Our Covid Plan
Our Current COVID-19 Safety Arrangements
Our office is open and is accepting deliveries and visitors WITH APPOINTMENTS and where remote meetings are not otherwise possible. Safety measures such as check-in, masking and additional cleaning are in place for safety and comfort.
Transactions are progressing as normal. If you have any questions at all about the progress of your matter, please reach out to us.
We are working in a hybrid arrangement, combining in-office attendance by our team and remote work, to ensure continuity of service to our clients and the community wherever possible while reducing the risk of exposure to the families of our clients and team.
We also have a responsive plan in place in the event that an exposure occurs for one of our team, or or office, which exceeds the requirements and recommendations from ACT Health.
This means that the person responsible for your matter may not be in the office every day. If you need to see us in person, please confirm that is a requirement before making an appointment, to avoid disappointment.
The Morris Legal Group team is ready to convert to a fully remote workforce should another lockdown be implemented.
For full details of the COVID-19 response in the ACT, please visit https://www.covid19.act.gov.au/
To discover more about our flexible workplace journey and our COVID-19 Plan, please see below.
Using our CHARMS – Our Conditions of Entry
The Morris Legal Group team have adopted a new COVID-normal approach to safety at our office which we’re calling CHARMS. We require all attendees at our office (both team and visitors) to comply with the following requirments:
- Check in using the Check-in CBR app or your Check-in CBR Card. This is mandatory for all staff and visitors.
- Advise the team ahead of time if you need to attend our office, so that we can consider capacity limits and ensure your practitioner is at the office to assist you.
- Restrict your time at our office. We love you, but we love minimising potential exposures too.
- Mask up! This is mandatory for all staff and visitors in our Reception and meeting rooms. We have disposable masks to hand if you’re short.
- Sanitise early and often. We have handy sanitiser stations around the office and additional cleaning protocols in place.
Please DO NOT attend our office if:
- You have any symptoms no matter how mild.
- You have been identified as a HOUSEHOLD, HIGH or MODERATE RISK CONTACT, even if you are not required to isolate at home.
- You have been to an exposure location in the last 14 days (where notified or published).
- You are awaiting the return of a PCR test for COVID-19.
- You are required or have been directed to isolate or quarantine.
If you test positive for COVID-19 within two days of visiting out office, please notify us URGENTLY so that we can take steps to protect our team and other clients.
Thank you for observing our COVIDSafe Policy and using your CHARMS when you visit us. It’s one way we can all promote and practice safety as we move through easing of restrictions.
Our Pathway Foward
While restrictions have eased, the way we offer legal services will continue to be a little different to pre-COVID operations:
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- Remote meetings are preferred and we can host you via Zoom, Teams and telephone. CLICK HERE to book now.
- Our office is accepting visitors where remote meetings are not possible, and WITH APPOINTMENTS ONLY. We are accepting deliveries
- Electronic and digital signing will be available where permitted by law.
- Remote verification of identity will be available where permitted by law.
- Paper settlements will continue where ACT Government directives continue to allow them and will continue on time, business as usual (subject to bank processing times).
- PEXA settlements are now available in the ACT for most sales and purchases, and are our preferred method of settlement where possible. The ACT Government reports that as at March 2022, over 38% of conveyances are settling online using the PEXA platform..
We are ready to adjust our practice as restrictions change. If you have any questions at all about the progress of your matter, please reach out to us.
If the ACT returns to lockdown, we will continue to provide a broad array of legal services remotely. Please be aware that, in the past, some legal services have not been deemed essential even if they can only happen in person or on paper for the purposes of the prevailing health directions. If a lockdown is reinstated, we will advise you if your matter is affected by restrictions.
How We Are Working with COVID-19 Risks in 2022
As we now know, a lockdown can occur at any time. Part of life in the time of COVID-19 is also that contacts may be required to isolate at any time, depending on their risk status as defined by the ACT Government. Our team are set up at home with the equipment they need to continue their work for you remotely wherever possible, even if they or you are so affected.
In those circumstances, we will advise you of electronic means of dealing that may be available and able to be used, depending on your circumstances.
Most dealings can progress remotely and we will continue to work with you on your deal wherever possible. We may not be able to provide some services during a lockdown if they are required to be provided in person but are not considered essential for the purposes of the prevailing public health directions. We will resume those in-person and paper-based services as soon as it is lawful and safe to do so.
Members of our team may be working flexibly in order to fulfil their various obligations at home and at work. We recognise that you are probably doing the same. This means you may receive an email from one of us at a time that you have not set aside for that task.
We encourage you to not feel obliged to respond before you are next available to do so. Alternatively, if your circumstances mean that you’d like assistance outside of usual business hours, please let us know so that we can find a mutually convenient time to discuss your matter.
Law In The Time Of COVID-19
You are assured a safe and certain deal whatever your legal needs during the time of COVID-19, because we take your access to legal services during this time seriously. Work can progress for you remotely, with:
- pandemic-proof approach to Conveyancing, so you can get your foot on that property no matter what
- online quotes anytime so you can work when you need to
- ongoing investment in software to make your experience with the law more flexible and responsive
- remote meetings available as standard and on request
- remote verificaton of ID available as standard and on request
- electronic and digitally signed Contracts where permitted by law
- electronic exchanges in any deal
- electronic settlement via PEXA wherever available
- close attention paid to changes in the law in the time of covid-19
- extensive online resources available for free to assist you on your property journey
The Flexible Workplace Journey
Morris Legal Group was founded on the idea that we could provide high quality legal services to the community without relying on the traditional law firm model. We put the old law playbook in the bin and started as a remote firm.
During the first months of the firm, this meant we were free to work where we were most useful. Whether it was in a client’s office in Canberra or interstate, in the forests of the National Botanical Gardens or the National Arboretum, or at home… our focus was on our best work for clients.
While we soon found a home in a permanent office, as we built the team our dedication to strong and flexible workplace practices never wavered. Working at client offices or at home remained the norm, and every single team member is issued with tech to enable them to achieve that.
Pandemic Puts Us To The Test
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were confident that our remote work ethos would assist us to continue to serve Canberra, whatever was thrown at us. One day in 2020, we put our laptops in our bags to go home as usual, but we didn’t return to the office the next. And we didn’t miss a beat, or a deal.
Despite the effects of the pandemic shifting and changing, we returned to the office with new appreciation for the flexibility we have granted ourselves. We understood that we may be required to return home to work at any time, and we were ready for that challenge when it arrived in August 2021.
Our COVID-19 Plan
Your safety and that of our team are paramount. While our office is operating, we will continue to comply with all government directives concerning our office and visitors to it.
You can be confident of your safety because:
- we have taken additional office space to ensure a safe work environment
- Symptoms = Sick Leave policy enforced for all team members no matter their role
- extra cleaning protocols are in place
- hand sanitiser is available throughout our office
- you must use the Check In CBR App when visiting us
- capacity limits are observed in all areas within our office
- masks are worn in all meetings and our reception area by both team and visitors
- social distancing is totally a thing here (even though some of us are huggers)
- remote meetings remain our preferred way to meet with you
- we are ready to change our work habits at any time, including in the event of a lockdown, without interruption to your services
During the pandemic, we have proven that we are a tech-augmented rubber band ball of law, love and life. We are dedicated to our continued care for you and your property journey, come whatever may.
If you have any questions at all, be sure to get in touch!
