US law firm lets lawyers work from home indefinitely
US law firm Quinn Emanuel have told lawyers they can “work from anywhere” indefinitely, according to reports.
The announcement comes as competition among US law firms, to recruit and retain talent, intensifies. While the battle for talent has so far led to a bidding war with lucrative salary hikes, flexible working arrangements appear to be the next lever firms will use to attract junior lawyers.
“We need more high quality lawyers. That’s the real impetus for this,” the firm’s founder John Quinn told Bloomberg, which first reported the news, earlier this week.
The new policy embracing remote working will apply to all of the firm’s almost 700 US based lawyers from partners to incoming junior attorneys – but subject to tax and bar registration requirements.
New joiners may still be asked to work from a company office for an initial period of time.
“We may want them to come in and spend some time initially, on a temporary basis, so that they get the benefit of having worked in a Quinn Emanuel office,” he said.
The move comes as businesses including large law firms manage office returns in the face of the new omicron variant of Covid-19, which officials say is now the dominant variant in the US. Law firms in London too have advised staff to work from home as a wave of infections has hit the capital days before Christmas.
Other US law firms which have pushed their return to office dates to 2022 include Goodwin Procter and Cooley. There are other benefits to lawyers working remotely for law firms. Both Goodwin Procter and Cooley have hired staff in states without company offices. It’s a silver lining not lost on Quinn Emanuel either.
“We shouldn’t be limited to recruiting high quality lawyers who just happen to be in a city where we don’t have an office,” said Quinn