FORUM IP Talks: Lars Thiess on four-day workweeks and Free Fridays in an IP boutique law firm

Jean-Claude: You have started to implement a work week of four days in a half-year trial. How did you come up with this idea?

Lars: The idea of a 4-day-workweek itself is obviously not totally new, as studies on them where reported from time to time in the last couple of years. Within H?RTING Rechtsanw?lte some of the partners primarily introduced the idea and first serious discussions on the management level began early 2022, maybe even a bit earlier. In January 2023, the 4-day-workweek was put on the agenda for the annual retreat of the partners in which they plan the upcoming year.

After the decision was made to give the 4-day-workweek a try at this retreat, a focus group, consisting of partners, associates and assistants, was set up for the further planning. The concept that the focus group worked out was then presented to the hole staff, so everybody would be able to ask questions and give additional input. A few days later, we had an anonyms vote, in which the majority of our staff voted in favor of the 4-day-workweek.?

How does it look like in practice??

Within the focus group, we discussed several conceptual approaches. Ultimately, we decided that we will “close” the office on Friday and that we will reduce the nominal working hours from 40 hours per week to 36 hours per week. As the majority of your clients still operate on Fridays, we have set up a rotation-system where one of our assistant is still in office on Friday, just in case of an emergency. Obviously, all partners and associates also still have an eye on their phone in case of emergency calls or e-mails.

"...helps to stay more concentrated and motivated over the rest of the week."

What advantages do you see in a four-day workweek after almost three months of trial?

Personally, I have the feeling that the weekend has a greater (mental) regeneration effect, which also helps to stay more concentrated and motivated over the rest of the week. Furthermore, I think it made the planning of personal necessities (medical or administrative appointments) easier, as I don′t need to think when I could incorporate these into the day-to-day business anymore. Speaking to my co-workers I know that many feel the same way.???

Which disadvantages have you experienced so far almost three months into the trial?

Especially within the first weeks, the main issue was the necessary adaptability to the new concept. We needed to learn how to set up your workday differently to “make up” for the lack of time and bring in more efficiency. However, this was also a chance to question the workflows in the office and your one ones.

From a personal perspective, weeks with public holidays are now a little bit more stress full. For me there is still the feeling that the work that normally would needed to be done in five days, has to be finished in three days if a public holiday is on Monday to Thursday. I know this is not completely logically, as these weeks would not have been 5-day-workweeks anyway, but somehow my mind still thinks that way. I think many of my colleagues had the same feeling on the first couple of public holidays.

In an interview in German language with the Legal Tribune Online you stated that despite an overwhelming majority of 88% were in favor of the trial, still 12% were against. Is there already any gut feeling with regards to this minority, whether they have been convinced in the meantime?

As we don’t know who the 12% were specifically, this is hard to assess. Most of my colleagues have embraced and accepted the new concept really well and I assume that this includes some of the colleges that initially voted against the testing phase. I know at least of one person that has been convinced.

You have opted for Free Friday. Why, and how does it work, almost three months into the trial, also with regards to the partners in the law firm?

This concept was chosen mainly for two reasons. The primary reason is based on the fact, that we are generally working in teams and coordination of these teams would have become harder if we would have, for instance, adopted an even more flexible concept where everybody could choose himself or herself which day to take off. Secondly, we think this concept can be better communicated with and recognizes by our clients. As we informed our clients of the trial period, they don’t expect an immediate answer on Fridays outside of emergencies.

Up until now, I got the feeling that the concept itself works well. I have not experienced or seen any negative impact on the quality of our teamwork or work results. At the couple of Fridays I needed to do some work due to deadlines set by the court or emergency reasons, I have seen only one or two of our partner working in the office on the same Friday. From talking to our partners, I know that the concept also works for them and that they are able to enjoy some more quality time with family and friends on the Fridays, even if they too still do some work on Fridays from time to time.

According to an article at?law.com, "some lawyers who have tried compressing five working days into four say they even ended up billing more hours per month than before". Can you so far confirm this during the trial?period?

For now, at least in my case and from what I have heard from my co-workers, billable hours have not changed significantly within this three month, neither positively nor negatively. I think we still need some more time (and thereby data) to reliably be able to tell if we managed to increase our billable hours due to the 4-workday-week or due to other reasons and if the 4-workday-week was the reason for any decrease in billable hours.????

How have clients reacted so far to your Free Friday? Have you had clients walking away for that reason?

The feedback from our clients was mostly positive up until now. Some of your clients raised concerns beforehand that they fear we would not be possible to assist them in time if we implement the 4-day-week, but I have not heard that any client saw this fear to become true. I also don’t know of any client that walked away from H?RTING due to the 4-day-workweek. I feel, that the 4-day-workweek sometimes even helped to further improve our relationship with our client as many of them are also interested in our experiences within the trial period and you start to connect with them even more outside of any case matter itself.

Do you know of other law firms with a four-day work week trial? If yes, are you in touch with them for best practices?

We know of a small couple of other law firms, mostly with their focus on other fields of law than us. As far as I know, we are not in touch with them. I think it could help to get into a conversation with them, to get some ideas how other law firms manage to organize their work schedule with a 4-day-workweek.

On the other hand, determining what would be “best practice” would be hard as every law firm has a slightly different environment to which it will need to cater their workflows.?

Does a four-day week helps with recruiting so far? Do you expect a four-day work week to be a competitive advantage for recruiting?

We were not recruiting within the last couple of month, so we don′t know if it helps with recruiting, but we expect that it will be one of the many things applicants will factor in, when they consider us over other competitors.

After almost three months into the trial, which interim conclusion can you already draw?

?A couple of days ago we made another anonymous survey within the office with quite positive results. Right now, we consider to at least prolong the trial period for a couple of more month.?

Thank you very much for the interview, Lars!

About the interviewee:

Lars Thiess is a Senior Associate with H?RTING, an IT, IP and data protection boutique law firm in Berlin. Born and raised in Berlin, Lars Thiess graduated from the Free University of Berlin with the blood of the capital in his veins. He joined H?rting in 2009 and after his first state examination he worked full-time in the firm for several years. He completed his legal clerkship in Berlin and Dublin. As a lawyer, he has been part of the litigation team since 2018 with an additional focus on IP and competition law since 2022. He also advises on sports and event law.