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Typo More Honest About Sullivan & Cromwell’s Hours Than Intended – Above the Law

Sullivan
&
Cromwell
are

going
back
to
a
five-day
office
work
week
,
bucking
the
post-pandemic
trend
among
Biglaw
firms
opting
for
three
or
four
days
of
forced
commuting.
During
the
lockdown,
law
firms
saw
profits
soar
and
many
took
it
as
a
sign
that
the
most
efficient
way
to
run
a
firm
would
be
heavy
on
associate
flexibility
and
lighter
on
office
overhead.
But
as
the
last
pandemic
fades
into
memory
and
we
await
the
next
one,
many
firms
have
ordered
lawyers
back
to
their
desks
so
they
can
pass
along
the
rent
of
their
oversized
luxury
offices
to
clients.

Someone
has
to
pay
for
that
view.

There
are,
to
be
sure,
advantages
to
office
attendance.
It
builds
esprit
de
corps
and
provides
needed
soft
learning
opportunities
for
rookie
lawyers.
But
these
policies
are
also,
in
no
small
part,
the
product
of
old
lawyers
demanding
a
permanent
audience
of
young
attorneys
to
stroke
their
egos
and
laugh
at
their
jokes.
When
considering
the
marginal
benefit
of
adding
another
day
in
the
office,
firms
need
to
really
look
in
the
mirror
and
decide
which
of
these
motives
are
driving
the
decision.

In
the
meantime,
S&C
is
going
to
five
days
and
the
American
Lawyer
wrote
it
up
with

a
perfectly
placed
typo
:

The
article
has
corrected
the
line
to
“5:30
p.m.”

an
even
less
believable
number
than
the
5:30
a.m.
option.
Who
are
these
people
leaving
S&C
at
5:30
p.m.?
Whoever
it
is
won’t
likely
be
in
“good
standing”
come
bonus
time.
Yes,
the
staff
works
closer
to
a
normal
business
hours
schedule
and
there
could
be
an
advantage
to
lawyers
being
in
the
office
at
the
same
time,
except
firms
have
round-the-clock
word
processing
teams
and
keep
assistants
staying
late
all
the
time.
There
are
few
if
any
administrative
support
tasks
that
a
lawyer
can’t
get
at
any
hour
of
the
day.
Branding
5:30
p.m.
“normal
business
hours”
is
an
all-timer
“pee
on
my
leg
and
say
it’s
raining”
moment.

Which
is
what
makes
this
slip
so
telling.
Biglaw
doesn’t
actually
expect
lawyers
to
be
working
until
5:30
a.m.
every
day

though
they
absolutely
expect
at
least
some
lawyers
to
be
working
at
that
time

but
they
don’t
expect
anyone
to
leaving
before
8
or
9
either.
There’s
a

truthiness

to
a
Biglaw
firm
saying
the
business
day
ends
at
5:30
a.m.

And
this
all
underscores
the
ridiculousness
of
a
five-day
office
week.
It’s
about
mimicking
a
“normal
business”
routine
that
has
no
basis
in
the
reality
of
Biglaw
lawyering.
What
do
“normal
business
hours”
mean
to
people
working
at
9
p.m.
on
a
Saturday?
There’s
an
insulting
artificiality
to
thinking
that
Biglaw
adheres
to
a
factory
timetable.
There
might
be
an
advantage
to
having
attorneys
in
the
office
more,
but
it’s
not
grounded
in
the
idea
that
there’s
something
sacrosanct
about
2
p.m.
on
a
Friday.


Sullivan
&
Cromwell
Signals
5-Day
RTO
Expectation
as
Law
Firms
Remain
Split
on
Optimal
Attendance

[American
Lawyer]


Earlier
:

Biglaw
Firm
Breaks
With
Trend,
Requires
Associates
To
Be
In
Office
5
Days
A
Week




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