Biglaw

Skadden Mandates Vaccines For All, Sidley Remains Mum On Vaccination But Pushes Back Reopening Date

Elite law firms are making moves thanks to the Delta variant.

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The Delta variant is quickly turning law firms’ reopening plans on their heads. Many are pushing back the date of their proposed returns to the office, and even more (almost 40) are introducing vaccination mandates for all employees.

For reference, the following firms are requiring all employees to be vaccinated before they return to the office: Akin Gump, Arent Fox, Ballard Spahr, Boies Schiller Flexner, Cleary Gottlieb, Clifford Chance, Cooley, Cozen O’Connor, Crowell & Moring, Davis & Gilbert, Davis Polk, Davis Wright Tremaine, Debevoise & Plimpton, Dickinson Wright, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, Fenwick & West, Fried Frank, Goodwin, Hanson Bridgett, Hogan Lovells, Hueston Hennigan, Lowenstein Sandler, McDermott Will & Emery, Mintz, Norton Rose Fulbright, Patterson Belknap, Paul Weiss, Reed Smith, Ropes & Gray, Sanford Heisler, Schiff Hardin, Seyfarth Shaw, Sheppard Mulllin, Simpson Thacher, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Weil Gotshal, Wilson Sonsini, and Winston & Strawn.

We can now add two more firms to that list. Skadden and Carlton Fields will now require employees to be vaccinated to return to the office. Sidley, on the other hand, has simply pushed off its full reopening date, and to our knowledge, hasn’t yet made a move on vaccinations. Clifford Chance, which had already required vaccines, will also be deferring its return-to-office plans.

Yesterday, Sidley announced via email that the firm would be delaying its proposed return-to-office date to “no earlier than October 12.” The firm had originally planned to go back to the office right after Labor Day in September. While the firm has yet to embrace a vaccination mandate, 92% of U.S. employees report that they’ve already been fully vaccinated. Going forward, unvaccinated personnel who go to the office must wear masks. The firm continues on with its gradual and flexible return policy until mid-October.

Today, Clifford Chance announced to all U.S. employees via email that it would be pushing back its plans for a full reopening. The new target return-to-office date for the firm is sometime during the week of October 25, deferred from September 13.  If that date changes again, the firm will provide at least 30 days’ notice to all personnel. Clifford Chance previously announced a vaccination mandate as part of its plans to return to the office.

When Skadden first announced its reopening plans — setting its sights on a September 13 return to its U.S. offices, with a hybrid work model that would include at least three days of in-office work — the firm did not require vaccinations. The firm announced earlier this week that it’s still planning to open its doors in mid-September, but will now require all employees (and clients, guests, and vendors) to be vaccinated to enter the office. About 90% of U.S. employees at the firm are fully vaccinated.

Last week, Carlton Fields notified all employees that they must be fully vaccinated to return to the office by October 4. More than 90% of attorneys at the firm have been fully vaccinated, but only 65% of staff have been vaccinated. “We are thrilled that so many have taken advantage of this opportunity, which is now readily available in our country. But we are very concerned that so many have not done so,” Gary Sasso, president and CEO of the firm, noted in his memo. Accordingly, effective August 9, the firm started its new policy of limiting office access only to those vaccinated.

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Will your firm be changing its plans when it comes to vaccination for attorneys and staff thanks to the Delta variant? Please let us know.

(Flip the page to read the memos from Sidley, Clifford Chance, Skadden, and Carlton Fields.)

What has your firm announced as far as a reopening plan is concerned? 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 the office.

As soon as you find out about the reopening plan 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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