Top Biglaw Firm's Chair Beseeches Lawyers, Staff To Get Vaccinated

This Biglaw firm deeply cares about its employees and wants to keep them as safe as possible.

For those of you who have yet to receive a vaccine, we implore you to re-consider. For some, we realize that you have a bona fide medical issue or a sincerely held religious belief that prevents you from being vaccinated. Others may have concerns grounded in uncertainty about the risks of the vaccine or its benefits. For those members of our community, we urge you to seek the advice of a medical professional, a spiritual guide or a trusted advisor with whom you can explore this very important decision in depth, with this virulent and aggressively contagious strain of COVID-19 in mind. We are deeply committed to your safety and it’s not an understatement to say that your life, and the lives of others, may depend on your decision.

— An excerpt from a memo sent by Julie Jones, chair of Ropes & Gray, concerning the firm’s new vaccination mandate, effective August 9. From that date on, only fully vaccinated individuals may enter any of the firm’s U.S. offices or attend any of the firm’s events and gatherings, no matter their location. Ropes will disable the IDs of unvaccinated employees so they will be unable to gain access to the office, making it the second firm to take such an action. Jones states that 98 percent of the firm’s lawyers and 90 percent of the firm’s business support team have already been vaccinated. Flip to the next page to read the firm’s memo, in full.


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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