The Research & Knowledge staff of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have been working from home since the beginning of the pandemic in March. We are a global firm with locations around the world. Because of this, the transition has not been as stressful as it could have been. We are well positioned from a contingency planning perspective, with library staff based in 8 locations in the United States and Europe, available to support research inquiries for all Skadden employees firm-wide.
Technology wise, our transition to full remote work was smooth. Like everyone, we’ve been on more video conference calls that we ever wished to, and the novelty has definitely worn off! Our group is very collaborative, and we work well as a team. The pandemic has definitely forced us to find creative ways to maintain our professional relationships and to stay connected with our coworkers. We are fortunate to have electronic access to most firm resources so we’ve been able to easily find alternatives for the titles in our physical libraries.
It has also offered a great opportunity to reexamine how much of that print material was even getting used in the first place! We have a number of offices where staff have been able to go into the office sporadically, and when they do we’ve collaborated to get scans of print materials for associates in other locations. We can also ask other staff members for access to different databases. Skadden utilized a partial work from home model prior to the pandemic, so our operations have largely continued seamlessly. That said, we miss seeing our co-workers in person and can’t wait for this to all be over!