After four months of remote working (from Wellington, San Francisco, Florida, and even Canada), Practice Manager, Cindy Laberge, now counts herself as part of the local full-time contingent at Aspiring Law. Wanaka is now home since she moved here earlier this month. (Click here for Cindy's first article on remote working).

But for Aspiring Law Directors Janice Hughes’ and Mike Toepfer’s openness to try remote working, there is no way that Cindy and Aspiring Law could have teamed up. While conducting meetings from a variety of time zones could present its challenges, the pay-offs, in the end, were worth it. The team is now into its fifth month of a successful relationship. 

In fact, it was so successful that Aspiring Law has augmented its support team to include professionals from three different locations inside and outside of New Zealand. And it is currently recruiting additional legal talent – from anywhere inside New Zealand.

In Cindy’s experience, for a remote working opportunity to be successful, there must be trust, discipline and technology. But that doesn’t mean that effort should not be invested in finding a way to connect in person.

“Although you can start a relationship online, the best way to develop it is to have a chance to get to know each other a little better face-to-face; that’s how great teams are created. And that’s not hard to do.

For example, when one of our fellow remote workers indicated that he would be in Otago sometime later this year, it was a no-brainer to invite him and his family to stay with ours. I love that this technological age enables people to broaden their circles both professionally and personally. It just makes me feel that the world has fewer and fewer strangers in it – and that has to be a good thing.”

Feedback, comments and questions are always welcomed – please feel free to e-mail me on [email protected]

T: 03 443 0900

W: www.aspiringlaw.co.nz

Cindy Laberge Practice Manager