Law Firms Giving Election Day Time Off to Boost Participation

Bob Bodian, managing partner at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, says long lines at polling places in recent primaries helped convince him the firm should do more to accommodate voting.

That’s why he decided to give the 1,200-person firm a paid day off on Nov. 3 so staff and lawyers could vote without any worry. They can also take part, if they choose, in volunteer activities like poll monitoring or get-out-the-vote drives.

“It always felt odd that voter turnout is relatively low in a democracy which relies on voting, and that election day is a regular workday,” Bodian, ...