Wedding and honeymoon to europe are coming up very soon.

I was not planning on taking my laptop or even checking emails. 1) this OK, and 2) if it is OK, how explicit should i make my internal OOO (for example, do i literally say i am away and will have no access to email)?

Taking 3 weeks off, FWIW

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Please, for the love of all things memorable, leave the work laptop at home and place the OOO prominently (!) in your email. Congrats on your wedding and honeymoon!! Another attorney once told me, "We practice law...it's not heart surgery, we arent saving lives"...in big law, people (for the most part) are saving or making corporations/people money. You will never have this wedding and honeymoon with this spouse again. It's a once in a lifetime thing. You owe it to yourself and your spouse to be as present as possible. No work pings, emails, calls, whatever. It will be there when you get back. Promise. Please please please enjoy your life. You work hard enough. You deserve to take a break and make memories that will last a lifetime.

likeuplifting

1.) Yes.
2.) Make it clear in an email to your team that you won’t have access to your laptop or email. I’d even put that you’re on your honeymoon in your OOO message.

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I agree with putting that you are on your honeymoon in your OOO

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I personally would take my computer just in case and I would check your emails once a day on your phone (no need to respond or do any work but I would flip through them). I’m sure there are others that will disagree with me but this has been my practice for the honeymoon and 10+ international vacations I have taken while in big law.

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Same here. It’s the best way to handle things. You never know, but if there is something truly important that only you can do, you don’t want to have to say your computer is 2k miles away so eff off. It is easy to bring it and check in on things every few days. Just don’t respond to emails and people will leave you alone unless it’s important. This has worked for me for 10 years and numerous vacations.

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Wedding/honeymoon is generally one time when it is acceptable to go totally dark, so I say yes on question 1 with the caveat that you need to be very clear and arrange coverage if you are the main or only point of contact on an active matter. In your OOO, make clear that you will not have access to email from X to Y dates. Many people like to add their admin's contact info as a backstop (and then give your admin details about who to direct the person to if they say they are calling about matter A or matter B).

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Even if you have cover on your clients why would you ever consider not taking your laptop, phone, etc.? This is not just about your colleagues but also the clients you have a professional obligation to.

funny

Surprisingly my team loves working with me.

I would try very hard not to bother anyone on their honeymoon but I find it unacceptable not to take the laptop or check work emails because you can never pass on a matter with all the little details (there will be things that only one person knows or that you need to figure out together).

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I did not take my laptop on my honeymoon (I took it to my wedding and left it in the hotel). Everyone in my group was very adamant I not handle things on my honeymoon. I did bring my work phone just in case (which was smart as a non-billable admin issue involving payroll came up). I got coverage and had an OOO and it was fine. I took 2.5 weeks total.

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At least at my firm, no one will bother you on your honeymoon

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Thanks for all of the advice, everyone! I’m a first year, if helpful.

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This ⬆️⬆️⬆️

Set boundaries like your life depends on it. It's self-respect.

I would say don't take it, but I would take it in case you test positive for COVID and get stuck. This just happened to my mom and she was stuck an additional 6 days in Italy. Something to consider.

like

What year are you? I think this is OK and you should make it clear to those that you are working with. That said, if it were me, I’d still check my emails a couple times a day and bring my laptop just in case. We had a similar scenario where a midlevel was out for his honeymoon and we all did our best to not bother him, though there was one or two times where something came up and we needed something from him (i.e., he was the only one with the answer or the version of the doc that we needed and it couldn’t wait until he was back)

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