Biglaw Partners Can, Will Make Associates Do Whatever They Want: Industry Expert

Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.

If the partners want associates to be in the office four days a week, or wear funny hats, or bill 2,400 hours three years in a row until they burn out and leave, that’s their prerogative. Every year, there’s a new crop of associates, many willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. If that means slogging into the office only to sit alone all day, interrupted periodically for a Zoom call with a partner sitting comfortably in his beach house or ski chalet, there are always takers.

— Tim Corcoran, a longtime legal industry consultant, in comments given to the American Lawyer, on what Biglaw partners are willing to do in order to ensure the success of their firms. Corcoran expressed his opinion in the wake of Latham instituting a four-day in-office requirement of associates for 2025. A handful of other Biglaw firms (Fried Frank; Goodwin Procter; Milbank; Paul Weiss; and Schulte) said they’d be sticking with a three-day in-office requirement for the time being. Latham joined several other highly ranked Biglaw firms in requiring a four-day in-office policy (Davis Polk; Ropes & Gray; Simpson Thacher; Skadden; Vinson & Elkins; and Weil Gotshal), and many of them will maintain that edict.

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at 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 X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.