Biglaw Firms Abroad Encourage Employees To Work From Home As Coronavirus Outbreak Spreads

Law firms are trying to protect their employees at all costs.

onFebruary 25, 2020 at 2:02 PMFebruary 25, 2020 at 12:53 PM

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The main guideline is for people to stay at home if they want to, but if there are reasons they have to come in, they can. There is no news of firms shutting down yet, but it would be absolutely disproportionate to what is going on. If you go around in Milan today, it is not a dead city. Of course people are scared, but I think they’re more scared because of the press coverage.

— a partner at BonelliErede, an Italian Biglaw firm, commenting on what precautions members of the legal profession have been taking due to the sudden coronavirus outbreak in Milan. A partner at Bird & Bird, a U.K. firm with offices in Rome and Milan, said that meetings at the Milan office are “highly discouraged” and “travels from and to our office in Milan are restricted.” The Hogan Lovells office in Milan is still open, but “people have the option to work remotely” during the health scare.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.