean in practice? Here are some of the things we’ve done at Legl to adapt to the “new normal”. We have:
- Created a handbook based on best practices from companies that have long been remote-first or remote-only, like GitLab.
- Tried to see this as an opportunity for innovation in the way we work. We are using digital collaboration tools more heavily than before (Slack, Zoom, virtual whiteboards) but are also looking to evolve the way we work, perhaps for the post-crisis era as well.
- Tried to instill a culture of over-communication – daily team check-ins, a “virtual” coffee break every afternoon and as CEO I’ve scheduled 1 on 1 video calls with everyone in the company to check in on how they are finding the new set-up.
- Started to think creatively around how to build engagement and stave off mental and physical health issues, when people are self-isolating. Things like video-streamed team pilates, a remote team drink night, and encouraged informal 15 minute catch-ups with others on the team, are some of the things we’ve initiated. We’d love to hear your ideas, here.
What we’re doing to support law firms
As the world responds to the Covid-19 crisis, law firms are suddenly – almost overnight – having to drastically change the way they do business. Their employees need to work from home. They need to engage with clients remotely. Operating in a digital-first world is rapidly becoming the new normal for law firms.
At Legl our mission has always been to give law firms the tools to succeed in a digital-first world – from online payments to digital client onboarding. The key drivers for law firms to adopt Legl’s digital tools have been a desire to give clients a great experience (and stand out from competitors), and a desire to improve and streamline business operations. Now the driver to adopt tech-forward tools is more urgent: law firms need to run their businesses remotely while maintaining good cashflow.
We know that law firms need to adapt quickly, and we also know that the buying and implementation process can be lengthy. Which is why we made the decision to do our part to support law firms to adapt by:
- Waiving our transaction fees for the first 4 weeks;
- Updating our processes to enable firms to implement an online payments check-out within 24 hours and without a face-to-face meeting.
We also want to open our (digital) doors for advice – if you have questions for our team – with both deep legal and tech expertise – we can support by offering informal advice on how to bridge the gap between in-person and remote working, and even on tactical stuff like employees having bad WiFi connections. We’re happy to speak any time , just give us a ring on 0203 951 0165.
Time for collaboration
Two of our company values are agility and collaboration. Now more than ever those values are important – not just for our company but across the legal sector. We need to work together, share learnings and do what we can to support each other during these challenging times. Access to legal advice is an essential service and at Legl we are committed to doing what we can to ensure that law firms can continue to deliver.
