Weil Joins Firms Forcing Lawyers Into Office Four Days a Week

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is the latest major law firm to limit employees’ remote work, telling lawyers and staff to hit the office at least four days per week.

The firm announced Tuesday that it will require employees to work in-person four days weekly beginning Sept. 5.

“Over the past year, we have all seen the many benefits that come with people working regularly in-person—especially with the predictability of knowing people will be in consistently on the same days,” the firm said in an internal email updating the office attendance policy. “Training for our lawyers at all levels has benefited from the full return, as have mentorship, morale and professional development.”

Wall Street law firms Davis Polk & Wardwell and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom recently announced that they would also be moving to mandatory in-person workdays four days per week.

Several other major firms have so far stuck with three-day weekly in-person work requirements. Some, like Simpson Thacher and Sidley Austin, have threatened to withhold bonuses for associates who don’t meet minimum attendance requirements.

Weil’s US associates and counsel will get an additional four “flexible remote days” after Sept. 5, through the rest of they year and another 12 annually beginning in 2024.

The firm’s offices in Europe and Asia will continue to follow their own in-office guidelines, according to the internal email.