'Off to the pub': Lawyers react as Microsoft Outlook outage brings down emails

A widespread Microsoft outage has disrupted lawyers’ email communications, prompting client notices, a return to telephone calls and, for some, appreciation of an unusually quiet inbox.

The disruption began on Thursday and has continued into Friday, affecting Outlook and other Microsoft 365 services across 74 countries according to the BBC, including the UK and US.

Like a snow day

One City lawyer told Non-Billable that the outage was "not cool" as it was impacting a deal that is closing today, while another said that they weren't affected because, despite it being nearly 10am, they hadn't started working yet.

Another City lawyer said that it was like a "snow day", adding that a partner had suggested that the firm's lawyers all go and watch a film together.

The lawyer saw the serious side of things as well, however, saying: "It's pretty scary, it shows how vulnerable we are. What if it goes on until next week? Most firms have communication channels beyond Teams and Outlook but you can't do business that way."

On LinkedIn, Richard East, senior partner of the Quinn Emannuel London office alerted clients and opposing solicitors to the practical consequences: “we are presently not able to receive or send any emails, as a consequence of the global Microsoft issues.”

Back to the 80s

Others described how lawyers were adapting. Ben Woodruff, litigation counsel at US firm Snell & Wilmer, wrote: “This nationwide Outlook outage is wild. Attorneys are… calling each other and figuring out work arounds. Is this what it was like in the 80s??”

Yan Besner, a partner at Canadian firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, urged colleagues to avoid immediately replacing email with another stream of messages and documents.

“Let’s not start using iMessage or WhatsApp to send docs and follow ups, K?” he wrote, suggesting that people instead “take a breath and act like it’s 1995 again” and use the interruption as time to think and complete tasks.

London-based Kirkland & Ellis partner Paul Sampson announced his response to the outage: “Woke up to no emails in my inbox for the first time since March 2008…” He added: “…so I’m off to the pub. Good weekends all!”

The impact has extended to professional bodies. A press officer at the SRA confirmed that it wasn't receiving any emails, and added "the whole profession is down." The Florida Bar and New Zealand Real Estate Authority have also warned of disruption.