Parker Scheer Senior Partner, Eric Parker was recently quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article “ BigLaw firm pulls in reins on remote work.”
In the article MLW journalist, Pat Murphy addresses a Boston law firm’s recent decision to mandate in-office attendance on designated days of the work week signals that some in the legal industry are rethinking their continuing embrace of remote work models initially adopted in response to the exigencies of the pandemic.
“From the start, Boston lawyer Eric J. Parker didn’t think weekly work schedules would return to their pre-pandemic practices — and he still doesn’t.
“There is simply too much evidence, having now been forced to ‘stress test’ the concept, that a hybrid work schedule does in fact work for many firms, and that those firms who saw positive results would continue to support hybrid work schedules,” says Parker, who points to his own firm, Parker Scheer, as an example.
Even so, Parker says he’s not surprised that there are firms actively working to return to pre-pandemic work schedules.
“Law firms, and Boston law firms in particular, are not known for embracing change,” he says. “Change is scary. But those who manage law firms with an eye on improving efficiency and retention should recognize that the adoption of hybrid work schedules has probably done more to equalize the often-insurmountable challenges that women with small children and dual working couples face each and every week.”
Hybrid work schedules have offered those with young children and others with domestic obligations a more rational means of balancing work and personal responsibilities, “for their own benefit and most certainly the benefit of the firm at large,” Parker says.”
Eric has been named “Best Lawyers in America” under the dual categories of “Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Litigation” and “Plaintiff’s Product Liability Litigation”. He is an elected member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA; Elected President, Massachusetts Chapter, 2009-2010), and is a member of the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America), the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, the Massachusetts Bar Association (Appointed Co-Chair: Task Force on Law, the Economy, and Underemployment 2011-2012), and the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association. Mr. Parker has been named a “Massachusetts Super Lawyer” by the publishers of Boston Magazine every year since the designation was first created in 2004 (awarded to the top 5% of all Massachusetts attorneys), and has been repeatedly named a “Top 100 Lawyer” among all Massachusetts Super Lawyers, based on peer votes. Mr. Parker is also listed as among the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” by the National Trial Lawyers Association, and is a certified member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
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