Business as Usual in the Face of Coronavirus Disruption
The coronavirus pandemic is dominating our news presently. The situation and advice is changing daily. It is affecting business as well as lives.
Our priorities are the health and wellbeing of our staff and their families; that of our clients; and that of our business contacts and colleagues. We do, however, recognise that during this difficult period our clients still need to be able to access their legal advisors. We are therefore operating on the basis of “Business As Usual”.
We want to make you aware of the steps we have taken to ensure the continuity of the high level of service that our clients have come to expect from us.
Client Service Remains Uninterrupted
We have in place plans and procedures to ensure that you will be able to contact your usual solicitor or lawyer, both by telephone, email and post. If you do not have a direct dial number for your advisor, you will be provided with one in early course. We will maintain our usual office hours for you to contact them. It will accelerate matters if you can communicate by email. In the unfortunate event that your advisor is unable to assist you due to illness, alternative arrangements will be put in place immediately and you will be notified as soon as possible.
Face-to-face Meetings
In accordance with government advice, we have put on hold any visits to nursing homes, hospitals and non-essential travel. We can also offer video meetings and telephone calls in place of face-to-face meetings, again in accordance with government advice. If a face-to-face meeting is required, we will follow the government advice about social distancing and hand hygiene. We would ask that if you have any of the symptoms of coronavirus that you do not come into our premises; likewise if you have within the last 14 days if you have visited any of the countries or regions which the government have identified as being high risk areas for coronavirus.
Our Staff and Agile Working
Our offices currently remain open and fully staffed. However, we have in place detailed arrangements should we need to work remotely. Our staff will be contactable in the usual ways and our switchboard will be open during the usual office hours. Our staff also have instructions that should they experience any symptoms of coronavirus then they must self-isolate for the appropriate period, in the expectation that any illness will be contained. We continue to monitor the guidance and will notify you of any significant changes.
Teamwork
Our in-house motto is “working together, to be the best”. This is especially applicable now, and in our view applies not only to the internal team here, but also working together as a team with our clients and other professional contacts.