Unlike many Big Law firms in the U.S., law firms in Australia are not making hard-and-fast rules about how much time lawyers are expected to spend in the office, and instead rely on guidelines or rules of thumb.

“We have set expectations for our partners and other business leaders and given them scope to arrange their teams into an ideal working pattern,” said Alison Deitz, Australia chief executive partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, a firm whose work-from-home policy resembles others in the country.