Scare tactic or what?


Manhattan Law Firms Eye Wall Street’s Lead on Office Returns

As Wall Street banks and the law firms that advise them push to get employees back to the office, lawyers at most large New York firms are expected to hit targets of three days per week.
Hybrid schedules, with office work taking place Tuesday through Thursday, is a popular format at many firms. For law firm leaders, a major factor in RTO decisionmaking has been the need to develop junior lawyers who’ve worked..

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That’s all good and nice, but half of the partners/counsel actually do not show up on said “mandatory” in office days…

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It says “I just want to control you, and I had to do this useless thing (come into the office as a junior 20 years ago) so you too should also pay your dues.” And it also gives “I want you there to monitor and tell on each other” vibes. And they see attrition during the pandemic and assumed pushing us back into the office would fix it for the sake of “connections,” and “culture,” which was a lazy assumption rather than doing the work of seeing why it is people are leaving in droves.

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Lol I wish my firm would. We’re in office 2 days a week. I’d apply elsewhere and resign so quickly. I’d even start my own firm before I tolerate that. Hybrid was advertised repeatedly as a perk to make me lateral from being at a firm where I was in-office 5 days a week even in June 2020 when lockdowns were first listed. My coworkers got very sick and some were hospitalized with Covid (no vaccines). They came to work sick because of our toxic culture. I got sick at the same time my coworkers were hospitalized, but because I was negative I still had to come into work. I’m not going back to that. These firms don’t care about us. There’s no incentive for loyalty. It’s strictly a business transaction. The second it’s more convenient for them to let me go they will. The second they try this I’m out

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And the sad part is none of it was necessary. I worked remotely and brought in clients (I was a first through second year during the early days of the pandemic) mainly by working the phone and my social media network. Most of my client interactions were through Zoom, though some of my elderly clients insisted on meeting in the office for no good reason

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I turned down a 100% in office role for a hybrid one precisely because having the flexibility to wfh when necessary is worth more to me than money. My firm is hybrid, but if it changes to be 100% in person, I will actively look elsewhere. I’m much more productive at home without distractions. We are adults, and we should be trusted to do our work and be productive wherever we are, whether in the office or at home.

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I'm at a major bank. Unless you're in Sales/Trading, three days a week is pushing it. I'll look elsewhere if they try to enforce it.

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remotely for all or most of their careers. “We were beginning to get worried about it,” said Neil Barr, chair and managing partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell. “It was one of the reasons that we were so focused on getting people back in.”
Office return plans stand in the shadow of rumored layoffs at several Big Law firms, as work slows at many shops that hired at a record pace in 2021. Those pressures could nudge many lawyers back to the office more than may be required, particularly associates.
“When associates start seeing their peers being laid off for performance reasons, they tend to double down on their work rather than look for another job,” said Jennifer Coffey, a New York-based legal recruiter for Macrae.

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Don’t most firms already have at least a theoretical requirement to spend a few days a week in the office?

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