THE WORKPLACE

Bouncing Back from COVID-19

As we slowly emerge from the tumult of the pandemic, what lessons have brand professionals learned and what will the new normal look like? Muireann Bolger reports.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacted momentous changes in everybody’s personal and professional lives, and brand professionals worldwide have been no exception.

As we learn to live with the virus, many intellectual property (IP) practitioners will be reflecting on their experiences during the pandemic, and how they can strengthen existing client relationships while also cultivating better work/life integration.

Elisabeth Stewart Bradley, vice president, Innovation Law: Trademarks, Copyrights, and Brand Protection, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (US), noted: “This is a complex topic and will result in a range of diverse perspectives since everybody had their own issues when dealing with the pandemic.”

She emphasized: “There have been so many challenges created by the pandemic, but if we try to seek learnings from it, then we can see some positive developments emerge.”

These challenges included the shift to remote working, the suspension of judicial and administrative proceedings, the closure of IP offices, and cuts in brand protection budgets, reflected Catherine Escobedo, of counsel, BARLAW–Barrera & Asociados (Peru).

“This meant we had to find creative ways to keep protecting clients’ IP assets in a cost-effective manner,” she said, citing more domain name registrations and litigation, trademark registrations to cover new businesses and e-stores, and stricter online surveillance for counterfeit goods and copyright infringements.

A Juggling Act

There were other, more personal, challenges especially for those trying to combine work and child care. In April, a study by the American Bar Association, “Practicing Law in the Pandemic and Moving Forward: Results and Best Practices from a Nationwide Survey of the Legal Profession,” reported that female attorneys were struggling to cope with pressures caused by the pandemic.

Among the female attorneys surveyed, more than 50 percent with children aged 5 or younger and 41 percent with children aged 6 to 13 were contemplating a change in their working hours in response to the consequences of the health crisis.

COVID-19 highlighted existing pressures faced by IP attorneys, both professional and personal, agreed Ms. Stewart Bradley.

“We are more aware of the many roles and responsibilities IP attorneys are juggling, whether that includes caring for children or parents, or managing households where both partners work, while seeing workloads increase as well as pressure from management and clients to ensure IP work continues uninterrupted,” she said.

Ms. Stewart Bradley pointed out that working remotely or in a hybrid blend of remote and in-person working requires greater flexibility and new work styles. This new approach means engaging and advising clients effectively through video meetings and leading teams without the benefit of in-person communications.

“We have seen that lawyers are capable of adapting and managing their practices in settings that are far less traditional than has been the norm for so many years, and are able still to be successful and effective. It requires proactive contact and purposeful connections,” she said.

“We had to find creative ways to keep protecting clients’ IP assets in a cost-effective manner.”
Catherine Escobedo, BARLAW–Barrera & Asociados (Peru)

Thriving, Not Surviving

Ms. Stewart Bradley suggested that lawyers and their clients can thrive during and beyond COVID-19 by looking at what has worked well so far and carrying that forward. In this way, they will be better equipped to forge improved and more sustainable working relationships.

Martin Gutwillinger, senior associate, Marks & Clerk (Belgium), agreed that the pandemic has presented both challenges and opportunities for brand professionals.

“We have learned to rely exclusively on electronic tools for communicating with clients, offices, and colleagues, and most of us managed this change well, because we were already using modern technologies for many years. But most of us also missed meeting people who did not have a rectangular shape around their heads,” he said.

Thinking about the future, Mr. Gutwillinger noted that for brand professionals, questions still loom around what the nature of business networking will be and what form such meetings will take.

“We have learned how much work can be done from home, but also how much we need human interaction in our daily work lives,” he explained. “Nobody knows what the future holds for brand professionals as many meetings and business trips have become unnecessary and could be replaced with videoconferences. This is certainly a good thing for the planet.”

But, he added, technology-powered interactions are not the same as meeting with colleagues for lunch, at a reception, or in a seminar, and that “we all hope to get this part of our professional lives back.”

According to Sue Ironside Irwin, partner, Ironside McDonald Intellectual Property (New Zealand), most within the global IP profession have welcomed adapting to new technology that brings the workforce together.

“As our offices opened back up all businesses were looking at the benefits of working from home compared with working in an office,” she said, noting that many offices took a hybrid approach and developed a new flexible working arrangement with their staff.

For Ms. Ironside Irwin, working in a country that had a strict lockdown only for three months early in the pandemic, her practice has grown even busier as many clients have been grasping new opportunities, including those that focus on potential ways to foster the country’s future growth.

“New Zealand depends on overseas markets so it has been interesting to see how quickly new products are coming to market to cater to people’s needs at home, with companies quickly looking for how they can then make the most of sending their products offshore,” she said.

“We have not seen that before,” she continued. “It is heartening to see how swiftly these opportunities are being taken advantage of, and it is great for the IP profession as it is keeping us busy.”

Ms. Ironside Irwin also suggested that clients have gradually become more flexible and adaptable.

“We have found that some clients have held off on certain projects until they could meet with us. Other clients have held on to the belief that things would go back to normal more quickly than it has,” she said. “But most have come around to dealing with complex issues over the phone or through video calls.”

“Most of us also missed meeting people who did not have a rectangular shape around their heads.”
Martin Gutwillinger, Marks & Clerk (Belgium)

Flexibility Rules

The pressure for law firms to adapt and become more flexible is likely to continue, according to INTA’s own research findings.

INTA’s “IP Law Firms of the Future Think Tank Report,” published in 2020, highlighted the pandemic’s potential influence on challenging traditional norms.

“The current COVID-19 pandemic may someday be credited as the critical force that drove (maybe forced) law firms to cross the Rubicon and let go of conservative thinking. The law firm of the future will embrace all of the pandemic learnings and will rise to the next level,” said the report.

The report underscored how the pandemic has transformed the look of the IP workplace, potentially forever, explained INTA 2021 President Tiki Dare, vice president and associate general counsel at Oracle Corporation (US).

“With the pandemic accelerating a virtual shift, skeptics of flexible remote work have turned into advocates, and the report noted that firms of all sizes have let go of ‘what a firm looks like,’” Ms. Dare said.

“This new mindset and technological advances indicate that remote work and/or hybrid work structures will be longstanding. This could pave the way for better work-life balance and improved workforce diversity.”

According to INTA’s “The Women’s LeadershIP Initiative Report,” released in February 2021, women regarded flexibility, including working remotely, as the most important factor for achieving satisfactory work-life integration.

But Ms. Dare warned that other measures are needed to boost gender equality in IP, particularly in the upper echelons of the sector.

“Clients increasingly look to law firms with diverse and inclusive teams and diversity initiatives. Consumers also look to brands to do the right thing,” she said.

Ms. Dare suggested efforts such as engaging male champions and promoting flexible work environments to alleviate women’s underrepresentation, and initiatives such as establishing diversity officers and mentoring programs to help address inequities across gender, race, LGBTQ2+ status, and other dimensions of diversity.

Cultures of Trust

Iris V. Quadrio, partner, Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal (Argentina), agreed that remote working is here to stay.

She suggested that the “new normality” will mean more flexibility, more emphasis on technology, a mix of home and office working, and re-evaluation of how firms use office space.

But, Ms. Quadrio warned, in this new era it is vital to “create cultures of trust” that raise awareness of how to adopt a more inclusive approach in the workplace.

Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal set up a diversity committee in 2019 that organized five teams to focus on diversity issues in the areas of age, disability, gender, minorities, and the LGBTQ2+ community. The teams involved over 50 members of the firm, who remained active and implemented several actions before and during the pandemic.

“The program has been successful as it provides a safe environment for employees to openly discuss these topics; freely raise concerns, hopes, and expectations; and to propose different initiatives,” she explained.

The diversity committee’s initiatives included producing two videos to share first-hand experiences, and the challenges and lessons learned by different generations during COVID-19 lockdowns. The firm unveiled an awareness campaign to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, which included discussions on unconscious bias and a webinar for parents on how to handle the challenges of working from home and home-schooling during lockdown.

“We focused on keeping communication channels fluid and open, and the partners remained fully available externally and internally, for clients and for our associates and staff to support them,” explained Ms. Quadrio.

Ms. Escobedo cautioned that organizations with remote workforces, in whole or in part, need to ensure the well-being of their employees, noting: “It is necessary to create adequate channels of communication to allow them to approach any problems or concerns together and in a manner that benefits everyone. It is also important to continue with education campaigns to create secure spaces for women and minorities in the workplace.”

“If we continue to recognize that one size does not fit all… then we can ‘bounce back’ from COVID-19.”
Elisabeth Stewart Bradley, vice president, Innovation Law: Trademarks, Copyrights, and Brand Protection, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (US)

Better Relationships

Rudy Gaines, owner of Rudy Gaines Creative Development (US), suggested that remote working improved lawyers’ relationships with clients in some cases by offering an unvarnished peek into their personal lives.

“For lawyers who tend to hide behind a Superman/woman cape, it’s been a time of healthy exposure, dressing down, and fielding questions about the pictures on the wall or the dog, cat, or child who suddenly interrupts the video calls,” he said.

Mr. Gaines added that while it’s more difficult to forge new relationships remotely, overall there have been many positives to this new form of working.

Ms. Escobedo also found that efficient working and novel approaches during the pandemic has fortified client relationships. “Phone calls transitioned to videoconferencing, which made interactions more personal,” she said.

Providing an example, she said one of the firm’s best innovations was the creation of virtual IP training sessions for clients, which also strengthened their relationships with the firm’s associates. The sessions started one week after the beginning of the lockdown in 2020 and are ongoing.

Future working relationships between lawyers and their clients will continue to “grow stronger” and closer because the pandemic has ushered in multiple communications channels, Ms. Escobedo forecast.

“Now that things are slowly coming back to a new ‘normality,’ I predict that a lot of changes are here to stay,” she said.

A Sustainable Future

Ms. Stewart Bradley is cautiously optimistic. “If we continue to recognize that one size does not fit all, allow for greater flexibility, trust our colleagues to handle their workloads in ways that are most effective for them, and take a more creative approach overall to how attorneys can manage their careers, then we can ‘bounce back’ from COVID-19,” she said.

“By taking this approach,” she added, “we can create a culture for IP attorneys that is more supportive and sustainable than it was before.”


Video courtesy of Envato Elements / Pablo Lagarto

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Tuesday, November 16, 2021

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