Is Firm Culture a Good Reason to Return to the Office?

You could say you know it when you see it.

I’m talking about workplace culture—that “je ne sais quoi” factor that CEOs and law firm leaders love to cite as the reason employees should/must return to the office. In July, Morgan Stanley’s legal chief Eric Grossman famously (or infamously) commanded that outside counsel get its troops back to the office pronto because “our profession cannot long endure a remote work model.”

But what constitutes law firm “culture”? And why do we assume that it’s worth salvaging in the first place?

Part of the folklore of that culture is ...