Small Law Firms

More Law Firms Should Offer Work Cellphones To Employees

Perhaps it would help them be able to better separate their work-life boundaries.

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There was a time when it was common for attorneys and staff at many law firms to be issued cellphones owned by the law firms for which they worked. In earlier years, it was less common and more expensive to own smartphones, and many law firms issued these devices to employees so they could be more productive. In recent years, most law firms do not issue employees cellphones for work, probably because of the expense and because almost everyone has a smartphone these days. In addition, many people may not wish to have two phones to carry around at any given time. However, more law firms should offer employees work cellphones so that attorneys and staff can better separate work-life boundaries.

When I was a summer associate a decade ago, it was common for many Biglaw firms and other shops to provide associates and some staff with smartphones. Indeed, I was issued a BlackBerry as a summer associate, and this was the only time I ever possessed this legendary device. When I returned to the firm a year later as a full-time associate, I was issued an iPhone — the firm had made the transition to iPhones by then.

Having a work phone proved useful in a number of circumstances. I was able to reduce the amount of data I used on my personal phone. Moreover, I did not need to give my personal phone number to work colleagues, clients, and others since I was able to provide the information for my work phone. In addition, it was easier to separate my work from my personal life since all of my work contacts, emails, and other work-related content was on my work phone while my personal phone was used almost exclusively for personal use.

I also did not mind that I had to carry around two phones so that I could have access to work material and also have my personal phone. Indeed, I felt kind of like a baller with two phones, although a lot of people made jokes that only drug dealers had two phones (probably a reference to “Breaking Bad” as I think about it in hindsight). It was not too inconvenient for me to carry around this work phone, and in a weird way, it was kind of a status symbol which showed I worked for an employer that had the resources to provide me with a phone.

As I moved through my career, it became less and less likely that law firms would provide work phones to employees. In order to compensate for this, law firms usually pressure employees to use their own phones for work-related business. In many instances, law firms require employees to install software onto their phones that permit law firms to delete work materials if the employee is terminated or otherwise leaves a firm.

This is extremely problematic because it is unclear if law firms are able to track employees through the applications they need to install on their phones in order to access work content on their personal devices. In addition, I have anecdotally heard of issues when law firms delete work data after a separation, and some of my friends have lost all of their contacts in their phones seemingly because of applications their firms had them install on their devices. Moreover, employees may have higher out-of-pocket expenses if they need to use their personal devices for work matters, and not all law firms provide funds to employees to offset the cost of using personal devices for work matters.

In addition, requiring employees to use their personal devices for work matters may further blur the lines between personal life and work. The work-life balance has been under attack in recently years, and this separation is far easier to control if employees are issued work phones. For instance, employees can choose whether they wish to bring their work phones to vacations, holiday outings, and other events in their personal lives. It is much more difficult for people to leave their personal phones at home when they want to be disconnected from work because people rely on their personal phones for all kinds of uses. In addition, the physical separation of using one device for work and another device for personal uses can help individuals maintain a wall between their personal life and work.

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Of course, many people may not want to have a work phone since individuals may not want to lug around multiple devices, and they may feel most comfortable with a personal phone that they selected. However, more law firms should give employees the option of having a work phone if they want to keep their work separate from their personal lives. It is unfair for law firms to force employees to use their personal devices for work matters if they do not wish to do so and giving employees the option of having a work phone empowers employees to make informed decisions about how they approach work.

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at [email protected].

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