Unfortunately it’s just for a day
International law firm Eversheds Sutherland will reserve an entire floor of its plush London office for the dogs of its staff.
The City outfit will allow its London-based lawyers and support staff to bring their four-legged friends to work for a day as part of a new wellbeing initiative. This will see experts from dog trainers Canine Creche Group (CCG) head down to the office to give tips and advice to staff on how to best care for their canine counterparts.
The special day will take place later this year, and is separate to the more widely recognised Bring Your Dog to Work Day (23 June). Eversheds has also stressed that the event will be contained to just one floor, and that those suffering from allergies can hot-desk elsewhere in the building.
“We’ve been considering this for a while and, having received universally positive feedback on the concept, I am really keen that we make this happen,” said the firm’s co-chief executive officer, Lee Ranson. He continued:
The health and wellbeing of our people is critical to us and we think this will be a fun and enjoyable addition to our varied programme of wellbeing events. I look forward to hosting our canine friends at Eversheds Sutherland.
However, the firm — recently formed through a transatlantic merger between UK-based outfit Eversheds and US law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan — isn’t the first to take a more literal approach to pro bone-o.
Earlier this summer, fellow international player Norton Rose Fulbright got into the spirit of the 23 June national day. Check out these cute furry friends:
#bringyourdogtoworkday #dogstrust @dogstrust @nlawglobal @nlawgrad
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But some law firms go one step further and draft in a dog on a permanent basis.
In 2015, Legal Cheek reported that North East outfit Hewitts Solicitors had its own office pup called Hewie.
Speaking at the time, Hewitts’ senior partner, John Turner, explained how Hewie has “free run of the office apart from the waiting room and the interview rooms” and is a great “stress-buster”.