Biglaw

World's Wealthiest Law Firm Announces Reopening Plan, Says 'Office-Centric Work Environment Is Necessary'

Associates don't seem to be too thrilled about this.

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KIRKLAND & ELLIS — MEMO — RETURN TO OFFICE UPDATE

TO: Firmwide Attorneys

FROM: Jon A. Ballis, P.C.
Chairman, Firm Committee

RE: Return to Office Update

We are fortunate to be part of one of the highest performing professional services organizations in the world. And as everyone knows, we had a very successful year notwithstanding the challenges of working remotely, and your individual contributions cannot be overstated.

But there were fundamental aspects of our culture that suffered during the remote environment despite our financial success. It has been harder to train our people, more difficult to build relationships with colleagues, tougher to come up with creative legal strategies, and more challenging to pursue business development as a team. Furthermore, we’ve lost some of the camaraderie that flows naturally when we’re physically together — so much of our culture is forged during the in-between moments that a virtual presence just can’t replicate. And unfortunately we’ve seen the heightened personal stress, strain and isolation that were often a consequence of being extremely busy in a remote-work environment.

For all these reasons, we believe an office-centric work environment is necessary to deliver the world-class legal services that our clients expect, and the world-class culture, training and camaraderie that we all deserve. Therefore, our base-line perspective will be to return to an in-office presence. That said, Kirkland was never a face-time kind of place, and we have always provided great flexibility for our attorneys to work remotely when they believed it was appropriate to do so. That will not change. And as we transition back to the office, we understand that many may require more flexibility at the start.

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While our offices are already open in all locations, and it’s terrific to see more and more attorneys coming to the office every day, we will continue our office-optional mode until U.S. Labor Day. However, beginning on Tuesday, September 7, please plan on being in the office as your routine baseline, then use your judgment as to when it is appropriate to work remotely.

Most staff also will be back at their desks beginning September 7 to support all of us. Additional details about our return-to-office plans will be coming in the following weeks, including for non-U.S. offices regarding local regulations.

On behalf of the entire partnership, thank you again for your dedication and commitment. I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Jon

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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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