The rush to get everything completed before the Christmas/New Year break/end of year was always a big thing. But is it still the thing it was? Do the different ways that we work now mean that we all work in a way that means that end of year pressure has changed? Is it the case that our clients' commission arrangements mean they still want to close the deal – and earn their year-end commission – before the calendar turns to 2025? Or is it that we, as the lawyers, want to stop for a week or two?
Certainly, this year, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, I am guessing that the UK will grind to a halt the Friday before, and then rubbing its eyes and stomachs, slowly reappear at work around the 6th of January. And if not on the 6th, then by about the 13th.
Every year, Christmas and the break surrounding it, seems to come as a surprise – and I don’t know why! Every year, Christmas falls on the 25th of December, and the UK marks the day after as Boxing Day, when the country shuts down. And yet, every year, those two dates seem to surprise too many of us – the rush the week before, when even if we are too old to sustain the childhood excitement of Christmas for more than a few weeks really ought to not come out of the blue. We know it's coming; it has done so every year we've gone to work, and I am willing to guarantee that it will do so for every future year that I – and you – will be working as lawyers.
My sense is that we – as private practice lawyers – are more able to take time off at the end of the year, because even if our clients need something closed by the year end, we can fit it in from home or away – the laptop and the broadband connection mean that we risk never really taking a total break, and can do whatever is needed to meet our clients' needs.
So, whether you are celebrating Christmas, or just talking the time off to recharge, have a good one, hopefully without too much last-minute year-end work!