Quinn Emanuel closes New York office as partners tests positive for COVID-19

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has closed its New York office after a partner tested positive for COVID-19.

John Quinn told the New York Law Journal this weekend that the partner, whose identity has not been revealed, only has “very minor” symptoms and actually feels better now that at the start of a self-quarantine. The partner has been at home since 2 March.

The firm is expecting the partner to be “perfectly fine” and for nobody else to get infected, Quinn said. However, he didn’t rule out that the possibility that the partner had the virus even before the self-quarantine.

With its office closure, Quinn Emanuel has activated a work-from-home period for New York-based staff, which runs until 13 March. The firm will also be conducting a thorough cleaning of its New York office before it is re-opened.

The senior lawyer is the first confirmed BigLaw partner to test positive for the virus, according to Law.com and Above the Law.

New York is currently under a state of emergency. Earlier this month, a lawyer from a boutique firm became the second person in the state to test positive for the novel coronavirus.

That lawyer, who works at a boutique firm in Manhattan, lives in Westchester County, N.Y., NBC said. The Quinn Emanuel partner who tested positive with the virus is part of a religious community in the county that has had people test positive for COVID-19, Law.com reported.