In a recent controversy, one large law firm reportedly urged its lawyers on family or medical leave to continue working during their absence. This expectation surfaced in the workplace, where the general understanding regarding “leave” is to truly exit the professional environment, especially amidst familial or health-related issues. Nonetheless, the firm appears to convey the message that given the exigencies of the role, attorneys on leave should find the means to work.
Such a directive emerged from Pryor Cashman’s Litigation and Music Groups, as well as the M+E Litigation Practice, led by co-chair, Donald Zakarin. A memo from Zakarin seemed to assert that legal practitioners should balance their professional and ethical obligations in parallel to their leave duration. According to him, a client’s potential malpractice claim may not necessarily take into consideration the reasons behind a lawyer’s inability to meet a deadline – be it due to leave or professional incompetence.
Furthermore, given that courts have been documented resisting schedule modifications for expectant lawyers, it’s quite discernible how the legal profession’s gatekeepers view such matters. Hence, while not ideologically agreeable to everyone, this is the reality law firms need to navigate, ensuring nothing is overlooked in client services.
Nevertheless, this places a larger onus on the firm rather than individual attorneys. It is crucial to remember that the complexities encountered during family and medical emergencies aren’t diminished simply because law firms have embarked on a digital journey over the past two decades, making correspondence more immediate and perhaps burdensome during leaves.
Law firms have various measures within their disposal to ensure client satisfaction when individual attorneys take leave. These include assigning other attorneys in the firm to receive ECF notifications, setting up automated ‘out of office’ responses, and having a designated ‘out of office’ administrator for follow-up actions upon receiving messages. Platforms like ZERO have been providing solutions for a while now, which could streamline communications and operations during an attorney’s leave or in the instance of their departure.
Another important prospect to consider is that lawyers primarily join firms to ensure they have continual support during personal trials and tribulations. The expectation is not for an attorney to stay glued to their emails, even when dealing with significant personal challenges. Relying on individual attorneys to stay connected during leave intervals doesn’t only burden the lawyers but also risks client relationships.
Thus, law firms should prioritize system-level measures over human intervention to manage client requests during an attorney’s leave. It’s indeed a part of their professional responsibility to ensure seamless service even when individual lawyers are unavailable due to emergencies.
An attorney plowing through emails during their leave might be a solution, albeit a rather outdated one – more reminiscent of 1997 than addressing the pressing challenges of 2023.
This story was initially covered by Above the Law.