Another Biglaw Firm Delays Opening -- Thanks Delta

The overwhelming majority of the firm's employees are vaxxed, but the Delta variant is still causing delays in the firm's plans.

Count me as one of the growing number of fully vaccinated folks who is downright salty about the unvaxxed clogging up our ICUs and letting the Delta variant of COVID-19 ruin our summer plans. One of the many repercussions of this shortsightedness is being felt in Biglaw, as carefully planned office reopenings are being pushed back.

The latest firm to push back office plans is Wilson Sonsini. In managing partner Doug Clark’s latest message (available in full on the next page), he explains that the firm is pushing back its planned full reopening from September 20th to October 25. The firm previously made clear that “No one will be required to return to an office during calendar-year 2021.” And while the office is currently available to those that wish to work from there, the “enhanced” grand reopening planned for its U.S. offices with full amenities and services as well as “celebratory events” will have to wait for now.

The firmwide email also notes that unvaccinated employees and visitors are not able to enter their offices, and that policy will remain. The good news is that an impressive 93 percent of WSGR employees are vaccinated. And the firm hopes that number will grow.

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.


Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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