Dentons closes two UK offices to embrace full-time remote work

Dentons has closed two of its UK offices to embrace full-time remote work.

According to the Law Society Gazette, the firm has cleared out its branches in Aberdeen and Watford as partners and staff continue to work from home as they did during the COVID-19 lockdown. The move is part of Dentons’ goal to improve its use of technology and push for agility in work resourcing.

In cases where they need to go to the office, employees will be able to head to the firm’s branches in Edinburgh and Milton Keynes.

Moreover, the firm has put together a project team to review the lockdown’s impact on existing work setups.

“We have seen far less use of paper, more self-service and confidence using new technology and no drop in productivity or service levels despite teams not being co-located 100% of the time,” said Lisa Sewell, Dentons managing director for the UK, Ireland and Middle East.

She said the effectiveness of the remote work setup adopted as the UK went into lockdown has caused the firm to “really stop and think about how we can learn from this new way of working to accelerate the physical and behavioural changes that form part of our strategy to build the law firm of the future.”

“In that way, the lockdown has forced the behavioural shifts that are the basis of any real change of this type, so we want to use this to ensure we don't just assume we will return to the way we used to work post-lockdown,” Sewell said. “It's an exciting shift for us, our people and for how we will be able to serve our clients in different ways in the future.”

At present, Dentons is not intending to close any other offices, although the firm will reassess the environment in 2025, when the London office’s lease ends.

The firm’s plans to expand into Ireland, which were announced in January, have also been delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The launch of Dentons’ Dublin office, which was expected to be fully operational by Q2, has now been delayed to September.