SYRACUSE — Even with most of its Northeast offices reopened, the attorneys and staff of Barclay Damon, LLP have the option to continue working from home for all or part of a given week. The firm has reopened most of its offices, with the exception of its location in New York City, says Connie Cahill, […]
SYRACUSE — Even with most of its Northeast offices reopened, the attorneys and staff of Barclay Damon, LLP have the option to continue working from home for all or part of a given week.
The firm has reopened most of its offices, with the exception of its location in New York City, says Connie Cahill, deputy managing partner of Barclay Damon. The reopening was part of phase 2 of New York State’s regional economic reopening process after closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cahill credited John Langan, the firm’s managing partner, with the idea to offer the option of working from home.
“We, for a long time, made investments in technology … and teaching people how to use technology. We doubled that effort for training while people have been working from home. For the most part, most people are just as effective, and in some cases, maybe even more effective working remotely,” says Cahill. She spoke with CNYBJ by phone on June 16.
Barclay Damon lawyers have worked from home in the past, including nights and weekends, depending on the work they are handling for a client.
“So they were very comfortable with working remotely,” says Cahill.
Working from home was a change for some staff members, so some people needed time to get updated with technology and computers, she adds.
With nearly 300 attorneys, including 145 partners, Barclay Damon operates from offices located in the Northeastern U.S. and Toronto. It has an overall employee count of 475. Its Syracuse office is in the Barclay Damon Tower at 125 E. Jefferson St.
Reopening plan
Cahill was in charge of leading the firm’s office-reopening plan and assembled a committee of administrators and partners, which met “several times” a week.
The group had someone in charge of procuring hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves. Another colleague put together a checklist of what needed to be done in each office before the reopening process could start.
“And that checklist ended up with 100 items on it,” Cahill noted.
It included the removal of excess chairs in a conference room to maintain social distancing and elimination of the candy dish in the reception office “because we’re obviously not going to have shared candy for a while.”
Committee members attended different webinars, read about best practices, reviewed the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and read the New York State safety plans.
As its offices reopened, Barclay Damon limited the office occupancy to 30 percent and will gradually increase the percentage as the governor’s executive orders permit, according to Cahill.
In its health and safety plan, the law firm has a system in which its attorneys and staff members are asked to project where they will be the following week. They also get a daily email to help the firm keep track of where the employees are working from.
“So if someone’s looking for a teammate, they know whether they’re home or in the office,” Cahill says.
Barclay Damon plans to review the policy at the end of the year, which is “sensible” as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, says Langan, who joined Cahill on the June 16 conference call.
Langan says it’s not “revolutionary” to have partners and lawyers work from home, but to offer that option to all staff members is “revolutionary for a law firm.”
If the firm’s attorneys and staff members keep “operating at the high level that they have in the last three months,” then Langan says “our goal is to make [the policy] permanent.”