Under the leadership of , a professor of law and political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, LADD unites scholars to explore this phenomenon. And over the past year, LADD researchers have been discussing their work in symposiums at Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, Indiana University-Bloomington, and elsewhere.

LADD’s work emphasizes comparative studies to better understand the dynamics of legal professions across diverse political systems, reflecting a timely and critical response to democracy’s current challenges worldwide.

In fact, one of the central questions explored in the LADD project is why lawyers matter in understanding authoritarianism or backsliding democracies. The perspective in the United States often overemphasizes the role of lawyers as indispensable to democracy; however, LADD’s research in countries with different legal traditions reveals that lawyers may wield limited influence. The project goes on to examine how lawyers’ roles as facilitators, resistors, or passive actors are shaped by societal expectations, professional norms, and institutional structures, underscoring the importance of lawyers’ self-perception and their societal roles — whether that role is as technicians offering legal expertise or as advisors influencing ethical decision-making.

The Russian legal profession

In many states that are regarded as authoritarian or near-authoritarian, like Russia, the legal profession is institutionally fragmented. Some lawyers actively resist the regime by challenging repressive laws or advocating for citizens’ constitutional rights. This resistance is especially evident among, logically, criminal defense lawyers. For example, these lawyers could offer procedural resistance by identifying technical errors in government enforcement actions in order to acquit clients, especially low-level dissidents. Such resistance tactics are often subtle and avoid direct challenges to the authoritarian regime.

On the other hand, many legal professionals — such as state-employed lawyers, prosecutors, and judges — are instrumental in advancing authoritarian policies. And still other lawyers choose to remain on the sidelines, navigating their roles without direct engagement with authoritarianism or its resistance.

LADD identifies three categories of lawyers: resistors, enablers, and passive actors. The reasons behind their positions vary by country and context. For instance, professional norms might socialize lawyers to view themselves as technicians rather than moral actors, and unfortunately, such a mindset can facilitate compliance with authoritarian agendas.

However, resistance strategies also emerge. In some systems, lawyers challenge unconstitutional laws through constitutional or supranational courts. Even when unsuccessful, such efforts may tarnish a regime’s international reputation over time, as seen during the Cold War.

LADD identifies three categories of lawyers — resistors, enablers, and passive actors — and the reasons behind their positions vary by country and context.

Indeed, a significant contribution of LADD’s comparative approach is the identification of patterns in authoritarian regimes’ strategies to suppress legal resistance. For example, Russia has prosecuted prominent defense lawyers under the pretext of extremist activity, echoing tactics seen in other countries like China. These measures not only diminish legal dissent but also reinforce authoritarian control over the legal profession. Comparative studies reveal that authoritarian playbooks often involve co-opting or undermining professional associations that could support resistance. Over time, these associations — especially bar associations in repressive regimes — tend to shy away from confronting state power directly.

Using innovative resistance methods

The project also considers how lawyers in authoritarian regimes innovate resistance methods in response to changing state tactics. Another example from Russia shows how lawyers have shifted from constitutional arguments to procedural challenges, leveraging technical knowledge to navigate authoritarian legal systems. Although such efforts rarely lead to high-level political change, they offer glimpses of hope by securing justice in individual cases.

Comparatively, countries like the US exhibit unique challenges concerning government lawyering in the context of democratic backsliding. The debate around whether civil servants should resist or comply with troubling policies underscores the tension between technical professionalism and moral responsibility. Today, the US has seen a resurgence of resignations as a form of resistance, echoing practices in countries like the United Kingdom. Yet, this strategy raises questions about the long-term implications for resistance movements.

Prof. Hendley has said that authoritarian legal systems often present “multiple stories about law,” revealing a duality in which mundane legal cases adhere strictly to the law, while political cases flout it. This paradox reflects the complexities that many lawyers find themselves having to navigate within authoritarian systems.

Despite the challenges, instances of resilience inspire hope. LADD’s work offers examples such as efforts by Russian lawyers and non-governmental organizations to support protestors and uphold legal rights despite escalating repression. The inclusion of nontraditional lawyers in any resistance initiatives demonstrates more innovative ways to expand the movement. Although such efforts may not reverse authoritarian trends immediately, they represent meaningful contributions to the broader struggle for justice.

Looking ahead, LADD aims to expand its research to more countries facing similar challenges, including Hungary, Belarus, and Turkey. By fostering a global perspective, those behind the project seek to deepen understanding of the legal profession’s role in shaping democratic trajectories and resisting efforts to undermine them.

Check out the Thomson Reuters Institute’s Human Rights Crimes Resource Center here

And my own research with American Law Media focusing on the legal profession supports these findings. To more clearly understand how frequently lawyers and legal professionals were experiencing different aspects of the three burnout dimensions, I created 17 statements and asked respondents to rate how frequently the statements applied to them. In all, 887 lawyers and legal professionals responded, and a small portion of the results are summarized in the chart below. It’s not that lawyers and legal professionals are experiencing some of these factors that is concerning — it’s the frequency.

For leaders of legal organizations to match this moment and continue to build teams and cultures that are both high-performing and engaged, they need to first understand four macro factors, which help explain some of the discontent.

FACTOR 1: The pandemic altered our collective perspective about work and life — While it may seem ages ago now, the pandemic was an upheaval event that impacted literally everyone on the planet. During this time, many people were scared, chronically stressed, overwhelmed, and frustrated. Upheaval events such as this for meaning and purpose through post-traumatic growth.

FACTOR 2: Uncertainty & instability are here to stay — People analytics leader, : “Companies are confronted with a series of organizational shifts that have significant implications for structures, processes, and people. These include complex questions around finding an optimal balance between in-person and remote work, building new organizational capabilities in the face of challenging (and changing) workforce demographics and talent gaps, and focusing on developing a healthy, inclusive, and thriving company culture.”

These types of changes — both large and small, acute and ongoing — create psychological pressure and strain in unexpected ways and continue to drive stress and exhaustion. Volatility, change, and uncertainty will continue to define work for the foreseeable future; however, change and instability often strengthen for well-being, meaning, and work-life balance.

FACTOR 3: A technology-enabled future will require a human-centric leadership approach — GenAI is in the process of transforming certain aspects of the legal profession, and this will only evolve as the technology becomes more sophisticated and legal organizations learn how best to use it. Legal leaders must now in a way that promotes community, creativity, communication, teamwork, and other human-focused qualities that GenAI tools will have a difficult time replicating.

FACTOR 4: Leaders need to incorporate practices that amplify meaningful work and promote an alignment of values — People want a sense of purpose and meaning in their work, and legal leaders need to be able to connect the dots to this higher level of aspiration. While meaning and values alignment are important generally, they are critical must-haves for younger Millennials and Gen Z workers.

Great leadership has always been needed for companies and firms to grow and thrive, but the how of going about it has changed. To be able to effectively lead as the legal landscape continues to evolve, leaders need a blueprint that will give them the tools to: i) address the root causes of both stress and high-performance; ii) build thriving teams that stay engaged, connected, and inspired; and iii) help their teams adapt to and navigate change, complexity, and uncertainty. Collectively, I call this approach Lead Well and have created five mindsets for legal leaders to practice:

• • • Mindset #1 — Prioritize sticky recognition & mattering
    • Mindset #2 — Amplify ABC needs (Autonomy, Belonging & Challenge)
    • Mindset #3 — Create workload sustainability
    • Mindset #4 — Build systemic stress resilience
    • Mindset #5 — Promote Alignment of values & meaning

The TNTs (Tiny Noticeable Things) that help

What I have discovered is that the skills, tools, and frameworks underpinning the Lead Well concept typically fall into one of two buckets: good teaming practices and good human practices. And there are some tiny, noticeable things that can get help, including:

Say a thank you “plus” — When you acknowledge someone, add an extra sentence to specify the strength or behavior you saw in them that led to the good outcome. This creates sticky recognition & mattering and also amplifies the B in ABC needs.

Hold a debrief — When a legal matter ends, or at key inflection points, pause to debrief by checking in with the team and asking what’s working or not working. This practice increases team resilience and can also help with workload sustainability by giving people clarity.

Conduct a meetings audit — Good meetings have an explicitly stated goal, an agenda, a default standard length of 15 to 30 minutes, and a meeting facilitator. Better meeting practices often lead to fewer or shorter meetings, which also helps workload sustainability.

Get on the same page — Effective teams are about direction, priorities, and roles. Your team should regularly discuss and have a clear understanding of what success looks like and what the project’s top priorities are, while delineating clear roles. Teams can then take control of and feel ownership over their actions, which enhances both the A and C of the ABC needs.

Talk about impact — Employees need a clear line of sight between what they do and the impact it has on other people’s lives. Lawyers wade into the toughest challenges that business and society face, yet the extraordinary impact isn’t often discussed. Talking about the being done was found to be the pathway most strongly associated with achieving meaningful work.

The traditional model of leadership development in the legal profession starts way too late in a lawyer’s career and typically does not account for teaching skills associated with building strong teams and the psychological factors associated with motivating and encouraging others. Nor does it help legal organization leaders better understand the factors that underpin a great culture, and which factors make people want to stay long-term. The good news is that all of this is teachable and science based — ultimately, the stronger your team, the more you will have time to focus on your legal practice.

You can find more about Paula Davis’s recently published second book, , here

In addition, more options for flex hours and four-day work weeks emerged. Creativity around the time-and-place work paradigm, especially for knowledge workers, blossomed; and team members began to rely on these flexible options to better integrate their work and life schedules. Flexible work options moved from a nice-to-have perk to a must-have benefit that team members now relied upon.

In the last few months, however, headlines have been peppered with news of companies rescinding their work-from-home options and putting in place return-to-office (RTO) mandates. Some business leaders are even mandating five-days-a-week in the office beginning January 2025.

When explaining the mandates, the reasons these RTO promoters give vary, including the need for in-person work to improve collaboration, innovation, productivity, learning, relationships, and company culture. But this RTO news is not sitting well with companies’ talent. For example, when Amazon recently made an RTO announcement, a of 2,585 Amazon employees found that 73% of employees are considering looking for another job because of the new in-office work policy.

RTO mandates risk turnover, which will likely negatively impact work culture and productivity, which in turn can ultimately lead to greater turnover.

The tax & accounting profession is already facing capacity and talent pipeline challenges. The number of college graduates heading into the profession has been declining, and only “one in nine college business-related bachelor’s graduates” are choosing an accounting degree, according to the (NPAG). Given the number of career options open to accounting graduates, tax & accounting firm leaders need to be mindful of what will appeal to talent at all levels.

Flexibility in work is crucial, survey says

In 2024, ConvergenceCoaching added an element to its biennial that queried accounting firm leaders on their remote and flex work offerings and also surveyed public accounting team members to hear their thoughts on these benefits.

Responding team members confirmed the importance of having a choice in where they work, according to the ATAWW Survey. In fact, 83% of respondents said that remote work flexibility is very important to them; and 55% said they would likely seek a new job if they lost the ability to work remotely.

Clearly, those firms maintaining hybrid, remote, and flex-time benefits will have a competitive advantage in acquiring and retaining top talent in this tight talent market. Not surprisingly, in the five years since the pandemic, workers have developed new habits and schedules that enable them to achieve greater work-life integration; 93% of respondents said they feel work-life integration has improved with remote work options.

Today, accounting firm leaders who embrace a one-size-fits-one approach to remote and flex work arrangements could more positively influence firm culture, productivity, and morale by empowering their talent to choose the best and most effective work environment for their day. Instead of RTO mandates, leaders could implement adjustments to incorporate remote management techniques.

The need to outline clear expectations

It is important to clarify what is expected of each employee, because when working at different times or in disbursed locations, the lack of face time can leave some leaders wondering about team member productivity. To ensure productivity levels stay high, leaders need to clearly communicate:

• • • expected team member output, deliverables, or results
    • specific due dates
    • clear response time expectations to email, Teams messages, and voicemails
    • participation guidelines for remote team meetings (cameras are on, unmuted and speaking up, chatting, facilitating portions of meetings)
    • protocols for communicating during normal, agreed-upon work hours as well as changes from the expected normal hours
    • ways to communicate capacity and move past barriers in completing work
    • supervisor/assignee communication expectations
    • expectations for skill development and elevation into higher level work
    • guidelines for keeping calendars current and specific

Establishing clarity around these expectations, leaders can then track and benchmark performance against them instead of measuring less-reliable metrics like time-entered, face time, or keystrokes.

An RTO mandate may feel like a simple way to solve people-management challenges, but it’s likely to have significant unintended consequences on engagement, productivity, motivation, and ultimately, talent retention. Instead, leaders should develop new management strategies that include clearer expectations that can empower employees to produce their very best in both their work lives and their personal lives no matter where or when they are working.

You can find out more about the talent challenges facing tax & accounting firms��������.

This has contributed to a in the legal sector: As knowledgeable legacy employees retire, those employees remaining experience an increased workload, steep learning curves, and increasingly complex legal matters and technology to manage.

For many courts, bringing in new team members may require additional on-boarding resources. Indeed, only 12% of employees in the United States rate their workplace as . This can have a devastating impact, as effective on-boarding procedures dramatically increase employee engagement, productivity, and retention, research has shown.

As knowledgeable legacy employees retire, those employees remaining experience an increased workload, steep learning curves, and increasingly complex legal matters and technology to manage.

While employee orientation includes such routine tasks as completing new employee paperwork, on-boarding is a longer, immersive process that integrates new hires into workplace culture — exposing new employees to shared habits and beliefs within an organization and helping employees to .

By connecting new hires to organizational beliefs and the why behind work processes, organizations can achieve greater retention, higher employee engagement, and increased productivity. In fact, is one which addresses beliefs and employee strengths and introduces new hires to their strategic partners while outlining their future within the organization.

Best made plans, pre-pandemic

In 2018, King County Superior Court (Seattle, WA) partnered with to develop a comprehensive, year-long employee on-boarding program with funding from a State Justice Institute Technical Assistance grant. Geared around reduction in turnover, boosting employee confidence, and shortening the time from hire to full productivity, the was scheduled to launch in 2020, but the court would instead spend the next three years adapting and pivoting through the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Dr. Brenda Wagenknecht-Ivey, CEO of Praxis Consulting, and Linda Ridge, Chief Administrative Officer for King County Superior Court, the pandemic pivot was necessary to keep their ambitious on-boarding program on track. All-Aboard, in its original format, consisted of four phases over the first year of an individual’s employment. The program focused on:

• • • welcoming and socializing new employees to their team, department, and the court;
    • connecting new employees to their co-workers;
    • communicating expectations and teaching new employees their day-to-day responsibilities; and
    • integrating them into the court by engaging them in fulfilling the court’s purpose, demonstrating its core values, and achieving its goals.

Post-pandemic, King County Superior Court now operates in a dramatically different workplace landscape. Today, the court consists of 54 judges, 10 commissioners, and more than 300 staff members. Weathering the pandemic involved a significant number of temporary hires to integrate new court technology and support .

More than 60% of the court’s judicial bench has turned over in the last five years, and while judicial officers and bailiffs are 100% on-site, two-thirds of Superior Court staff now have some form of remote capacity for their role. Further, 25% of employees in 2023 had been with the court less than five years and the organization has new leaders in the Court Chief Administrative Officer role, the Deputy Chief Administrative Role, and numerous other managerial and director level roles since 2019.

The churn of organizational turnover has brought some managerial-level concern that there simply isn’t enough time to engage in a comprehensive on-boarding process at this scale. Leadership disagrees, stressing that cultural and connection, centered on-boarding, are more important than ever before in today’s hybrid work environment.

More than 60% of the court’s judicial bench has turned over in the last five years, and while judicial officers and bailiffs are 100% on-site, two-thirds of Superior Court staff now have some form of remote capacity for their role.

The original All-Aboard program was designed to reduce the chances of employees feeling siloed by giving them the opportunity to understand the larger organization through observing court proceedings, touring the county’s three court facilities, and meeting with various organizational leaders beyond their supervisor. These elements will remain a part of the reimagined All-Aboard program, anticipated to be formally re-launched later this year.

Technology solutions to reduce training time

The time burden of on-boarding often falls heavily on those responsible for training new employees. Best practices suggest that training materials are documented to ensure that training is executed consistently, and resources are made available on-demand in the future. The suggests that organizations dedicate time to documenting processes and workflows internally to guarantee consistent procedures across the organization and create a shareable resource for both new hires and current employees to access step-by-step instructions as a refresher.

Reducing time spent on compliance and clarification training allows more focus on meaningful connection and culture exposure for new employees. For example, incorporating mentor programs into on-boarding processes can better foster new employee connections. To this end, King County Superior Court is incorporating a New Employee Buddy program as a part of the relaunch of All-Aboard, in which high-performing colleagues (not supervisors) will be paired with new hires to serve as resource for the first three months of a new hire’s tenure. While check-ins can occur online with the new technology in place in King County, leadership still stresses that in-person connection is an important part of employee on-boarding.

As courts across the country continue to weather retirements and higher employee turnover, developing highly effective on-boarding processes is a critical investment. By prioritizing consistency in processes and documentation of how things are done, institutional knowledge can more effectively be retained, and training burdens can be reduced.

In remote, onsite, and hybrid workplaces, on-boarding processes which promote connection to the organization’s mission and culture can help new hires see how their role connects to the larger organization, which in turn can lead to more satisfied and productive employees.

You can download a full copy of Thomson Reuters Institute’s 2^nd annual 2024 State of the Courts report here.

Yet today, as historic courthouses become functionally obsolete for continued use, architects are exploring designs that emphasize inclusivity and access to justice.

Tech and access key in court design

Common themes across three recently opened justice centers in Michigan and California, and a forthcoming one in Colorado include flexibility and inclusivity in design, building for the technological and space needs of the future, and incorporating design elements that promote safety and ease anxiety for all courtroom visitors and employees.

Charles A. Pratt Justice Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan

The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners aimed for a bright, welcoming experience in the , which opened in late 2023. Designed by and , the 165,000-square-foot facility consolidated operations from three separate facilities, including an historic courthouse. The new center enhances with a well-lit atrium that eases entry and diminishes the intimidation of security checkpoints. Airport-style message boards assist visitors in navigating the space. Public lobbies and the offer various seating options, including quiet space and a lactation room for comfort. There are also water bottle filling stations, charging ports, and modern high-speed elevators that replaced early-20^th century ones.

Dignity and safety were top priorities in the building design, with technological connectivity enabling more virtual hearings, the use of which has increased approximately 25% in recent years. In-person appearances for in-custody defendants now feature enhanced safety and privacy during transport by using secure entry and private elevators shielded from public view.

In addition, clear sightlines and passive security elements like landscape berms and stone walls enhance safety without compromising the welcoming atmosphere. And functionally, the center expands access to justice through four public terminals providing free access to state and county case management systems. that direct users to common statutes more readily provides existing resources to users. The facility also houses a booth for indigent defense resources and a standalone housing resource office for individuals facing eviction or foreclosure.

Imperial County Criminal Courthouse in El Centro, California

aimed to create comfort in the harsh desert surroundings of El Centro, California with the design of the , which opened in January 2024. The 48,000-square-foot facility consolidated operations from two separate buildings, including a historic 1923 courthouse. Similar to the Charles A. Pratt Justice Center, it features self-help resources, integrated audio-video technology, and separate transport options for in-custody defendants.

The courthouse design is starkly non-institutional, offering a surprisingly warm and bright space. Architectural stone elements, warm wood accents, and ample natural light enhance the comfortability of the space. Two interior courtyards in the project footprint allow for the public and staff to spend time outside without leaving the secure premises and ensure that more offices have natural lighting. Security elements, such as large boulders, blend with natural surroundings. North-facing windows maximize natural light, while reducing solar heat gain.

The space is also home to the county’s new program, which aims to find alternatives to incarceration in the hopes of reducing recidivism. Participants can utilize the Veteran’s Court, Drug Court, or Mental Health Court programs to address underlying issues, such as combat stress, substance use disorders, or mental health issues.

Siskiyou County Courthouse in Yreka, California

The Siskiyou County project replaced one of the oldest operating courthouses in California. And sought to not only meet similar security standards as the Kalamazoo and El Centro projects, but also to create a facility which represented support of community members. The 67,000-square-foot, two-story structure fits the surrounding architectural context of the low-density historic downtown area and is intended to become a civic landmark for Siskiyou County.

The building now fully meets Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility standards, whereas the prior 1954 facility required accessible entry from the rear of the building. Access to justice is expanded through an onsite who offers appointments and walk-in services on a daily basis for individuals in need of self-help legal assistance. Both attorneys and members of the public can take advantage of more than three dozen in the family law facilitator offices.

A secure, exterior courtyard provides break space for staff members within the secure premises. Natural light and views of the surrounding Shasta Valley and Siskiyou Mountains, as well as public art installations soften the courtroom experience. Wood is a primary architectural material in the canopy and atrium ceilings, as a nod to Yreka’s historic timber industry. Function was equally important to architectural form for this project through the use of building materials which are responsive to the fluctuating Northern California desert temperatures and with long-term maintenance in-mind.

Westminster Municipal Courthouse Project in Westminster, Colorado

The City of Westminster is redesigning its — aiming to replace the 1960s era building which was originally a municipal and police facility — in order to prioritize modern safety, security and ADA standards.

Led by and , the project focuses on flexibility and technology-integration to enhance access to justice and keeping pace with the evolution of modern courtroom evidence. Features include enhanced audio systems, speech-to-text court reporting, and individual displays at every seating position (jurors, counsel tables, gallery, witness stand, and bench) to better convey social media, video, and photo evidence. As the municipality’s first purpose-built courthouse, flexibility in design for future needs is key. Design preferences have included a hearing room that can be expanded into an additional courtroom as needed, spaces which are multipurpose, such as flexible conference and meeting rooms which are acoustically separated.

Civic spaces of the future

Contemporary courthouses across the United States are being designed to address technology and space needs for the future, while also maintaining their presence as symbols of civic pride. These four facilities exemplify this trend with designs that strike a balance between a non-institutional look and one that still meets the need for increased security.

Community-informed processes and interior design choices encourages access to justice and reduces the stress and anxiety of court interactions for users while emphasizing that courts are human-centered places in which solutions can be sought.

Another study — the biennial survey (ATAWW), conducted by , a remote consulting team that has served tax, accounting, and consulting firms since 2000 — has looked at remote and flexible work programs in public accounting since 2014. “We perceive a real disconnect between official ‘firm leadership’ survey responses and team members’ experiences with flexibility,” explains Renee Moelders, a partner at ConvergenceCoaching.

This disconnect leads to unmet expectations between leadership and team members which can then create disappointment and frustration around work environments. If left unresolved, trust could disintegrate, and the firm’s culture and ability to retain talent could be at risk.

One area that firm leadership can begin clearing up unmet expectations is around the different points of view within their own leadership team. ATAWW Survey data from 2022 showed that 79% of participating firms’ leadership fully embrace the concept of anytime, anywhere work (20%) or see it as important (59%)​. As encouraging as those percentages are, it reveals that 21% of participating firm leaders do not fully support remote and flex work styles and may restrict flexibility options for their team members.

Team members who are assigned to leaders with this minority viewpoint may want to switch to another team, resent colleagues who have more flexibility, or leave the firm out of frustration with the disconnect. “We’d like to see firms clarify and commit to their official stance and stand behind that more consistently, so the whole team has access to these benefits,” says Moelders.

Remote work and productivity

Some firm leaders continue to question how productive remote team members can be or express doubts about how their remote team members spend their time, believing that remote talent are doing laundry and chores instead of their work. Firms may be tempted to employ technology to monitor performance, including trackers that measure screen activity or the location of their individuals or their devices. Given that accounting is a profession driven by knowledge workers, this lack of trust and suspicion may drive away quality remote and flex workers and therefore, has no place in a healthy employment relationship between professionals.

To build trust, firm leaders could instead implement metrics that measure deliverables, output, and contributions to results. Does it matter when and where people work if they are delivering results? Leaders should create a win-win situation by setting clear expectations on production measures or revenue contribution and holding people accountable for their targeted activities and outcomes. Then team members can have the autonomy to work when and where it is most effective for them. And at the same time, the firm can achieve its goals.

The 2024 is currently open for data inputs from firms through June 28, 2024. An executive summary will be shared with participating firms by the end of November 2024.

Also, those who prefer to work in the office may have a proximity bias. This occurs when learning opportunities or plum assignments are given to those in close physical proximity to the person assigning work. For most leaders, this is an unconscious bias and not what they are truly committed to as a people-management strategy. To counteract this natural bias, leaders should establish intentional learning experiences and competency pathways that map the skills necessary to grow and provide flexible mechanisms or delivery methods to develop those competencies. This way, every individual, whether they work in the office or remotely, will have a greater likelihood of receiving advancement opportunities.

When leaders master intentional learning approaches, they improve their ability to hire people at all levels — including interns and new hires — without geographic constraints. Only 38% of ATAWW respondents said their firms had hired remote talent, according to the 2020 survey; but by 2022, that number jumped to 81% of respondents who said their firm had benefited by hiring a remote person.

Connecting through remote work

In addition to being intentional about learning and development, leaders need to think remote first when it comes to creating connectedness and giving all team members a sense of belonging. Without belonging, talent engagement levels can wane. This reduces productivity and the likelihood of talent staying with their firm. Even hybrid team members report feeling disconnected when they go to the office and very few others are there.

Instead of thinking everyone should return to the office, which will remove a highly sought-after benefit, develop connections and interactions that tether people to the firm. Leaders should assign a shepherd who can check in with their assigned team members, know what is happening with them personally and professionally, and will make their assignees feel seen and heard. Every person in the firm should be assigned to a shepherd.

Despite the differing points of view on these topics and others, many people would like to achieve better work/life integration. Remote, hybrid, and flex work options are tools that offer individuals more opportunity to balance time between important personal and professional commitments. The seasonality and workload compression of the tax & accounting profession poses a real challenge to many professionals. “If your people aren’t , they will struggle, at best, winning at work,” says Tamera Loerzel, a partner at ConvergenceCoaching.

Tax & accounting firms, along with all organizations, are still learning how to make remote and flex work for themselves and their employees. Those firms and their leaders that seek to reconcile the differing points of view will gain a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining top talent.

The author is a Senior Consultant with ConvergenceCoaching.

For background, the Caribbean nation of Haiti, home to more than 11 million people, fell into full collapse on March 11, — a resignation forced by his inability to even return to Haiti due to the deteriorating security there. On April 24, , but the council is so far lacking in direct military support and has an incredibly difficult task ahead, with no guarantee of success.

Haiti’s core challenge has been a rise in gang violence in the nation, in which gangs control an and have killed hundreds of people in recent months in their fight to control more territory.

Gangs, however, may be a severely misleading term that understates the potential threat. The organizations currently operating and spreading violence in Haiti are much closer to small paramilitary and insurgent forces than they are typical street or criminal gangs. Importantly, they have , who have regularly used the gangs’ violence to secure business and political interests. With the dissolution of the military in 1995 due to repeated coups and with a police force too weak to maintain order, these paramilitary organization have become the preferred instrument for maintaining local interests across at all levels of Haitian society. Now, they are out of control, with . Sadly, the nation of Haiti is quickly evolving into a Caribbean version of Somalia, a failed state that will leak its instability into the rest of the region like an oil spill.

21^st century Caribbean pirates

Anyone with a romanticized vision of piracy should rethink that right now. As demonstrated in Somalia and increasingly in non-piracy attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, modern piracy is exceptionally dangerous and destructive, both to the lives of the mariners operating in these routes and the global economy itself. For example, global trade between November and December 2023 as a result of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Haiti’s core challenge has been a rise in gang violence in the nation, in which gangs control an estimated 80% of Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital.

When a state collapses into chaos, piracy in some form is likely due to the blend of the activity’s high potential income and a lack of viable alternatives. Ransom payments for captured vessels and their crews often reach millions of dollars, not to mention the value of plundered cargo. Further, piracy can often be undertaken with relatively few resources. For people in failed states, where formal employment opportunities are rare and governance is poor, the high rewards from piracy can be unavoidably attractive.

Yet, there is a notable difference between Haiti and Somalia that is likely to at least mitigate the economic potential of piracy. Haiti, and by extension the Caribbean, is the backyard of the United States Navy, the largest navy in the world. To put it simply, the US has a vested interest in maintaining stability in the Caribbean region and ensuring safe passage for ships traveling through these waters. This deterrence factor, coupled with the extensive surveillance and maritime patrol capabilities of the US, significantly reduces the window of opportunity for piracy to flourish near Haiti as compared to the more remote and less monitored waters off the coast of Somalia. A full-blown return to the golden age of piracy is thus substantially impossible, although attacks small enough to disrupt trade and push up transportation prices are somewhat more plausible.

A complicating factor however is that the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard are almost certain to have their hands full with another, potentially larger problem.

Another refugee crisis, another dangerous water crossing

With the collapse of public services and the economy, Haitian residents face dire shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medical care, compelling many to flee the country in search of safety and basic necessities. The exodus is not likely to just be a trickle but rather a swelling tide of individuals and families risking perilous journeys by sea, desperate to escape the burgeoning anarchy. The United Nations has already tracked an upswell of refugees fleeing the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic.

Given its proximity to Florida and other parts of the US, a large portion of these refugees are likely to attempt to seek refuge here. Past history, including the exodus from Cuba as well as more recent experiences with the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, shows just how dangerous this type of crossing is to the people attempting it, as well as the political impact it can inspire in the intended destinations.

The Biden administration is already considering using Guantanamo Bay, located only 200 miles from Haiti, . Yet the US immigration system is already strained and the failure of a major immigration bill to pass early this year suggests any kind of action is unlikely until 2025.

With the collapse of public services and the economy, Haitian residents face dire shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medical care, compelling many to flee the country in search of safety and basic necessities.

What this means is that the US is likely to experience a major surge of refugees coming via a dangerous water crossing at a time when the US is less able to absorb the flow. This refugee crisis is certainly a human catastrophe on its own, but such a mass immigration movement also tends to increase risk more broadly.

The potential for broader risk

While a collapse in Haiti presents challenges concerning piracy and refugees, the most dangerous risks likely would be the potential secondary effects in terms of regional security. A failed state in Haiti could open doors for a spread of illicit activities, such as drugs and weapons trafficking, human trafficking, and terrorism, all ways to exploit the disorder to undermine regional stability and commerce.

Many nations in the region already face high levels of violence and adding a haven for illicit activities would only worsen matters. A collapse in Haiti could also destabilize other fragile states in the Caribbean and Central America, leading to increased migration and political turmoil, creating a domino effect.

One of the most dangerous possibilities involves the discovery of significant oil reserves off Guyana’s coast. While this discovery could greatly improve Guyana’s economy and enhance the region’s geopolitical significance, instability in nearby Haiti could deter investment and raise security costs for oil exploration and production. A deteriorating security situation in the Caribbean might increase the risk of sabotage or terrorist attacks on oil infrastructure, impacting the global energy market. Given Guyana’s territorial dispute with Venezuela over this same oil-rich region, there is the possibility for the situation to further spiral.

Ignoring the risks stemming from Haiti’s collapse into a failed state would be unwise. Regional disruptions are likely, and there’s a real possibility of a catastrophic chain reaction. While there are a number of steps between the collapse of Ariel Henry’s government and the full potential chaos outlined here, the dance has now begun in earnest. Therefore, the situation should be carefully watched by every major entity that has a vested interest in the Caribbean or adjacent regions.

For more on the pressures facing global trade and supply chains, listen to .

At the heart of the report is the surprising discovery that legal professionals have not only adapted to but have enthusiastically embraced new hybrid office attendance policies. This pivot marks a stark contrast to the initial apprehension surrounding many firms’ planned return-to-office mandates, which many feared would rigidly tether employees to traditional in-office schedules. Instead, a flexible hybrid approach has emerged as the preferred model, striking a delicate balance between office presence and remote work.

The survey, conducted between December 2023 and January 2024, gathered responses from 350 legal professionals working at large US law firms. Almost all (97%) of the respondents were full-time workers, and almost three-quarters (73%) were lawyers of various classes.The survey reveals a broad consensus among legal professionals in favor of these flexible arrangements. A notable majority (57%) expressed outright satisfaction with these new policies, while a minority (29%) said they feel at least neutral about the policies. The report also highlights that those respondents registering dissatisfaction with the policies are most commonly among those legal professionals subjected to less-flexible policies, suggesting a direct correlation between policy flexibility and employee satisfaction.

Despite the warm reception to hybrid work, the anticipated productivity and collaboration benefits of increased office attendance remain elusive. The report challenges the notion that mere physical presence in the office leads to enhanced productivity and collaboration, as the findings indicate mixed outcomes, with no definitive evidence that returning to the office has significantly boosted productivity levels. Further, the objective of fostering better collaboration and mentorship through more frequent in-office interactions seems to have fallen short as well, especially as senior lawyers often benefit from greater work-from-home flexibility.

These nuanced findings extend to the impact of office attendance policies on firm performance and employee retention. High levels of satisfaction with these policies generally correlate with a positive outlook on job retention; however, a minority of legal professionals express dissatisfaction, primarily those from firms with stringent attendance policies. This discontent could potentially influence their decision to remain with their firm, underscoring the critical balance firms must strike in implementing these policies.

Those respondents registering dissatisfaction with the policies are most commonly among those legal professionals subjected to less-flexible policies, suggesting a direct correlation between policy flexibility and employee satisfaction.

The report also critiques the one-size-fits-all approach to office attendance, advocating for a more tailored strategy that considers the diverse needs and preferences within the legal profession and among individual law firms as well.

As law firms evolve in their response to the shifting paradigms of the legal industry, the 2024 Law Firm Office Attendance Policies Report serves as a pivotal reference point, capturing a moment in time when the legal sector stands at the crossroads of tradition and innovation, while navigating through the complexities of a rapidly changing work environment.

The insights garnered from this comprehensive survey not only reflect the current state of law firm office attendance but also illuminate the path forward, highlighting the importance of adaptability, understanding, and strategic flexibility in shaping the future of legal work.

You can download a complimentary copy of the Thomson Reuters Institute’s “2024 Law Firm Office Attendance Policies Report” by filling out the form below:

This change underscores a persistent underestimation of intangible assets in the market, including the non-software ones and have an impact on the perceived value of such assets as environmental, social & governance (ESG) risks and opportunities.

The value of intangible assets

The traditional view in the finance and accounting professions and among some corporate boards, is that only explicit drivers recorded in financial statements are crucial for shareholder value creation. However, this outdated perspective overlooks the significance of non-financial resources, such as human, social, and natural capital. These sources of capital are key inputs of sustainability impacts, but are not classified as assets in conventional accounting, despite their dramatic impact on enterprise value creation. Indeed, this understanding — and the apparent devaluing of these intangible assets — has been acknowledged by for many years.

Companies, investors, capital market participants, FASB, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants have increasingly focused on the value of non-financial drivers of enterprise value in business reporting . This approach includes providing information not found in financial statements and emphasizing the relevance of sustainability issues as integral to business considerations.

Corporate boards significantly influence the perceptions of how much enterprise value creation comes from human, social and natural capital, non-software intangible assets, and effective risk management, which are all non-financial resources.

In fact, according to , Co-Head of U.S. CEO & Board Practice at global consulting firm Egon Zehnder, non-financial drivers of enterprise value represent some of the biggest corresponding skill gaps among board members today and are most in demand in the recruitment of corporate directors. Not surprisingly, many of these areas fall under ESG issues, and recruiting for these areas of expertise could go a long way into increasing the perception of how important these areas are to enterprise value creation.

• • • Digitization and operational governance — Digital transformation experience and skills have been one of the biggest priorities in terms of company board recruitment, according to Blais. As artificial intelligence (AI) begins to strongly influence operational efficiency among companies, its usage is also a key concern in areas of trust and ethics.
    • Human capital as an important social issue — “The company boards’ appetite for functional leadership with backgrounds across many areas of human capital include executive compensation, succession planning, labor relations, the war for talent, future of work, and employee engagement,” says Blais. Indeed, employee engagement, satisfaction, and experience are key indicators of financial performance across a number of different financial metrics, including return on assets, return on sales, revenue generation, market valuation, and stock performance.
    • Enterprise risk and operational governance — Some companies are looking for risk experts to enhance their board expertise, explains Blais. As the scope of risks expands in the short- and medium-terms and operational and financial impacts of these risks becomes increasingly uncertain, boards’ ability to provide guidance on strategy around risk management is essential.

Blais describes how boards address ESG concerns, as in many cases, two traditional board committees handle key areas of governance and other ESG issues. First, the nominating and governance committee — responsible for overseeing the system of board governance and managing the structure and composition of the board — handles the recruitment process of bringing on new board members who satisfy the requirements to address a skill gap, such as human capital or risk expertise.

Then, the audit committee — which fulfills the responsibility of many and provides oversight of the corporation’s financial reporting processes, internal controls, and independent auditors — is the place where in-depth discussions of drivers of enterprise value take place. Indeed, there are many contributors to enterprise value — tangible assets, financial, human and natural capital, customer relationships, and other factors impacting goodwill.

In addition, the audit committee may be the primary source of identifying the need for a corporate director with enterprise risk expertise, given the increasingly uncertain operating environment driven by geopolitical risks and others challenges that companies are facing today. Candidates with experience as chief risk officers, chief legal officers, or general counsels are best positioned to earn a seat on those company boards that are looking to add risk expertise, according to Blais.

Guidance to individuals with board aspirations

Operational expertise across many ESG issues is one way to be an attractive board candidate. Blais advises those professionals who are seeking board membership to acquire a broad array of experiences of issues that are important to boards, such as exposure to ESG issues that are material to the business.

In addition, learning how a board candidate can influence outcomes by asking questions about non-financial drivers of enterprise value is another critical component for success. “If I were on a board, I would look at the company’s risk register to understand the risks and opportunities facing the business, including those arising from ESG issues,” Blais says.

Other actions that can best position those with board aspirations to earn a seat as a corporate director include:

• • • Ask about how the company is leveraging digitization in their products and customer relationships.
    • Understand the role of a board director and what it is like to be in the boardroom by gaining exposure to your employer’s current board.
    • Build a network with board members because many board hires are made through personal and professional networks.

Understanding how ESG factors impact both total enterprise value and aligning to in-demand skills can best position companies for forthcoming success in an uncertain and risky future.

But how can government agencies best cultivate such workforces and strategies to best address and mitigate environmental, logistical, and cyber threats?

The best resiliency defense is a good offense

Over the past three years, unexpected health, economic, and environmental challenges have highlighted vulnerabilities that can disrupt government agencies. Resiliency strategy focuses on how well your organization can maintain its operations in a worst-case scenario. Indeed, should involve having plans, processes, and systems in place to operate even when conditions are severely compromised, ensuring continued provision of essential government services, says Suzanne Spaulding, Sr. Advisor for Homeland Security at CSIS.

The are staggering, with 15 designated disasters in 2022 alone causing more than $1 billion in losses each. Given the escalating pace of climate change, it’s likely that resilience efforts and funding are not keeping pace with the increasing frequency and severity of these disasters, according to The Federal Policy Action Plan to Accelerate Local Climate Resilience, from (C2ES).

In fact, resiliency planning and infrastructure supports collaborative efforts with advisory groups and external partners and can aid in securing and distributing emergency funds. It is estimated that for every $1 invested in pre-disaster resilience planning, there’s a potential $6 in savings on recovery costs, according to the C2ES plan.

Resiliency planning in the federal government

The C2ES plan outlines the federal government’s recommended role in climate resilience as a chief coordinator and resource provider. This involves effectively administering government resources, providing leadership, and supporting local-level resilience actions and capacity-building. Essentially, the federal government’s primary function is to act as a hub for sharing high-quality information and a source for funding, the plan notes.

As future decades are likely to see increased climate change-related natural events, we are witnessing communities and nations shift to greater renewable energy sources and increased electricity usage, according to the CSIS report. These changes pose increased risks to energy systems.

The Biden Administration shifting away from carbon pollution in energy development and moving toward a net-zero emissions economy. Since 2021, more than 20 federal agencies have published climate plans, the CSIS report states.

Given workforce turnover due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it is crucial to provide agency training to ensure the federal workforce is adequately prepared to anticipate and respond to the ongoing impacts of climate change.

Increased funding and centralization of federal efforts are important priorities in the years to come. In 2019, FEMA received grant applications totaling $3.6 billion dollars for their Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which focuses on updating critical infrastructure, notes the C2ES action plan. However, in that funding cycle, only $500 million was available, enough to fund just one out of every seven grant applications.

Clearly, federal agencies lack centralized coordination on this front. To address this problem, the U.S. Congress introduced the , during the 2021-2022 Congressional session. The proposed Act aimed to establish a Chief Resiliency Officer role in the Executive Branch, create a government-wide effort to build resilience to climate-change vulnerabilities, and form working groups to drive the strategy and its implementation. Despite broad bipartisan support, the bills did not progress to a vote.

Resiliency planning at the state and local levels

Resiliency planning implementation varies widely across the United States. However, 27 of the 50 states have some form of resiliency infrastructure in place. State and local government agencies are familiar with local needs and have more direct access to land and energy infrastructure, states the C2ES plan. Although federal agency platforms offer valuable information sharing, they could enhance collaboration by enabling secure information exchange among users, added the CSIS report.

According to a report from the (NCSL), those states with some form of resiliency infrastructure in place are using resilience tools, such as: a state office of resiliency, a state resiliency officer, or a commission or task force. Sixteen states have appointed a chief resiliency officer role to streamline planning across agencies and provide oversight, the NCSL states, adding that these resiliency efforts are more prevalent in coastal states, with many of them specifically addressing climate change and in particular, flooding.

One area that could benefit from improvement at the state and local level is the standardization of resiliency measures for energy systems, according to the CSIS report. Current data on electrical reliability provided by utilities does not account for systemic differences in capacity, criticality, or vulnerability. While organizations may be hesitant to share information that exposes vulnerabilities, the true value of resiliency planning is intangible until a disaster occurs.

Ensuring equity and workforce resiliency

Low-income and marginalized communities are faced with a disproportionate threat from climate change. These communities are more likely to bear the brunt of climate-related impacts due to their locations in vulnerable areas, which often have less access to FEMA assistance, pose challenges for evacuation, or are prone to greater damage. Effective resiliency planning and resource distribution can increase equity in crisis response and preparedness, notes the CSIS report.

Agencies engaged in resiliency planning bear a direct responsibility to foster equity within their teams. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts enhance resiliency because a diverse workforce is better equipped to anticipate risks and is less susceptible to groupthink, the CSIS report states. To promote equity in government workplaces, it’s crucial to revamp hiring processes, address bias or perceived inequities, and identify and rectify biases and systemic barriers that exclude certain groups.

The global COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of adaptability in adverse situations and stress management. Workforces that are diverse, equitable, and provide psychological safety are better prepared to innovate and navigate the climatic changes we will all face in the future.