As office attendance mandates spread across Biglaw firms nationwide, some are taking a more consequential approach by affecting billable hours, one of the most crucial metrics for legal professionals. There’s a particular focus on this at the Am Law 100 firm, Cozen O’Connor, which suggested that attorneys spend three days in the office and indicated that partners could favor those complying with their return-to-office policy when assigning work.
Cozen O’Connor, a firm that generated $619,017,000 gross revenue in 2022 and ranked No. 74 on the Am Law 100, has identified a distinct approach to advocate the return to office. The firm is advising its partners to distribute work more to those associates who present themselves in the office more regularly.
Michael Heller, the firm’s executive chairman and CEO, was quoted in an article from the Legal Intelligencer, contextualizing this policy direction. Heller said, “What we have said is we will encourage partners to give work to those who are in the office….But obviously client needs and services are the top priority….we will allocate work based primarily on who is best able to handle it.”
While admitting the quality of work does not necessarily deteriorate whether an associate is in the office or not, Heller maintained the stance to favor officegoers in work allocation. Above threatening associate bonuses based on office attendance, this policy change could run deeper, as it implicitly affects the potential income and career trajectory of associates, owing to the industry’s dependence on billable hours.
Despite these strong measures to encourage returning to the office, Heller has asserted that Cozen O’Connor will not enforce an official attendance mandate. He believes that the “significant majority” of their lawyers will comply with the firm’s encouragement and expectations. Furthermore, echoing a sentiment resonating across many firms, Heller stated that the traditional five-day office workweek is finished.
This article originally reported that Cozen O’Connor’s proposed billable hours policy might even more severely impact their attorneys than penalties on bonuses for noncompliance with office attendance. This is causing a ripple in the legal industry, as firms tread a thin line between incentivizing office presence and heightening stress levels among their employees.