Biglaw

COVID Outbreak Reportedly At Jones Day, But An Insider Says Not Everyone Was Told About It

Wouldn't you want to know if it happened in your office?

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As the second wave of COVID-19 gains steam, this kind of story is only going to become more common.

According to Jamie Hamilton at Roll On Friday, the London office of Jones Day has experienced an outbreak of COVID-19. And while upsetting for those who are impacted, unfortunately, it isn’t all that surprising. People — and law firms — are itching to get back to normal, but the novel coronavirus has different plans.

But what allegedly happened after the outbreak, reportedly in the corporate and restructuring teams, is turning quite a few heads. Unlike Squire Patton Boggs, which shut down their entire Manchester office after positive tests, how Jones Day allegedly handled the outbreak leaves quite a bit to be desired. It seems the firm took a page from Oklahoma Law, and was… selective about who in the London office got a heads up about the outbreak. Roll on Friday reports office wide notifications did not go out, and only certain people with direct contact with confirmed cases got the courtesy of a notification:

The US firm “pressured lawyers to come back to office” and “has now had an outbreak”, a source told RollOnFriday.

The positive cases are understood to have sprung up in the corporate and restructuring teams, which have been sent home. But, in a Trump-like move, Jones Day “didn’t tell anyone in the office” about the outbreak except for those who were in direct contact with the infected individuals, said a source.

It means that staff “are blissfully unaware and still coming in, despite lawyers in corporate and restructuring being tested and/or sent home”, said the source.

We’ve reached out to Jones Day for comment and to find out their procedures for dealing with COVID outbreaks, but have yet to hear back.

With so much uncertainty still surrounding the pandemic, you’d think a major international law firm would err on the side of over communication with their employees, especially with health and safety on the line. However, stories like this show what it’s really like on a law firm’s front lines.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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