Transitioning to telework as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response is not nearly as much of an adjustment for lawyers as it is for many other professions. Even before the novel coronavirus had achieved community spread in the United States, you were probably putting in 40 hours per week at the office plus another 40 hours per week at home, while also being a primary caregiver for your children.
When you were still going to the office, you had probably worked out a strategy for which tasks you did at the office and which you did at home. Maybe you were already in the habit of doing most of your legal content writing at home, anyway. Now that your favorite coffeeshop has closed its seating area, and your kids are at home for the rest of the school year (so you can no longer sit in the bleachers and write emails on your tablet while your child is at after school marching band practice, for example), you will have to think of a new productivity strategy for the age of social distancing. Here are some suggestions.
Make Marketing Tasks a Reward for Working on Your Cases
Law firm marketing is one of the more recreational parts of your job; it allows you to write in a less formal tone and to observe trends in pop culture. As a reward for finishing one of your work tasks for the day, such as drafting a response memorandum for one of your clients or reading a long court decision that relates to one of your cases, you might treat yourself to something that doesn’t feel like work but actually helps you market your law firm, such as:
· Read a social media page where people are discussing an aspect of current events that relates to your practice area (for example, co-parenting while schools and daycares are closed, or the moratorium on evictions)
· Download Google Analytics or a similar SEO analytics tool (downloading software isn’t fun by itself, but checking an item off your to do list after something as simple as downloading an app is)
· Video chat with a colleague and snark about how clients’ behavior has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and then write one or more blog posts based on the conversation (taking a tone that empathizes with prospective clients, of course)
Embrace Your Lack of Productivity
If you try to be as efficient while your whole family is quarantined under one roof, it will only lead to frustration for everyone. Set a reasonable lawyer work goal and a very modest marketing goal, and then accept that there are periods of the day when it isn’t possible to work. It is possible to spend three hours and seven minutes in one day arguing with your kids about schoolwork, chores, and being quiet so you can work. Three hours and seven minutes is also the amount of time it takes to watch Barry Lyndon. Which would you rather do?
Hire Legal Content Writers
Another solution is to accept that you cannot focus on writing blog posts while your house is abuzz with video games, Khan Academy videos, and myriad versions of the Baby Shark song. (Pro tip: Barry Lyndon is probably the only Kubrick movie that will not traumatize toddlers, although they may find it boring.) You can count on Law Blog Writers to compose blog posts for your law firm’s website, so you can work on surviving the days of social distancing.