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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
OFF THE RAILS - For many lawyers, the daily commute has gone from a 30-minute train or car ride into the city to a 30-second walk down the hallway. But while that may seem like an obvious notch in the “life” column of the work/life balance sheet, the reality is more complicated, Law.com’s Patrick Smith reports in part 2 of “On the Clock,” a series about how lawyers’ work habits have changed in the age of remote work. For many, the commute functioned as a divider between work life and home life, even if it did mean rubbing elbows with that guy whose headphones were so loud you could hear every word of “Careless Whisper.” With that buffer gone, it’s easy for the workday to bleed into the rest of the day (and night). “I like the demarcation between work and home,” said Virginia Milstead, a litigation partner in Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s L.A. office. “During the pandemic, I felt like I was always at work at home. It’s been harder to compartmentalize.” Still, the idea of going fully back to the daily commute is not exactly thrilling either. “I don’t hate the idea of a commute again,” said Bianca Madrigal, a business development manager at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in Manhattan. “I just don’t want to do it five days a week.”
