Putting the "Office" Back into "Home Office"

Lisa Solomon provided this great guest post. She reminds us that we need to treat our "home office" like an "office."

Lisa Solomon, Esq. was one of the first attorneys to recognize and take advantage of the technological advances that make outsourcing legal research and writing services practical and profitable for law firms of all sizes. Since 1996, Lisa has limited her practice to assisting attorneys with all of their legal research and writing needs, including preparing and arguing appeals and drafting substantive motions and trial memoranda. Lisa’s website is at www.questionoflaw.net.

Thanks for the guest post Lisa.

"I have been working exclusively from a home office since I started my legal research and writing practice in 1996. One thing I’ve noticed is that lawyers who work from home offices—especially those who work for themselves—often shortchange the “office” part of the “home office” equation. To counter this tendency, I suggest that you reconceptualize the home office. In fact, don’t think about it as a home office at all: think about it as an office that happens to be in your home.

The word “office” brings to mind a certain physical environment: a desk, a chair, and someplace to put your papers. Creating as professional an environment as possible (within your budget, of course) will help you to get the most out of your time in the office, so that you can spend more time at home.

Do you think that, because you have a home office, it’s ok to work at the kitchen table? Children are often advised to do their homework in a quiet place where they can concentrate; the importance of an environment conducive to getting work done is no different whether you are eight or forty-eight. And some people find that it is easier to get into “work mode” if they have a separate office “space” to work in.

Lets’s talk next about work surfaces. I hope you’re not working on a tiny, crowded computer desk with no room to spead out important papers. Many projects involve a fair number of documents, and it helps to be able to be able to flip easily from one to the other. A decent-sized desk or work table won’t break the bank.

One of the most important physical elements in an office environment is your chair. If you worked outside the home, you would never think of sitting all day in a kitchen chair or a folding chair. Why do so many home office lawyers insist on spending their days on an inappropriate, or at the very least uncomfortable, perch?

A comfortable chair can make a huge impact on your enjoyment of work and non-work hours. For years, I used a cheap secretarial task chair with no arms and a seat that was way too deep for my petite (4'10" frame). The most comfortable position I found involved hunching over, crossing one leg on the seat and putting my other foot on the edge of the seat. Even so, my back started to hurt. I decided that I needed to bite the bullet, spend the money, and get a decent chair. Although I investigated the popular Aeron chair, I ended up going with a custom-made ErgoChair instead. What a difference! My back pain vanished within days. You probably spend more time in your office chair than in any other chair in your home: invest in a good one.

As for your “stuff,” I’m a strong proponent of organization. Make sure you have sufficient space to store you files, either in file cabinets or on shelves. That way, you can keep inactive files off your desk, and you won’t be tripping over stacks of documents on the floor. A vertical file organizer on top of your desk or file cabinet can give you quick and convenient access to active files.

Even if you never see clients in your home office, having a professional environment to work in can make your working hours less physically and mentally taxing, and can increase your efficiency. Having an office that is physically and mentally separate from the other parts of your home also gives you someplace to leave at the end of the workday, so that you can be fully psychologically present when you are at home."