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The rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic across the globe has impacted virtually every facet of life. The times we live in are now uncertain, and nothing is normal anymore. The stock market has tanked, sports seasons have been canceled outright, the lights have gone out on Broadway, school districts have closed, entire countries have been put on lockdown, states of emergency have been declared, and people are waging wars over toilet paper in supermarket aisles.
In order to contain the community spread of COVID-19, many law schools have shuttered for semesters at a time, moving to online learning platforms to spare their students from potentially contracting the virus. Some Biglaw firms have decided to do the same, offering their employees opportunities to work from home in an effort to protect the health and wellness of their most valuable assets.
Just as we’ve done in the past when it comes to raises and bonuses, we are compiling a table of all the firms that have announced coronavirus policies that will benefit their employees, who those policies apply to (lawyers and staff or only lawyers), and the markets where those policies are in effect. Today, we unveil that table for your viewing pleasure. We will be updating this table on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times, as news on these policies is announced. If you see any information here that is incorrect or needs clarification, let us know.
Help us help you. Let us know what your firm is doing to take care of all of its employees during this unprecedented moment in time.
As a little reminder, we love covering the Biglaw news, but we need your help. As soon as your firm’s coronavirus policy memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Coronavirus Response”). We always keep our sources on stories anonymous. There’s no need to send the memo using your firm email account; your personal email account is fine. Please be sure to include the memo 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.
| Firm | Offices | Who Is Covered? | Policy |
| Quinn Emanuel | New York | All Employees | mandatory WFH from 3/9 to 3/13; unknown if this has been extended |
| Faegre Drinker | All Offices | All Employees | mandatory WFH on 3/10; all offices reopened 3/11 except DC where WFH policy remains in place |
| Weil Gotshal | All Offices | All Employees | Alternate office appearances and mandatory WFH in weekly shifts |
| Reed Smith | US & EME Offices | All Employees | mandatory WFH starting 3/13; policy to last several weeks or longer |
| Proskauer | New York | All Employees | voluntary WFH starting 3/12, lasting through 3/27; must request this accomodation from supervisor |
| Morgan Lewis | All Offices | All Employees | Lawyers and staff will be in the office on alternating days and WFH on the other days; personnel encouraged to work odd hours on in-office days to minimize exposure on public transportation; all employees may wear jeans to the office |
| Mayer Brown | US Offices, followed by UK/EU | All Employees | Lawyers and staff will be on a team-based, daily rotation system between office appearances and WFH |
| Sidley Austin | All US Offices | Lawyers (with alternate plan for staff) | Lawyers WFH starting 3/16, lasting through 3/27; staff will be divided into two groups, and switch between working in office and WFH |
| King & Spalding | All Offices | All Employees | Temporary voluntary WFH policy starting 3/16, lasting through 3/29; policy could be extended |
| Davis Wright Tremaine | All US Offices Portland, OR Office Closed Bellvue, WA Office Closed Seattle, WA Office Closed |
All Employees | Mandatory WFH policy starting 3/16 |
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.