As the current health pandemic enters it eighth month, Big Law continues to come up with new safety protocols and procedures in how to safely deal with opening its offices.
As far as safety and protocols, Pamela Moore, a partner and member of McCarter & English’s Labor and Employment Group, said the firm’s New York City offices are closed but that’s the exception. The law firm has 450 attorneys in nine offices.
The firm’s eight other offices from Boston to Washington, D.C., including its Hartford offices, remain open. They began a hybrid system July 6.
Moore said the firm’s attorneys work in shifts: Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and every other Friday. That also helps with child care issues as attorneys are on the same schedule every week, Moore said.
“To open safely, we reduced the number of people in the office at one time. We do contract tracing and everyone signs in. We have sanitation stations throughout, everyone wears a mask in common areas, and we have plexiglass shields in certain places. We also limit the number of people who can use the bathroom to two and even at the coffee station you can only have one person at a time. We take this very seriously,” Moore said Monday.
Moore said her advice for fellow attorneys is respect those with differing views of the pandemic.
Moore said: “My advice is to make sure people feel safe, follow the experts and respect everybody. There are people who come into this pandemic with different perspectives. Some people are genuinely fearful and you should respect them. You should understand that you are dealing with people with different perceptions and backgrounds from your own.”