I have been lucky enough to be able to tele-commute for a number of different firms across the country for the past 11 years, which has given me complete flex-time. This has worked out really well for me – especially after I had children – and my productivity increased exponentially once I started working this way.

1. I research and write.

2. I talk to colleagues on the phone.

3. I trade emails with colleagues.

4. I go to meetings.

The first three could be done safely from home, and the fourth one could very often be accomplished by a switch to the second or third.

I’d gladly trade my fairly big office for a smaller one, if I were allowed to come in less often and, instead, to work at my home office several days each week.

True, there are benefits to coming into the office — a team that never gets together will not function as smoothly — but I find it hard to believe that those benefits are worth (1) the cost to the firm to rent all of this downtown space, and (2) the cost to me, in money and time, to come into town at least five days a week.

In that time, I certainly billed fewer hours than I had billed before. (I approached 400 in a bad month, prior to the switch; after the switch, I wasn’t supposed to pass 160 in a month.) But I also provided a continuing knowledge about the cases, about the team, and so forth, which certainly would have taken time and hours to replace.