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Law360 (April 17, 2020, 5:16 PM EDT ) Keeping a law firm up and running amid the coronavirus pandemic is no easy task. Still, for those with kids, working from home can pose even more difficulties, as Instagram followers of U.K. firm Simmons & Simmons recently got a chance to witness.
On Friday, the firm posted an apology on its official Instagram account after an employee's daughter hijacked his phone and did a live broadcast of a dance routine on the firm's page.
"Sorry about the dancing child live post this week. Obviously not meant for our corporate account," the firm posted Friday. "The reality of working from home with kids around is posing a whole new world of challenges!"
The video can no longer be found on Simmons' corporate Instagram account @simmons_simmonsllp, which is typically a place for the firm to feature its employees and their accomplishments.
In the footage obtained by RollOnFriday, the employee's daughter was seen dancing in a garden to UK grime artist Wiley's hit song "Heatwave," featuring vocals from Ms D. The daughter was interrupted by her father after realizing that it was his work phone.
"Like many others, we're balancing working from home with keeping children occupied. Sometimes the two don't always go hand in hand but we hope it has at least lightened the mood in these difficult times," a firm spokesperson said in a statement to Law360.
The firm's followers also seemed to enjoy the footage.
"Obviously a genuine mistake but it's good to see somebody actually enjoying life," one wrote, while another said: "I missed it, is there a chance for another performance? The child should work for your PR team."
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Simmons has reported furloughing some staff whose positions have been affected by the current remote-work environment.
The firm is also postponing partner distributions and not making decisions about staff pay and bonuses until later in 2020, according to U.K.-based publication LegalWeek.
--Additional reporting by Michele Gorman. Editing by Michael Watanabe.
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