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Holiday parties are an annual tradition at many law firms as numerous shops hold events to assemble their employees in a social setting and bring more cheer to everyone around that special time of the year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all law firms cancelled their holiday parties in order to promote social distancing to combat spread of the virus. Even though the pandemic is mostly in the rear-view mirror, many firms and other legal organizations still did not host holiday parties last year. That is a shame, and, hopefully, law firms and other legal organizations will hold holiday parties to the same extent this year as before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps the most significant reason for why law firms have not held holiday parties like they used to is that many law firms in the years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic felt that it might not be prudent in case the party became a superspreader event. This was less of a concern in 2021 than in 2020, and even less so in 2022, but the sentiment was still present. Some people still do not feel comfortable walking around in public without wearing a mask, and it might not be reasonable to expect them to attend a holiday party when they still have concerns about COVID-19.
For many law firms, I believe that cost savings is another reason for not holding pre-COVID level parties. Holiday parties can be expensive. Depending on the venue, an event can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. I have attended all kinds of holiday parties in my career, from the decadent to the meager. One time, I worked at a law firm that had a holiday party at a country club, and the firm must have spent a pretty penny hosting that event. However, I also attended a holiday party that took place in a law firm office, and I would have a difficult time believing that the firm spent more than a thousand dollars on the affair.
Although the money required to host a holiday party might not be significant to bigger law firms, this can definitely impact the bottom lines of smaller shops. Many smaller firms might have gotten used to not shelling out the money needed to host a holiday party, and do not want to pay for this expense if they do not have to. Firms might use the “new normal” as cover to avoid paying for holiday parties to protect their bottom line.
Many people find holiday parties awkward and uncomfortable, which I completely understand. It can be weird interacting with bosses and work colleagues in a more social setting and some more introverted people do not like to be forced to interact with their co-workers in settings outside the workplace. However, holiday parties can be important to law firms and other legal organizations for a number of reasons.
Perhaps most importantly, holiday parties enable lawyers to learn more about their work colleagues than might be possible in an office. When people are present in a workplace, they usually only present one side of themselves since a workplace is a more rigid social environment than other situations. However, when law firms host holiday parties, lawyers will possibly be more comfortable interacting on a deeper level, which can help build firm culture and connections between colleagues.
Also, law firm parties can also be an extremely fun time. I am sure most people within the legal profession have attended a law firm holiday party or heard of one that was an epic affair that reflected positively on the shop that hosted the event. I personally miss all of the legal holiday parties I used to attend around each year, and it has been a real shame that many legal holiday parties have been curtailed in the past four years. The legal profession is stressful, and those parties can bring a much-needed sense of fun to the legal arena.
In any case, I hope that people think about holding legal holiday parties this year to the same extent that legal organizations hosted them before the COVID-19 pandemic. And if we’re lucky, Above the Law will resume its own holiday party, which was always an epic affair!
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.
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