Honestly, I should have written this story on Wednesday because there was exactly ZERO chance it wasn’t happening. After a New York corporate group get-together ended with at least 10 fully vaccinated associates contracting COVID,[1]
Latham has suspended all future in-person holiday parties.
And so Latham will be Lathaming the rest of its parties. Reuters has the scoop:
“While we very much want to reconnect and celebrate the season together, the most important thing to us, now and throughout the pandemic, is the safety of our colleagues and their families,” Marc Jaffe, the managing partner of Latham’s New York office, said in a statement on the decision.
The firm didn’t say how many people attended the Dec. 2 party but said attendance was voluntary. An internal Latham email published by the legal blog Above The Law said attendees should not return to the office unless they have tested negative at least five days afterward.
Reading between the lines this means the firm HAD other in-person parties planned. As we said before, there’s nothing wrong with in-person events with a fully vaccinated workforce… but firms need to guard against a culture that would put undue pressure on associates to take risks at this juncture. COVID is still out there and surging right now, which may not be a problem for the vaccinated, but they can become carriers taking it home to kids or immunocompromised loved ones. “Voluntary” firm events often cross the line into “Voluntold” events.
So, the firm did the right thing in closing up shop on the holiday get togethers for the time being. This is all horrible, but the firm has responded to this correctly at every turn.
We’ve not heard bonus news from Latham yet, but we’re also hearing a lot of chatter about a meeting where the firm told young associates that the class of 2021 wouldn’t be getting bonuses. We assume this means no “special bonuses,” which would put the firm in line with the market standard but we’ll see….
Major law firm cancels holiday parties after COVID-19 cases tied to N.Y. bash [Reuters]
Earlier: Biglaw Holiday Party Turns Into COVID Outbreak
[1] That’s not the kind of *contracting* they signed up for! Thank you, I’m here all week.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
