Biglaw

Firm Breaks Down Two-Class Biglaw System In Office Reopening Plan

'Staff are people too.' That's apparently something we need to say in Biglaw.

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As Biglaw firms are plotting out their return to physical office plans, it’s clear they’re taking different paths. How many — if any — days will be required is a hot button issue, but so is the question of who gets to take advantage of flexibility. In determining their post-COVID plans, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan has decided to include their admin staff as beneficiaries of hybrid work.

In a Law.com article, Alan Klinger, firm co-managing partner made clear that breaking down “class barriers” between attorneys and staff was part of the rationale for the decision:

“Our admin side of the firm worked productively during the pandemic as well, so we aren’t taking it on blind faith,” Alan Klinger, co-managing partner and chair of government affairs and regulatory support, said of the decision to allow everyone to have some remote days. “We are doing this in part because we are trying to break down the class barriers that exist in many organizations, and we have come to believe that if we treat people professionally and fairly they will respond in kind.”

The other co-managing partner, Jeff Keitelman, echoed that sentiment:

“We wanted to do our best to solve for the problems that people have: child care, school schedules and the like. Staff are people too. We wanted everyone to have the benefit,” Keitelman said.

To make this work, the firm has paired up support staff so that one half of the duo can provide in-person coverage at all times:

“The nature of the work can be done in part remotely,” Klinger said. “We have secretaries working in pairs for larger numbers of people. We will make sure someone is physically in the office each day, and if something happens, like an illness, we expect the other side of the pair to cooperate.”

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At Stroock they seem aware that this level of flexibility isn’t something afforded staff at other firms, but they seem determined to make it work:

“We aren’t privy to the nuances of other firms, but we know what works at ours. We took the information we had, and we think it is going to work just fine,” Keitelman said.

So flexible work arrangement for all employees at Stroock — seems like a pretty good plan to me.

What has your firm announced as far as a reopening plan is concerned? 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 work.

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.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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