It must be hard for law firm administrators to handle all of the decisions they need to make during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Conditions keep changing as variants, vaccination availability, and other factors influence decisions about remote work and when offices will reopen. Due to the contagious nature of the omicron wave, many law firms stalled and then reversed reopening plans. Some law firms are taking a measured approach to reopening offices and are letting employees know that they should consider only returning to offices if they are comfortable. This flexibility is commendable, but law firms should give employees the genuine choice about when to return to work and should not use implied or explicit cues to force attorneys to return to offices notwithstanding such flexible policies.

Since starting my own practice almost three years ago, I do not have as much of a sense of what it is like to work at a larger law firm during the pandemic than I might have if I still worked for another firm. However, I also probably wouldn’t be able to write as openly as I do if I still worked as an associate at another law firm, so there’s that! Nevertheless, I talk regularly to numerous lawyers who do work at other law firms, and some are speaking about a strange situation that often occurs at law firms that purport to have flexible return-to-the-office policies.

Numerous law firms tell employees that they can choose to stay at home or come to work as they see fit. Other...

Read Full Story: https://abovethelaw.com/2022/02/law-firms-should-give-employees-an-actual-cho...