The end of 2021 is nearly upon us, and Biglaw firms across the country are being forced to reevalute their reopening plans thanks to the latest COVID-19 variant to rear its ugly head. The omicron variant is surging across the country, and it’s even more transmissible than the delta variant. Remember when law firms were so hopeful that they’d be able to get their workforces back to the office come January 2022? Not anymore.

Magic Circle firms in the UK have already told their personnel to start working from home, and quite a few US firms have already revised their return-to-office plans (see here, here, here, and here). The latest firms to announce changes to their office return plans are just going with the viral flow, and will reconsider their efforts if and when they can.

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While Morrison & Foerster has made in-office work voluntary until at least February 14, Loeb & Loeb is going on step further. The Recorder has the details:

Loeb & Loeb has indefinitely pushed back its previous return date of Jan. 10, a firm spokesperson confirmed to Law.com on Tuesday. A new return date was not set, given “continued uncertainty” over omicron concerns, the firm said.

What has your firm announced as far as a revised reopening plan due to the omicron variant? The more information is out there, the more likely it is that firms will be able to establish a new market standard for a return.

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As soon as you find out about reopening plans at your firm, please email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Office Reopening”) or text us at (646) 820-8477. We always keep our sources on stories anonymous. There’s no need to send a memo (if one exists) using your firm email account; your personal email account is fine. If a memo has been circulated, please be sure to include it as proof; we like to post complete memos as a service to our readers. You can take a photo of the memo and attach as a picture if you are worried about metadata in a PDF or Word file. Thanks.

Calif. Law Firms Again Delay Their Office Returns, Some Indefinitely [The Recorder]

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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 Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Biglaw, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Law Firm Reopenings, Loen & Loeb, Morrison & Foerster, Omicron