As Biglaw bonuses continue to be announced with much fanfare from associates, some firms are hoping to slip their less-than desirable announcements in under the radar. When associates are constantly refreshing their emails in the hope of seeing bonus news, no one wants to instead see a memo about an increase to their in-office facetime, but here we are.
Earlier this week, Reed Smith — a firm that brought in $1,504,888,000 gross revenue in 2024, putting it at No. 37 on the most recent Am Law 100 — notified associates that beginning on January 5, 2026, they’d be expected to work from the office four days each week. To say that associates are displeased with the inopportune timing of the announcement would be quite the understatement. While associates at other firms are being rewarded with six-figure bonuses, associates at Reed Smith are being rewarded with … additional office days. No wonder they’re upset.
Quite a few Biglaw firms are now requiring four days in the office firmwide, including the likes of A&O Shearman; Cooley; Covington; Davis Polk; Dechert (junior associates); DLA Piper (corporate associates); Goodwin; Hogan Lovells; Latham; Paul Weiss; Ropes & Gray; Sidley; Simpson Thacher; Skadden; Vinson & Elkins; Weil Gotshal; WilmerHale; and White & Case. Sullivan & Cromwell has taken its attendance policy one step further, requiring attorneys to work from the office five days each week.
As soon as you find out about office attendance plans at your firm, please email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Office Reopening”) or text us at (646) 820-8477. We always keep our sources on stories anonymous. There’s no need to send a memo (if one exists) using your firm email account; your personal email account is fine. If a memo has been circulated, please be sure to include it as proof; we like to post complete memos as a service to our readers. You can take a photo of the memo and attach as a picture if you are worried about metadata in a PDF or Word file. Thanks.
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on Lin