2007 may be a banner year for employee holidays. Next year Christmas Day and New Years Day fall on a Tuesday. This, of course, means that Christmas Eve and New Years Eve fall on Monday providing the lure of four day-weekend holidays. The last time this happened was 2001 when most law firms planned on working on the two Monday “Eves” but in the heat of moment, many firms declared the days as holidays for all but essential staff (i.e., secretaries of attorneys who decided to work on those days). A quick survey of some of our clients finds that, while most firms have not published their 2007 holiday schedules yet, about half the firms we talked to planned on making the two Eves part of their official holiday schedule. Half will wait until closer to the date to see what other firms are doing. Two firms are discussing closing on December 24 through January 2. Most firms intend to keep a skeleton staff on duty to service working attorneys. The next time we’ll see this is 2012.  

 

So, what holidays are most firms celebrating?  Except for Washington, DC, the most common schedule for 2007 seems to be:

            Monday, January 1, 2007                    New Years Day

            Monday, January 15, 2007                  Martin Luther King Day

            Monday, May 28, 2007                         Memorial Day

            Wednesday, July 4, 2007                    Independence Day

            Monday, September 3, 2007              Labor Day

            Thursday, November 22, 2007          Thanksgiving Day

            Friday, November 23, 2007                Day after Thanksgiving

            Monday, December 24, 2007             Christmas Eve

            Tuesday, December 25, 2007           Christmas Day

            Monday, December 31, 2007              New Years Eve