While each firm may react differently to a natural disaster the clear priority becomes restoring communication systems or allowing for remote access to keep the firm running. For example, Freshfields uses an emergency telephone line and issues updates via its website, restoration of IT systems takes precedence behind ensuring all employees are safe and accounted for: “Once the scale of the incident is known and IT systems have been recovered, alternative working arrangements such as working from home, at a client’s premises or in short-term temporary accommodation will be put in place in the event that our regular premises are unavailable,” said Kevin Hogarth, global HR director for Freshfields.
Top ten UK firm Norton Rose has provision for any extreme event, which includes relocating entire offices and supplying lawyers with handheld devices to support working remotely. “In every country where there is a major presence, we have disaster recovery plans that include the relocation of the office and its entire workforce on a temporary basis. The faster this can be done, the less we need to disrupt business normalcy. Fortunately, with the prevalence of Blackberries, mobiles phones, and Wi-Fi laptops, workforces are more adaptable to operating outside home offices and this is particularly relevant when disaster strikes,” said Bob Ikin, chief operating officer for Asia for the Norton Rose Group. Other firms have similar priorities: “ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our people is our primary concern in the event of any serious incident. As you would expect, minimising the impact of any incident on our clients and resuming business as usual as quickly as possible is also a key priority,” said Hogarth.
The result seems to be minimal disruption to business. Norton Rose has a real time information system that reveals the whereabouts of all employees who might be affected, and said that following the recent Japan disaster, when evacuation was deemed necessary, this was done shortly after the quake struck. “Within a short time of the earthquake, we had lawyers and their families on commercial flights, into hotels and working on client documents in the Hong Kong office,” added Ikin. Tokyo head Chris Viner decided to stay in Japan and some returned to Tokyo within a few days of the disaster but essentially, business continued as usual for the firm.