July 21 (Reuters) - Who doesn’t remember that sinking feeling as a child at the end of summer when it was time to go back to school?
It’s kind of like what I imagine lawyers at Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Davis Polk & Wardwell are experiencing now as they look ahead to Sept. 5, when they’ll all be required to show up at the office four days a week.
Big law firms at times remind me of middle school. Once the leaders at a top-tier firm make a move, their peers are apt to follow suit, whether in raising associate salaries, doling out bonuses, expanding gender-neutral parental leave or adding diversity, equity and inclusion officers.
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What’s striking to me about the trio of New York firms mandating a four-day return to office is how slow others have been to fall in line behind them. (Indeed, some West Coast and Midwest-founded firms like Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Husch Blackwell, have gone in the opposite direction – more on that later.)
Skadden made its internal announcement in May, Davis Polk in June and Weil on July 11. So where are their copycats? It’s like three of the most popular kids shaved their heads while the rest of the 7th grade looks on and thinks, ‘Um, that’s not actually a great look.’
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