For LeRoy, an insurance defense litigator with a passion for international adventure travel, a hybrid remote work model has worked best.

Working around the clock the first three weeks of the month handling in-person responsibilities including depositions and hearings has freed the last week of the month for written obligations he opts to handle remotely while traveling. This model has allowed him to take in the sights of 44 countries, climb mountains and swim with sharks all while continuing to scale at his firm.

Having worked solely with Cole Scott since 2012, LeRoy credited the success of his hybrid model to support from his firm once his obligations had been met.

"For me, it's all about having an employer that allows you to organize work around your life, rather than organizing life around work," he said. "I did what I needed to do, and I could start creating my own schedule."

His approach has provided life-changing experiences, including meeting his wife, a Bulgarian attorney, while traveling abroad.

But working while adventuring hasn't been all smooth sailing. Literally. At one point, LeRoy found himself working in the middle of a storm at sea.

"We're doing a shark dive in New Zealand and at the same time, I'm trying to prepare for a hearing the following morning," he said. "I'm sitting in the middle of the boat as it's rocking, on my laptop typing away while everyone else is either enjoying the moment or being sick."

'They Need Four Walls'

It's a juggling act corporate law firm owner Crystal McDonough knows all too well.

Having opened Colorado-based McDonough Law immediately after law school, as a wife and mother of three in 2012, her focus has always been on maintaining flexibility.

"I only get to be a mom once," McDonough said. "I set up the whole firm so that it was completely paperless in the cloud, with full remote access."

McDonough opted to implement a hybrid model, using a shared, physical office space with a conference room to meet with clients preferring more traditional interactions, as needed. Doing so afforded her al a carte secretarial services including mail-scanning.

"I was able to have admin help without me having to hire full-time people in the beginning, and that allowed me the flexibility so that I could travel," she said.

McDonough's been able to scale her firm from one shared workspace to five offices with more than two dozen employees spanning Colorado and Wyoming—and all while working remotely for weeks to months at time, with her entire family in tow.

"The rule in my house has always been if mom is working, the kids are doing school. So if I'm working, everybody's working," she said. "They had a lot of really good experiences that they would never have had if we had lived a traditional life."

Not only has she taken her entire family along for the ride, homeschooling her children over the years, but she offers the same flexibility to her entire firm.

But not everyone takes her up on the offer.

"A lot of people think that they want this lifestyle, but then when they actually get into it, they may find that they don't like it or it's too flexible," she said. "They need four walls at the office to somehow give them that sense of structure. Some people really like and need that kind of structure."

She encouraged attorneys looking to take their jobs on the road to first assess whether their firm's culture supported it. If not, she suggested considering a change.

McDonough said, "If it doesn't, and that's something that an associate wants, then I would encourage that person to look at hanging their own shingle."