b'#inittogetherOn the evening of Sunday 15 March 2020, managingFor his part, Spurio worked hard to keep spirits high with partner Richard Spurio announced it was time to moveregular virtual coffee catch-ups. From his living roomto remote working for allthe COVID-19 pandemic wasand sporting a different coffee cup each timeSpurio sweeping the world and it was not clear how safe it waschannelled his inner Letterman interviewing special guests, for employees to travel on public transport or work in theincluding people within the firm, clients and the occasional office. Spurio emailed Australian-based staff to let themtelevision celebrity, keeping the firm updated on the know they would transition to working from home overpandemic and the latest government advice.the next two days. International offices followed. Only a handful of employees remained onsite to manage receptionWe tried hard, in different ways, to support our people and and the mail centres. Spurio signed off his email, We aremaintain personal connections, through the challenges and #inittogether but for a little while, not in person.uncertainties, Spurio says. We are really proud of how our people kept adapting and supporting each other and our Although Allens had long employed flexible work practices,clients.the firms technology had never been tested on such a large scale. Rod Fielding, chief operating officer and chiefThe firm helped clients manage their businesses within financial officer, was anxious. Would the system hold upthe ever-changing restrictions. When it became apparent with everyone at home? In fact, the firms systems provedlockdown was imminent, senior finance counsel, Diccon remarkably resilient, says Fielding. Our decision severalLoxton, raised with governments, business organisations years earlier to give everyone a laptop helped us pivot toand clients the need for emergency legislation to enable work from home almost overnight. Fast tracking a newremote signing of documents, and worked with them and business collaboration system kept the firm connected.others to secure and refine that legislation.That deployment would normally take twelve to eighteen months, and we completed it in just one. Despite the new laws on remote execution, the logistics of completing large transactions were challenging. Among It was not long before the firm began to settle into the newthe projects Allens worked on during the pandemic was a normal. Schools and other businesses closed, and Australia900-kilometre electricity transmission line for TransGrid went into lockdown. Most employees had assumed it wouldthat, on completion, will run between New South Wales be a couple of weeks before they returned to the office, butand South Australia. After seventeen months of work, no weeks turned into months as the global health situationone expected the greatest hurdle would be getting the rapidly deteriorated.documents physically signed. With Victoria in lockdown, the team had to think outside the box. One signatory was on a It required new thinking from everyone across the firmfarm in country Victoria and the team used courier drivers about how to maintain wellbeing at the same time as and at one point, the local chemistto act as witnesses. continuing to deliver the highest level of support to clients.Some of the documents were inspected in the boot of a 242'