It’s
becoming
more
and
more
obvious
that
Biglaw
firms
want
associates
to
be
stationed
behind
their
desks.
One
by
one,
leading
law
firms
have
been
rolling
out
attendance
mandates
that
up
the
ante
for
time
spent
working
from
the
office.
It
now
looks
like
yet
another
top
law
firm
will
be
issuing
a
four-day
directive
for
across
much
of
the
globe.
Cooley
—
a
firm
that
brought
in
$2,152,017,000
gross
revenue
in
2024,
putting
it
at
No.
24
on
the
Am
Law
100
—
recently
announced
that
it
will
increase
its
in-person
attendance
policy
to
four
days each
week.
This
new
requirement
is
set
to
begin
on
January
1,
2026,
and
will
affect
all
attorneys
working
in
the
U.S.
and
Europe.
Happy
New
Year?
Maybe
Cooley
associates
shouldn’t
complain
about
the
new
policy
just
yet.
As
noted
by
the
American
Lawyer,
some
of
the
firm’s
lawyers
are
spending
even
more
time
in
the
office:
Though
the
change
at
Cooley
affects
European
and
U.S.
offices,
some
of
the
firm’s
offices
in
Asia
have
already
been
working
in
the
office
five
days
a
week,
a
source
familiar
with
the
firm
noted.
Quite
a
few
Biglaw
firms
are
now
requiring
four
days
in
the
office
firmwide,
including
the
likes
of Davis
Polk; Latham; Paul
Weiss; Ropes
&
Gray; Simpson
Thacher; Skadden; Vinson
&
Elkins; Weil
Gotshal; WilmerHale; White
&
Case; Sidley; Hogan
Lovells; A&O
Shearman;
Covington;
and
DLA
Piper
(corporate
associates). Sullivan
&
Cromwell has
taken
its
attendance
policy
one
step
further,
requiring
attorneys
to
work
from
the
office
five
days
each
week.
As
soon
as
you
find
out
about
office
attendance
plans
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.
Cooley
Mandates
4-Day
In-Office
Policy
in
2026
[American
Lawyer]

Staci
Zaretsky is
the
managing
editor
of
Above
the
Law,
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worked
since
2011.
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