Larry Hicks, the administrative partner for Dallas-based Thompson & Knight, says management has told the 19 lawyers and staff in the firm's Mexico City office that they should work at home until April 28 as a precautionary measure related to the swine flu outbreak in that country. The office remains open, Hicks notes, with one partner who has agreed to man the office. “We are treating it as if there was a snowstorm, even though they never have snow,” explains Hicks, adding that the firm wants the lawyers and staff to avoid any unnecessary exposure on their way to and from work to possibly infected individuals. The firm’s Monterrey, Mexico, office, however, remains open and the 20 lawyers there are reporting to work as usual, Hicks says. According to The New York Times, there have been as many as 152 flu-related deaths in Mexico. “They haven’t closed the border and people are saying the cases are leveling off,” says Hicks. Dallas-based Haynes and Boone's Mexico City office is located just a few blocks away from the Thompson & Knight office. William "Hunt" Buckley, a partner in that office who has been there since 2000, says firm management has not asked lawyers and staff to stay home, but they can if they want to. “We are being flexible,” Buckley says. Most of the transactional partners are in the office, Buckley says. Many of the litigation partners, however, have opted to stay home since the courts in Mexico City are closed until May 6 as a result of the flu. On April 29, Buckley plans to fly to New Orleans for a conference. He has already factored in the possibility that the United States will close the U.S.-Mexico border and he may need to cancel his trip. Even if he goes, he plans to leave an hour earlier than usual for the airport because the lines are longer as a result of authorities checking to see if departing passengers exhibit flu-like symptoms, Buckley says.
-- Miriam Rozen
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