I work at a Big Law firm on the West Coast and my firm is allowing me to work remotely in MN during the pandemic to be near family. After being here for the past four months, I would like to remain here even post pandemic. I am not looking to change jobs right now because I am so grateful to have a job during these times. Does anyone think that the industry will change to remote working long term? And if not, does anyone have an idea of what the law firm culture is like in MN? I’m a 3rd year.

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Seems a little on the junior end for full time remote work, compared to what I’ve generally seen in biglaw. But you never know.
Consider making some friends at Dorsey & Whitney...

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My firm is letting us work from home until January 2021. After that, we’re moving to limited back in office, maybe two days a week.

My firm has always been open to permanent remote relationships (usually for more senior people, though I know someone who did in in their second year). I expect it will be much more prevalent after this, given the number of people I know who’ve done similar things. Depends on the firm, but for some this will definitely be an option.

I’m a 2yr at a mid-size firm in MN. We’re still remote. They are allowing people to work in the office if they want to, with precautions in place, but I was told by one of the managing partners that it’s unlikely they’ll expect people to come back in before the end of the year at least.

As far as culture goes, I haven’t worked at other firms. But my understanding is that MN firms are a ~little~ more relaxed on hours than those in major cities like NY, DC, Chicago, etc. I’m not as familiar with west coast culture to compare. Certainly big law here is still more high stress than a mid-size like my firm. Salaries are also lower here than what you’re used to, but so is cost of living.

In general I find the culture in MN more work-life balance friendly than major cities. And there’s a growing push for lawyer wellbeing, including from the MN Supreme Court.

DM me if you want to chat more :)

I think the industry is likely to be more flexible in allowing WFH on an episodic (eg every Friday) or occasional basis, but for many reasons that have been detailed in other strings I doubt most firms will allow it on a routine or continuous basis, absent very unusual circumstances. And incidentally WFH for a 3rd year isn’t conducive to robust professional development, so isn’t good for you.

I’m not in MN but have worked quite a bit with lawyers from Faegre, Dorsey, and a couple of Minneapolis boutiques. Based on that anecdotal experience I’d say people are generally pretty pleasant and capable. That said I can offer one weird story. I’m 1988 I dated a woman who was in my summer clerk class in another city who split her summer between the firm where we worked together and Dorsey in Minneapolis. Shortly after arriving in Minnesota she went to a reception featuring many of the firm’s most senior partners. She is a tall, blonde, native Minnesotan. During the reception she was talking with a few of the older partners when another older partner walked up, slapped her ass with an open hand, and proclaimed to the others “I’m so glad we started hiring girl attorneys!” She was furious but felt the firm would not be open to a complaint, so swallowed her furor, worked out the summer and never looked back. Based on that experience and others she expressed to me the view that the firm was weirdly conservative and retro — like it was stuck in the 40s. That was a very long time ago and I bet things have changed, but ever since that summer I’ve had a culturally negative view of Dorsey based on her experience.

It took years for my firm to even consider any remote work, but now that they see that it works full remote and it is sustainable and that attorneys are still getting their work done, my most hesitant-to-change partners are okay with certain people who have no supervisory responsibility going fully remote after reopening. If you make a case that you are still productive, I think it would be very reasonable to ask your supervisor if you can continue the remote work after reopening.

Remember that there’s more to being a successful private practice lawyer than cranking out the work you can do remotely. Someone has to supervise. Someone has to train. Someone has to manage. Someone has to interview candidates. And someone has to develop business. Short term I can see full time WFH working for highly disciplined lawyers. But especially if the rest of the firm returns to working all or mostly from the office the WFH contingent will quickly fall behind and ultimately will fall victim to the out of sight, out of mind dynamic.

If you’ve been productive and profitable in your work seems like you could make the case for it

Doubt firms will ever allow long distance full time remote for associates. It just doesn’t make sense to be a plane ride away, even in a mostly remote work environment. Only seen firms allow people to do this who are (1) back-office service partners who are very senior (eg appellate specialists who will never meet with a client, they’re just there to write briefs in a back room) or (2) huge superstars who can do whatever they want (but if you were Ted Boutros you wouldn’t be asking this question).

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