Biglaw

Prestigious Biglaw Firm To Reopen In July Without Work-From-Home Flexibility, Sources Say

Associates are displeased with their lack of options for remote work.

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Biglaw firms are still trying to cobble together ideas on how to safely get their attorneys and staff back into the office, and one of the most prestigious firms in the country has announced a reopening plan that will have everyone back at their desks just two weeks after summer’s official start date.

According to our sources, Sullivan & Cromwell — a firm that brought in gross revenue of $1,555,441,000 in 2020, placing it at No. 18 in the most recent Am Law 100 ranking — is requiring all employees to return to the office in person on July 6. The news of the full reopening of the firm’s U.S. offices was announced earlier this month during a call with all lawyers. No email has been sent out on the matter.

Please note the UPDATE below.

Suffice it to say that the numerous associates we’ve heard from are far from happy with the situation. Why’s that? Because the firm has reportedly not made any mention of the possibility of remote, work-from-home arrangements going forward.

Here are some of the more detailed accounts of the firm’s reopening plans:

Sullivan and Cromwell is targeting a mandatory back to office by July 6, including summer associates, for all U.S. offices. No memo but this has been stated on multiple occasions, including the annual firm update and on weekly all lawyers zoom meetings. There has not been any mention of allowing anyone to do a partial work from home arrangement post-July 6. My understanding is this is one of the earliest among New York law firms. Associates are generally unhappy with the very early target date.

Wow S&C is taking a very different approach from Davis Polk. Everyone will be brought back in early July and summers will be there in person in June. We were told this is what people want and have been asking for. But we were never surveyed and I don’t actually know lawyers or staff who want a mandatory 100% return to the office the day after July 4 weekend. No memo or email, probably to prevent coverage. On the same call where leadership announced this, they would not commit to any hybrid flexibility in the future and said that we would all have to see how things go.

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Above the Law reached out to Sullivan & Cromwell’s media relations team as well as the firm’s executive director with a request for comment but did not hear back before publication. If and when we do, we will provide an update here.

UPDATE (05/06/21): Joseph Shenker, the firm’s chair, gave comments to the American Lawyer on the firm’s reopening plan, stating, “We’ve been very clear to all the partners and to all the associates that no one should feel pressured to come in.” Shenker said a full return was “encourag[ed],” but not mandatory. Since Am Law’s coverage, additional sources have reached out to us, stating their displeasure with the firm’s plans. Here’s one of the detailed accounts:

Another young associate from Sullcrom here: Echoing your coverage on the July 5th return to the office — “far from happy” is right. Everyone is angry and frustrated. We think it’s absurd and completely unmindful of our safety and need for flexibility as we still deal with pandemic related constraints, and especially as we’ve all worked so hard through the pandemic. And just so surprising how they just issued the edict from on high (and the only firm to do so) and expect us to all just somehow make it work.

Are any other firms planning to reopen their offices before Labor Day and without any remote work options? The more information is out there, the more likely it is that firms will be able to establish a market standard for a return to work.

As soon as you find out about reopening plans at your firm, please email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Office Reopening”) or text us at (646) 820-8477. We always keep our sources on stories anonymous. There’s no need to send a memo (if one exists) using your firm email account; your personal email account is fine. If a memo has been circulated, please be sure to include it as proof; we like to post complete memos as a service to our readers. You can take a photo of the memo and attach as a picture if you are worried about metadata in a PDF or Word file. Thanks.

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Staci ZaretskyStaci 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.

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