International Law Firms Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak

Several international law firms with offices across Greater China and Hong Kong are adopting special measures in response to the Coronavirus outbreak, including paying for employees to take taxis to the office and monitoring staff travel to high-risk areas.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Squire Patton Boggs are paying for employees to take taxis rather than public transport if it is necessary for them to travel into their Shanghai offices.

A Quinn Emanuel spokesperson told Law.com International: “On occasions when an employee has to come to the office, we are asking them to take taxis instead of public transportation and are reimbursing their taxi rides. Masks are also being worn in the office.” 

The spokesperson added that in China mainland, prior to the local government’s official mandate, it had requested employees work from home and to “cancel unnecessary work trips.”

Squire Patton Boggs Shanghai based partner Daniel Roules added that from January 22 the firm has approved payment of all taxi charges to and from the office “for personnel who prefer not to take public transportation (to the extent available) during the present conditions.”

He added that several of the firm’s Chinese personnel had canceled travel within China and that the firm has decided to reschedule a presentation by a lawyer traveling from London “until sometime after normal business resumes”.

The firm has also surveyed all its personnel, including internal temps, to identify anyone who has “either been to Wuhan [where the virus originated] or any neighboring location in recent weeks” and has also “created a record of all travel by our personnel since January 22″, according to Roules.

Dentons’ regional operating arm, Dacheng, is the only major international law firm with a presence in the city of Wuhan, which has been placed in quarantine. At the time of publication, Law.com International was unable to contact anyone in the office for comment.

The Beijing and Shanghai governments have extended the country’s New Year holiday period until February 2 and February 10 respectively. As of yesterday, there have been 2,827 confirmed cases of the virus and 81 deaths, according to China’s National Health Commission.

Working From Home

CMS and Herbert Smith Freehills, which both have offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, are also closely monitoring the situation.

CMS Shanghai managing partner Ulrike Glueck told Law.com International that lawyers at the office will be working from home during the extended holidays, and that the firm will continue enacting this if another extension is put in place.

“Our firm is closely monitoring the situation. If it continues after February 9, we will ask all staff to continue to work from home”, he said.

Meanwhile HSF will also reassess its Beijing and Shanghai office openings as the extended holiday period nears an end. According to a person at the firm, face-masks and sanitizer are available in all the firm’s Greater China offices, while cleaning efforts have been stepped up.

Roules added that Squire had purchased masks in advance and distributed them to all Shanghai personnel on January 22.

A spokesperson for firm HFW added that the firm’s Shanghai office will remain closed until February 10 while the firm is also monitoring the situation for its Hong Kong offices. HFW is also reviewing all non-essential travel to or from the region, added the spokesperson.

“We are extremely well-equipped to work remotely and you don’t really need to come to the office unless you have client meetings.”

A Baker McKenzie partner said: “For big law firms like ours, we may not be physically able to attend the office but everybody can work remotely from home. We are extremely well-equipped to work remotely and you don’t really need to come to the office unless you have client meetings.” 

Roules said that there has not yet been a major impact on office attendance. He said: “Much of our work in recent years occurs via phone and email, not face-to-face, so there has been little impact so far. There will likely, at some point, be some impact on some trips scheduled for February, but so far nothing has been decided.”

The coronavirus outbreak is the latest disruption to affect the city of Hong Kong, following months of ongoing protests against the Chinese government.

In November 2019, a member of staff at a U.K.-headquartered international firm was accidentally teargassed by police after being caught up in protests. In the same month, a Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Hong Kong partner was splashed with acid in similar circumstances.

Rose Walker, Varsha Patel and Meganne Tillay contributed to this report.