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Law360 (March 16, 2020, 7:16 PM EDT) -- An employee at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP's Philadelphia office is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19, and the office is offering all its employees the option to work from home, the firm confirmed Monday.
After the employee learned they had been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, the employee self-isolated for a week before testing confirmed that they too had contracted COVID-19, a representative of the firm said.
Morgan Lewis is not naming the employee or their position, citing privacy concerns. Those who had contact with the employee between when the employee was exposed and when the employee went into isolation have been notified, but no one else has tested positive, the representative said.
Even before the employee was confirmed positive for the coronavirus, the Philadelphia office had barred large meetings and suspended travel in accordance with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, the representative said. The office remained open as of Monday, but all employees in it can volunteer to work remotely for at least the next two weeks.
The firm had more than 250 attorneys working from its Philadelphia office as of September. As a precaution, the office has been getting daily deep cleanings, the representative said.
Philadelphia's state courts announced Monday that they would suspend most operations amid the pandemic, but the Morgan Lewis representative said the firm's attorneys continued to represent their clients in ongoing matters. They would follow any guidance that comes from local courts on postponing hearings or conducting them by phone.
The U.S. spread of the coronavirus has struck a number of lawyers and law firms, including a Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP partner and an attorney from the small firm of Lewis & Garbuz in New York, and a Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC partner in Louisiana. Reed Smith LLP and Baker McKenzie have switched to mandatory work-from-home plans and shuttered many offices, respectively, to reduce possible exposures; Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP temporarily closed its offices around the globe after learning of a possible exposure at its Washington, D.C., office, but reopened a day later.
The CDC reported nearly 3,500 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 68 deaths, in the U.S. as of Monday. Many states have declared emergencies, canceled events and shut down schools, businesses and gathering places in an effort to slow the spread of the respiratory illness.
--Editing by Orlando Lorenzo.
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