Biglaw

More Law Firms Slowly Realizing That They Probably Won't Be Reopening This Year

With 2021 on the outs, perhaps 2022 will be more realistic for reopening.

By  
on

It was just last week that one of America’s top law firms introduced its standby program — opting to keep attorneys and staff “on call” as opposed to yet again announcing (and later rescheduling) a reopening date for its U.S. offices — and several firms have already adopted a similar approach.

Ropes & Gray, which is still within the first phase of its reopening plan (i.e., permissive office use), had already delayed the second phase of its return-to-office plan to October 18. Per a recent report from Reuters, the firm is yet again pushing back a broader reopening for all personnel, but no new date has been set. Breakfast and lunch will continue to be provided for those who come to the office voluntarily.

Next up, we’ve got Connecticut-based Am Law 200 firm Robinson & Cole, which has also scrapped its previously scheduled reopening date. According to a memo sent out earlier this week, the firm was supposed to reopen its doors on October 4, “with the expectation that everyone be in the office at least three days a week.” Those plans, however, have now been postponed, and while no specific date has been proposed for R&C’s return, the firm will provide 30 days’ notice to all employees should there be a change of plans.

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz — which Vault recently named as one of the best midsize firms to work for in New York — is also doing away with its plans for an October reopening. Here’s a relevant excerpt from a memo sent earlier this week:

We’re not going to set a new date for now. However, we will give you at least thirty days’ notice prior to our new reopening date. While we hope that we will be able to open sooner, we think that, realistically, we’ll probably open in early January. …

We so wish that we had more definite guidance to give about when we’ll be reopening. We know how stressful this time is, and how the uncertainty, and the shifting of dates, certainly doesn’t make things any easier.

While some firms seem to be desperately clinging to their October reopening dates (and some even reopened as planned in September), it’s refreshing that others have come to realize that launching a full-scale office reopening during pandemic times can’t possibly be good for associate and staff health or morale.

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 work.

Sponsored

(Flip the page to read the memos from Robinson & Cole and Frankfurt Kurnit.)

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.

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.

Sponsored

1 2Next »

Topics

, , , , , , , ,