By Tony O’Riley
Top Law firm, Allen & Overy, and Baker McKenzie have urged their staff to work from home until the end of March in an emergency bid to stay safe from the spread of coronavirus.
Allen & Overy said it is strongly encouraging all partners and employees in its London office to ‘take advantage of its existing flexible working arrangements’ and work from home. A statement from the firm read:
: ‘The firm will continue providing its usual high level of service to clients as all our lawyers and most support staff are able to work remotely using secure, tried and tested technology. We are keeping the situation under constant review and have introduced various different working arrangements in other offices across our global network.’
However, the Eye Of Media.Com heard that some solicitors have opted to work from the office despite the persuasion to work from home. A member of the Allen and Overy told told The Eye Of Media.Com:
”The flexible arrangements to work from home is welcome but a number of us have decided to come into the office and work from here.Nobody has shown any symptoms of the coronavirus, but this is just a safety mechanism the firm is taking.
Meanwhile, Baker McKenzie said its London and Belfast offices have moved to full remote working as of today. A spokesperson said: ‘Our offices will be closed for all but essential services such as IT, couriers, post and printing so as to support the delivery of all client services, including closings and court hearings. We do not expect our clients to experience any reduction in service levels.
‘We have a well-established agile working programme – including sophisticated technology and IT systems for home working – which allows us to take these precautionary measures without impacting our client service delivery. We will continue to keep the position under close review, but expect remote working to continue in both locations until at least the end of March 2020.’