Top 50 Biglaw Firm Tells Partners Not To Interrupt Associate Vacations With Work Demands
Do partners at your Biglaw firm respect associates' vacations and time off?
Biglaw associates know all too well that their vacations and time off may be derailed by partner requests to complete client work. But with a relatively hot lateral market and a new focus on attorney health and wellness, things can change very quickly when lawyers are able to vote with their feet.
Take, for example, what’s happening at Mayer Brown’s London outpost. As first reported by RollOnFriday, the office’s managing partner, Dominic Griffiths, has instructed partners not to impede upon associates’ vacations with new assignments and work demands. Specifically, Griffiths told partners “there is a presumption that holidays will not be cancelled or interrupted unless there is a genuine emergency which cannot be resolved without the input of the individual concerned.” Here’s more from ROF:
Griffiths [said] he reinforced his reminder with a message to fee earners, telling then that an interruption of their annual leave “only ever happens where there is a genuine emergency which cannot be resolved without your input”. …
[A] spokesperson for Mayer Brown said Griffiths was “simply reiterating the importance of people having a real break from work whilst on holiday, which is largely followed already, and letting the associates know that a work/life balance is one of his priorities”.
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Griffiths went on to tell ROF, “I believe it is incumbent upon us that client matters are always appropriately covered whilst our lawyers take well deserved breaks in the ordinary course.”
Vacations matter at Mayer Brown, but what about at your Biglaw firm? Please let us know if partners are considerate of associates’ time off, or if they continue to pile on the work regardless of whether or not attorneys are on the clock. Contact us via text at (646) 820-8477 or email at tips@abovethelaw.com.
Mayer Brown orders partners not to ruin lawyers’ holidays [RollOnFriday]
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Staci 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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