Memorial Day is almost upon us, which means summer is about to start. At one elite Biglaw firm, there’s no better way to celebrate than to demand more time spent working from the office.
Yesterday, Sidley Austin — a firm that brought in $3,439,646,000 gross revenue in 2024, putting it at No. 6 in the most recent Am Law 100 — announced that beginning next week, lawyers are expected to be in the office “at least four days per week.” To our knowledge, this is the first firm that has given less than one week’s notice concerning an increased in-office attendance mandate. Although the management committee is careful to note that “many” attorneys “already consistently work in the office four or more days per week,” we imagine that those who aren’t working in the office that much are none too pleased with the quick turnaround here.
Sidley’s rationale for making this change is detailed in the firm’s memo (available in full on the next page):
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As we have emphasized in the past, we are a better, more collegial firm when we practice side-by-side. It allows us to cultivate higher quality lawyers, better serve the needs of our clients, enjoy spontaneous personal interactions and in-person meetings, and support each other.
Sidley now joins the likes of Davis Polk; Latham; Paul Weiss; Ropes & Gray; Simpson Thacher; Skadden; Vinson & Elkins; Weil Gotshal; WilmerHale; and White & Case in its four-day, in-person attendance policy. Sullivan & Cromwell has taken its attendance policy one step further, requiring attorneys to work from the office five days each week.
Best of luck to everyone at Sidley Austin as they adjust to their new lives which will be mostly spent at the office, beginning next week.
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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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 Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.