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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

SORRY, WE'RE OPEN  - To (very loosely) paraphrase Sinatra, if you can figure out how to reopen your law office during a pandemic in New York, you can figure out how to reopen your law office during a pandemic anywhere. Christine Simmons reports that NYC law firm leaders are facing a number of tough decisions as they attempt to pull off "soft" reopenings of their physical offices while balancing logistical issues, shutdown orders, safety concerns and pushback from employees.

YOUR PRESENCE IS REQUESTED – The perceived utility of physical offices may be at an all-time low, but the concept of a physical "presence" still matters to many law firms and, more importantly, their clients. Last week, Samantha Stokes reported on two law firms announcing office openings that, while thousands of miles apart, shared a common goal: to make certain clients happy. U.K.-based Kennedys announced Thursday that it was launching an office in San Francisco with a four-partner maritime team because clients had been urging the firm to set up shop in California. On the same day, St. Louis-based Armstrong Teasdale announced a new office in Edwardsville, Illinois, which managing partner David Braswell said will make the firm "much better able to provide service" to its clients in the region.

WHY MIDSIZE FIRMS CAPSIZE - Opening an office where your clients are can be a winning strategy. Opening an office where your client (singular) is—or, worse, where you think clients might be—is a much dicier proposition, especially for midsize firms. Ben Seal reports that, according to law firm consultants, hasty and haphazard growth is one of the costliest mistakes a midsize firm can make. As William Brandt, president and CEO of turnaround consultancy DSI Civic, notes: "The nature of office leases is that those expenses can get out of hand pretty quickly."

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EDITOR'S PICKS

'This Has to Be a Seminal Moment': Black Law Firm Leaders on Inequity, Ire and What Comes Next

'Our Moral Imperative': Washington State Justices Issue Open Letter Confronting Racial Injustice

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

HUNKERING DOWN UNDER - Unlike in New York, "soft" reopenings in Australia seem to be going fairly smoothly so far. While a number of law firms in Australia have reopened their offices, many attorneys, staff members and clients are still staying home, Christopher Niesche reports, and the firms are OK with that. "We have already proven that working remotely works," Ashurst's Perth office managing partner Gaelan Cooney said in a statement, adding, "While we are pleased to see staff return to the office, we are also using this opportunity to build on the flexibility we have embraced in recent months."

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WHAT YOU SAID

"It's been surprising to me, and a little disappointing, that more states haven't recognized that making commitments now about robust provisional licensing would be a valuable way to take a little bit of pressure off our students, their employers and frankly, themselves."

— Jennifer Mnookin, UCLA School of Law dean, discussing the "painful and unfortunate" challenges new law grads are facing.

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