The news is full of speculation of lockdown, whether national or local and family lawyers are starting to feel isolated.
They also feel less connected to peers and colleagues within the legal community a poll conducted by Resolution discovered.
65% of family lawyers who responded to the poll said they felt less connected to the legal community since the lockdown on 23 March.
46% said their professional development had suffered as a result of training opportunities being cancelled. Members of Resolution also raised concerns for their younger peers development, as the virtual arena and remote working makes it difficult for them to learn from their more experienced colleagues.
Juliet Harvey, Resolution Chair, said:
“The course of the pandemic over the past six months has led us all to rethink and re-evaluate what the future holds. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been thinking about the long-term impact Covid-19 will have on how we as professionals build our skills and maintain and expand our networks.
“It’s worrying, albeit not entirely surprising, that family practitioners are feeling isolated from their peers and colleagues at a time when that sense of connection, purpose and shared values is more important than ever. We need to address this issue and it’s why our Future of Family Practice Online Conference is so important to anyone working in family justice.”
Juliet highlighted the work the organisation is doing to help professionals deal with a new way of working, adding:
“With many offices still closed and more members working remotely, we’ve lost the ability to have those all-important informal water-cooler conversations that help to connect our profession together and solidify our shared purpose.
“In view of the significant reduction, or in many cases complete absence, of face-to-face meetings, this conference focuses heavily on networking and exchanging ideas – we’ve created a virtual ‘café’ to allow people to have those informal conversations they’d normally have over a coffee or a sandwich. We need to continue to bring professionals together as best we can after what has been – to put it mildly – a challenging year for us all. I can’t think of a more appropriate subject area for Resolution to tackle.”
