Biglaw, Small Law Firms

Law Firms Should Be More Open To Office Closures In The Post-Pandemic World

The collective experience of the legal industry since the pandemic shows how foolish it is to keep offices open when the safety of employees is at stake.

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As more and more law firms return to offices, people can start to imagine a life when the pandemic is finally behind us. Of course, the pandemic might be far from over, and we all face challenges before we can finally return to as close to the pre-pandemic normal as possible. Nevertheless, it is not too early to imagine how law firms will operate in the post-pandemic world. Although law firms will likely adopt many lessons from the pandemic in how they operate moving forward, perhaps most importantly, law firms should definitely change their approach to office closures for inclement weather, holidays, and other occasions.

As mentioned in a previous article in this column, some law firms used to take a dim view of closing the office for inclement weather. Don’t get me wrong, I have worked at a few firms that were run by managers who genuinely cared for the safety of their employees and shut offices for inclement weather all the time so workers did not have commute on dangerous roads. Indeed, I once worked at a firm in which one partner was proud of his “one flake policy” that enabled attorneys and staff to work at home whenever it snowed even a little so no one had to make the difficult choice to decide if it was too dangerous to commute to the office.

However, I also worked at firms that did not close the office for inclement weather in almost any circumstances. Indeed, I once worked at a firm that wouldn’t even give employees an early dismissal so that they could hit the road if it started snowing in the middle of the day. I heard a story that some of the staff members at this firm had to camp out at a nearby bar after the office closed until well into the night because management at the firm would not let them leave early to avoid the weather.

Before the pandemic, bosses were more likely to keep offices open during inclement weather because they knew that people would be less productive if they worked from home. Before work-from-home became ubiquitous in the legal industry, it was difficult for attorneys and staff to complete meaningful work outside of the office. Many firms did not issue lawyers work laptops, so it was difficult for attorneys and staff to access the firm applications that were necessary in order to complete work tasks.

In addition, it was more difficult for attorneys and staff to collaborate and work together to complete projects. Before the pandemic, no one had ever heard of Zoom or any of the other remote work applications that have become commonplace since the stay-at-home orders were issued earlier in the pandemic. People used to be much more off the grid, and it was difficult to work together to complete projects or to be given work if people did not come into the office, even for a few days.

However, people have become accustomed to working from home, and firms have empowered employees to be just as productive at home as they are in the office. Law firms have mostly operated remotely for over a year and a half, and many law firms had very profitable years over this time. Moreover, most of the concerns about work-from-home were proven to be overblown, as there is not much of a productivity dip with having attorneys and staff work from home than come to the office.

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If law firms can learn how to operate while employees work from home for extended periods, they can surely close offices for a day or two for inclement weather. This amount of time is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of time people worked remotely throughout the pandemic. Managers will seem more coldhearted than usual if they refuse to close offices for inclement weather like they did in the past since the collective experience of the legal industry since the pandemic shows how foolish it is to keep offices open when the safety of employees is at stake.

Moreover, law firms should be much more willing to close offices for other occasions as well. I have worked at some offices that would give days off before and after major holidays, and other offices that would give employees a day off during the week if a major holiday fell on a weekend. I have also worked at law firms that did not provide many days off and kept the office open as much as possible. Moving forward, hopefully law firms will be more charitable about when to observe holidays and close offices for holidays and other types of occasions more often.

All told, the experience of the pandemic has shown the legal industry that people can work from home for extended periods without much impact on productivity. As such, law firm managers should be more open to closing offices in a variety of circumstances.

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

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