Dear Law Firm of Mine,

Hey there, old friend.  

As you know,  it’s been a heckuva year.  We showed up in January, bright eyed and bushy tailed, with grand plans to conquer this new decade.  And we were off to a strong start, with cases chugging along on all cylinders. That is, until the COVID-19 pandemic that swept the earth, shuttering courts and sending us and our staff back home to ride it out.

And yet, that was hardly a blip on the radar. Because we’ve always been scrappy and forward thinking, we’ve relied on low cost cloud technology for years and we didn’t even have to break stride to keep going business as usual.  And while we weren’t necessarily as familiar with Webex and Zoom and Google Hangouts, our comfort with tech helped us acclimate quickly and it wasn’t long before we were deposing witnesses over the Internet or engages in virtual mediations just as comfortably as we had IRL.Meanwhile, we watched as many larger venerable firms and the courts struggled to stay afloat and while we shared our clients’ frustration with the missteps and glacial pace, we also couldn’t help but think “We told you so – maybe you should have listened to us sooner.”

As we went about our business, we noticed the stress levels that our colleagues experienced as they struggled to balance employment and kids home from school. As you know, some of us had those challenges too, but we could also control the response – working late nights or hiring hourly workers – instead of being expected to continue the same schedule as if nothing changed when the world instead had turned upside down.

Were we scared?  Hell, yes.  Everyday. Our colleagues at biglaw took huge payouts, and some thought about selling their homes. And so many of our clients lost their jobs, their businesses and saddest of all, their lives.  We witnessed tragedy and hardship every day.

And yet in the face of it all, we were the lucky ones.  That’s because we knew with steely certainty that we would get through it. After all, we pulled a fast-one once already that day we opened for business; creating something out of nothing, light out of dark, a highway out of a road to nowhere.  Our journey through the pandemic hasn’t always been pretty; many times, we slogged through mud – but one step in front of the other, we emerged on the other side.  

Law firm of mine, from the day we met, we knew we were in for a crazy ride. But as long as we bet on us, we could survive anything. Looks like we have.  

Here’s to an unknown future – the very best kind.

Happy holidays, fellow shinglers.  We’ll be taking some time off next week. Hope you find time to celebrate and enjoy the rest of this year.