Skadden started the trend, then Davis Polk hopped on board. Today, Weil Gotshal informed attorneys they’ll have to be in the office four days a week, starting in September.
As reported by Law.com, associates will be expected to be in the office Monday – Thursday. Additionally, associates and counsel will have 12 “flexible remote days” a year (they’ll get four flex days for the remainder of 2023 when the policy starts in the fall). Attorneys will also have the option to work remotely the last two weeks of August, the week of Thanksgiving, and the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
In announcing the policy change, the firm noted the benefits of in-person lawyering for training, professional development, and more:
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“Over the past year, we have all seen the many benefits that come with people working regularly in-person — especially with the predictability of knowing people will be in consistently on the same days,” the email stated. “Training for our lawyers at all levels has benefited from the full return, as have mentorship, morale and professional development.”
The only real question is which other firms will take an iron-fist approach to office attendance. Now that three Biglaw firms are on board, it is officially a trend, and you’d best believe the industry will take notice.
As soon as you find out about office attendance plans 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.
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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 or Mastodon @[email protected].