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“Associates are working in these subpods of attorneys with one or a couple of partners,” Sarafian said. It shows how much associates’ career path can be affected based on the partner with whom they’re assigned to work. The pressure to return to the office for some associates reflects broader cultural issues within many firms, according to Julian Sarafian, a California lawyer who left an associate job at a major firm in July. In one of the hottest talent markets the legal industry has seen in years, associates who feel pressured to work in-person can look elsewhere for the flexibility they want.Ĭooley is among at least a handful of firms that have hired associates in locations where they do not have offices, telling the lawyers they can work from home permanently.įirms that fail to give associates enough time to make the transition back to in-person work-such as the time it takes to find childcare-and firms that don’t provide clear expectations, are most likely to drive their associates away, Ruiter said. The continued flexibility is in part because young associates have options. A handful of others like Cooley, Perkins Coie, and Wilson Sonsini have said lawyers can continue to work remotely until early 2022. Most Big Law firms have been postponing their official return-to-office requirements while keeping their physical space available on an optional basis.įirms like Baker McKenzie and Cravath Swaine & Moore have delayed their office return dates to later this month. “There are a lot of unspoken expectations on the part of some partners that associates should come in and will be ‘docked’ in terms of work assignments, et cetera, if they don’t,” said Stephanie Ruiter, director at legal recruiting firm Lateral Link. “Most of the lawyers are back at the office, and the ones that aren’t are branded as people that are not as committed to the firm,” the attorney said, adding that associates who don’t work in-person alongside the firm’s partners could hurt their careers. “The most wonderfully-constructed policy means naught if a partner for whom an associate works makes clear, by words or actions, that any remote work is disfavored,” said Jonathan Segal, a partner at Duane Morris who advises other firms on workplace issues.Ī former Big Law associate who now works in-house in for a company in Canada said he viewed flexible work policies as something that was there for “show.” But the increasing regular presence of partners in the office is sending a different message to associates who prefer working at home. Law firms have outwardly stayed the course with flexible work arrangements as the Covid-19 delta variant surges and they seek to attract workers. “I spoke to an associate who told me that she’s otherwise happy at her job, but her main reason for seeking a new role is that she is being basically bullied into going in four days a week,” said Kate Reder Sheikh, a managing director for recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa. Law firm associates who accept employer offers to work remotely during the pandemic are increasingly doing so with trepidation, as they worry they’re hurting relationships with bosses-and their careers.įirm partners, subtly or not so subtly, are pressuring associates to work in-person even as office policies technically welcome them to continue working from home, current and former associates told Bloomberg Law.