Linked: Quinn Emanuel Says Lawyers Can Work From Home Indefinitely
This is kind of huge because Big Law is normally one of the last to make any big changes, but you really can’t fault the logic here can you?
The move is primarily designed to attract and retain lawyers in a competitive market, John Quinn, the firm’s founder, said in an interview.
“We need more high quality lawyers. That’s the real impetus for this,” Quinn said. “We shouldn’t be limited to recruiting high quality lawyers who just happen to be in a city where we don’t have an office.”
For a large firm like Quinn Emanuel this does two things, I think. One, yes it absolutely broadens their applicant pool for lawyers. It also broadens their ability to service clients who don’t happen to be in a city where they have an office too, doesn’t it?
What I am also interested in though, is whether any other staff positions were given the same consideration. If the lawyer can work from anywhere, and the impetus is to attract the best lawyers that they can, there’s no reason the same thing can’t be said about many of the other (granted not all), of the staff positions, right? If the lawyers aren’t coming to the office, why do paralegals, assistants, IT, Accounting, etc. need to?
Does Quinn Emanuel value those folks, and want the top talent at those positions too?
