New Punctuality Rules Give Law Firm A Totalitarian Feel

One of the nice things about being a Biglaw lawyer is that you’ve got some autonomy over your schedule. You know how much work you have to do, and you know when it’s due, and within those borders you can manage your own time. If you want to come in a little bit later and stay a little it later, so be it. If you want to come in super early… well, you’re probably still going to end up staying late because of some BS that happens at 4:30 p.m., but after you bill 100 hours in a week, you can probably take it really easy once your matter closes.

The point is, Biglaw lawyers have the expectation of being treated like adults when it comes to their own time management.

So it’s a little bit surprising that a Biglaw firm is treating associates in one office like little children who need to be present when attendance is taken….

A tipster forwarded us an email from Hogan Lovells partner Andrew McGinty. He’s the partner in charge of Ho-Love’s Shanghai office. His email is strict, he wants all the associates to be at their desks by 9:15 a.m., unless they have prior approval from a partner. It was sent over the summer, so here’s the pertinent part:

We are still experiencing major issues with staff punctuality. The Shanghai partners have decided that we will continue to operate the daily report system as before but will not circulate the report to all members of the Shanghai Office but will circulate the record to all the partners and

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