New York lawyers are back at work after the city’s battering last week by ‘superstorm’ Sandy. Some firms were forced to close after the storm left offices and homes without power and caused staff to be evacuated from their homes or stranded without public transport.

Clifford Chance said its offices were closed for two days due to concern for the safety of employees. During that time document production work from the firm’s New York and Washington DC offices was sent to London.

A spokesman for the firm told the Gazette: ‘Both of our US offices survived the storm without incident and were reopened on Wednesday. However, employees were asked to come to the office only if they felt they could travel safely.’

He added: ‘We are continuing to monitor the storm’s impact on public transportation and infrastructure in both regions, and balancing employee safety with business fulfilment.’

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which has offices in mid-town Manhattan, said all staff are safe and its offices had been ‘relatively spared’. US regional managing partner Julian Pritchard said: ‘With great determination and commitment from our people we are now operating almost normally.

‘Starting next week we are housing in our offices some of our clients whose buildings downtown are in worse shape than ours.’