Tips to Manage the COVID-19 Crisis from Women in Family Law

Welcome to our series of posts which are brought to you by Women in Family especially for women in family law on managing your practice and staying abreast of important developments during the Coronavirus pandemic. We hope that this will help family lawyers to share best practice across the profession during this difficult time.

Barbara Corbett is a senior partner at Corbett Le Quesne, and La-Toyah McKenzie is a family solicitor, due to start a new role at Lamb Brooks in June 2020. In this post, they give Women in Family Law their top tips for solicitors during the COVID-19 crisis.

Employers:

Remember that it is just as important to support the mental well-being of yourcolleagues as well as their physical health. Working from home to avoid infection can leave people without families; without the social interaction of work, and make them feel isolated. Keep in touch with staff by phone, social media or Zoom chats where you can.
Accept that parents of young children cannot work from home properly and productively if they are trying to care for children as well as doing their work. We are family lawyers; families come first. We must ensure our families’ welfare too, not just that of clients.
Now is not the time to be difficult with opponents. Be generous and agree adjournments and extensions where you can.
Support your clients to keep everyone on side. Encourage generosity – both of time and money. Applications to court are not going to get heard any time soon anyway. Try to avoid the need for applications by encouraging good communication. It is in their interests to be nice if they can.
Make sure vulnerable clients are not left to drift. Check in with them and ensure that they know how to keep safe . Those in the golden cages might be at the most risk.

Employees:

Work on your personal brand and connect with followers on LinkedIn.
That area of law you have wanted to blog about but have never had the time – well, start putting pen to paper.
Join our coffee mornings to talk about key issues in the workplace and how we can help firms achieve a better working environment within which we can flourish. Be pro-active.
As an NQ this is the perfect time to build your reputation and network. Set yourself a goal to produce one article on an area of law about which you’re passionate.
Exercise regularly, eat lots of fruit and really utilise this time to rest! When do family lawyers ever get to genuinely switch off?! Make this time work for you.

30th March 2020

Before You Go…

Let us know some of your own Tips to Manage the COVID-19. We’d love to hear from you on how you’re getting through these challenging times.

Did you see our latest post How Covid 19 is Affecting Women in Family Law?

You can also follow Women in Family Law on Twitter or Instagram and our new WiFL podcast.

Tips to Manage the COVID-19 Crisis from Women in Family Law