In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, some employees have been left feeling “entitled” to remote and hybrid working, according to Síobhra Rush, head of employment law firm Lewis Silkin’s Dublin office.
“The remote work, or hybrid working arrangements that came about as a result of Covid, they now see that as an entitlement, which it isn’t,” Rush tells The Irish Times, noting the issue has led to “a lot of contention”.
She says the workplace has changed significantly since the pandemic, with arrangements that would have been “unheard of in 2019” now becoming the norm. It has brought challenges for employees and employers.
“Our client base is mainly employers – we do very little employee work – but I definitely see this sense of entitlement.”
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For employers, she says, you have to find the balance between fairness, flexibility and what is reasonable. “It’s a very close relationship, and you have to try and work things out rather than being too dictatorial.”
Rush has found that the decisions to increase employee requirements to be in the office are often portrayed as a “lack of trust”, but points to its importance for teaching and developing new and younger staff.
It is something she has had first-hand experience doing, having led Lewis Silkin’s Dublin office since its inception, growing its Irish workforce and training new solicitors. The firm first set up its Irish presence in 2018, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, with a clear vision “to be the leading employment law practice in Ireland”, Rush explains.
Headquartered in London, Lewis Silkin approached Rush to lead its Dublin office, which she says was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
Many of the firm’s blue-chip clients based in the UK were setting up bases in Ireland and the firm wanted to provide the same consistency of advice to these firms for their Irish operations, explains Rush. But the timing worked out well for the firm – “we got lucky” – as it had been able to get a foothold in the Irish market before the disruption of the pandemic.
“It was so well timed, really, because we grew so quickly and then Covid hit.”
It has rapidly expanded in the years since, setting up an office in Belfast in 2021, joining forces with local employment law specialist Jones Cassidy Brett before combining with media, tech and IP practice Forde Campbell in January 2022.
The firm’s presence in Ireland now stands at 85 people, having recently been joined by a series of new hires to complement its specialisations in employment and immigration law, as well as Workplace Relations Commission proceedings and internal HR practice. A new partner, Joanne Hyde, also came on board early this year.
The expansion comes after the firm increased its fee revenue by 50 per cent in the past year, which Rush says was key to its continuing expansion.
“We had offices in London, Cardiff, Oxford, Hong Kong, and then Dublin was the fifth. Since then, Lewis Silkin has opened offices in Belfast, Leeds and Manchester, and we’ve just opened one in Glasgow.”
Its offices also collaborate with the international Ius Laboris network of employment law firms – its Dublin office is the only Irish member.
When the Dublin office first opened, the firm struggled with brand recognition in the Irish market. “The brand wouldn’t have been known, really, except amongst employment lawyers at the time,” explains Rush, but that has begun to change, with the firm attracting more new domestic clients as it has grown.
The goal is to “replicate what they have in London. To be the firm that clients want to work with; be the firm that star employment lawyers want to come and work with,” Rush says, noting: “We are definitely on track for that.”
There is a long way to go, and, while the journey so far as been “really, really great”, she admits that “every time I think about it, I get tired”.
A graduate of University College Dublin, Rush has been involved in employment law since qualifying, quickly specialising in the field.
“Employment law is the type of area where your clients, it’s a very high-trust relationship, and when things can go wrong – particularly in relation to senior employees – you need to be on the ball.”
Particularly in Ireland, she says, employment disputes and issues “can get very legal quite suddenly, and it can get aggressive”.
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This comes from constitutional rights to natural justice and fair procedures under the Irish Constitution, Rush explains – disciplinary procedures and investigations are “heightened”.
In Ireland, there is “a lot more emphasis on employers complying with their procedures”, which she agrees with but says it means that for international firms “gaps in procedure or slips that you might get away with elsewhere, you might not [get away with] in Ireland”.
“I have heard of investigations in which there were more lawyers in the disciplinary procedure than there would be in a courtroom, because even the witnesses have lawyered up. It is that type of environment.”
Rush says her job is “to be at the cutting edge of employment law” but the world of work is ever-changing. With the rise of AI, she says, “we are all learning, you’re constantly learning in this game”.
AI is increasingly appearing in the workforce and Rush says she has even come across ChatGPT-generated documentation in her practice.
“I can’t see it necessarily replacing jobs [in law], I just think jobs will change, the workplace will change,” she says, but believes it will be increasingly used in recruitment and worker performance analysis.
“I think any employer who ignores it is foolish. It is like a train that it coming for us, and we need to learn how to monitor and regulate it, to ensure it is not being used in ways that expose employers to legal risk.”
