By Emily Lever
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP has announced its return-to-office policy, becoming the latest BigLaw firm to require attendance at the office for three days out of the week, the firm confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Tuesday.
Davis Polk will mandate all lawyers to work from the office “three or four” days a week starting May 2, with attendance explicitly required on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays “for the indefinite future,” according to an internal memo first published by Above The Law.
The memo does not mention whether employees returning to the office must be vaccinated.
An increasing number of firms are transitioning from suggested or optional office attendance policies to more mandatory reopenings after more than a year of delays due to successive new variants of COVID-19. Even with the delays, COVID outbreaks have marred at least one firm’s return to in-person activities this year, with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP experiencing 19 cases stemming from an employee retreat in March.
Unlike some of its peer firms, Davis Polk will not be instituting an option for full weeks of remote work during the summer, given that summer associates will need to be present in person.
“We will not have floating remote weeks this summer in light of the importance of in-office attendance to our summer program. Our floating remote week policy for the fall and winter will be announced in due course,” the memo read.
The firm has not reached a decision about allowing remote work in August, citing law school recruiting as a factor it is still weighing.
–Editing by Michael Watanabe.
