Biglaw

More Biglaw Firms Mandate Vaccines For Lawyers And Staff

Welcome to the new normal.

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Much progress has been made in America’s many battles against COVID-19, but thanks to the Delta variant, we’ve not yet won the war. In a world where the pandemic rages on vaccination seems to be our only defense, and more and more law firms are now mandating vaccines for employees to return to the office.

Thus far, the firms that have made vaccination a requirement for those returning to the office include Cooley, Clifford Chance, Davis Wright Tremaine, Dickinson Wright, Fenwick & West, Hanson Bridgett, Hogan Lovells, Hueston Hennigan, Lowenstein Sandler, Mintz, Paul Weiss, Sanford Heisler, and Weil Gotshal. Now, we can add another five two firms to the list. Arent Fox, Davis Polk, Fried Frank, Reed Smith, and Schiff Hardin all recently added a vaccination mandate to their safety protocols.

As reported in the National Law Journal, while many firms declined to comment on their vaccination policies, and some said they were “monitoring the situation,” a few have spoken out about their new requirements.

Last Thursday, Davis Polk said that it would be mandating vaccination for lawyers and staff members. Considering the new mandate, COVID-19 testing will no longer be required for unvaccinated employees — as the hope, apparently, is that there will no longer be unvaccinated employees at the firm.

Arent Fox said this past Friday that “due to the clear and present danger of the delta variant for both unvaccinated and vaccinated people,” the firm will now require all employees to be fully vaccinated by September 6. All attorneys and staff must provide proof of vaccination.

UPDATE: Fried Frank and Reed Smith solidified their vaccination plans, and all employees are expected to be fully vaccinated by September 13. “With the prevalence of the Delta variant and the contagious nature of that strain, we have concluded that to best protect our people, it now makes sense to require that Reed Smith personnel who come into our offices be vaccinated,” said Doug Cameron, Reed Smith’s Managing Partner for the Americas. “Our top priority is the health and safety of our people,” Fried Frank noted in a statement. Joe Krasovec, managing partner of Schiff Hardin, announced today that not only would the firm be delaying its return to office until November 4, but that effective August 9, all employees and anyone entering the firm’s offices would be expected to be fully vaccinated. Effective immediately at the firm, anyone in the office must be masked and socially distanced.

Will your firm be changing its plans when it comes to vaccination for attorneys and staff thanks to the Delta variant? Please let us know. 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 the office.

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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.

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