It is hard to believe that this is our fourth week of practicing law under COVID-19 restrictions. Poisson, Poisson & Bower, PLLC rolled out social distancing protocols earlier than the State did in order to protect our clients, staff and attorneys. We have some staff with family members with compromised immune systems, we have several folks who fall in the “danger zone” just by virtue of their age, and we have lots of folks with young kids at home. Our number one priority is to keep everyone safe and still furnish excellent legal services to our clients.
The State deems us an “essential” business, and I think our clients would definitely agree with that. We have to keep going. We have clients to care for and cases that cannot wait. That said, it is VERY important that we all stay home as much as possible. The more we all stay home, the sooner the illnesses and deaths from COVID-19 will begin to lessen.
So how do you practice law like this? With home offices (mine is at the kitchen table), remote Zoom meetings, staggered schedules in the office and lots and lots of grace. We depend on one another for help. We have a group text where you sometimes see texts as early as 7:30 in the morning: Are you in the office? Could you scan me this piece of mail Could you reboot my computer? Could you leave this paper for this client?
Our team is AMAZING. Everyone has pulled together to ensure that clients still get their settlements, that our cases continue on track (as much as they can with courtrooms essentially closed) and that we figure out how to make this work while still being safe.
A silver lining for me is that I am getting to talk to a lot of our firm’s clients that usually work with other attorneys. I have enjoyed getting to know some of these folks and helping them remotely.
On a personal note, I just want to say that I know this is hard. It is mentally hard to even get your mind around what is going on in the world right now. On top of that, I have two young kids and am trying to home school them and work from home. I am a single parent. I am not complaining, I feel lucky to even have the option to work from home and to be with my kids right now. I have friends and family who are not able to work remotely and who are faced with no income while plants are shut down or restaurants are closed for dining. Small businesses are seriously endangered by these uncertain times. I thank God every day for the ability to be with my kids and work remotely, even when it’s hard. It’s all about grace right now.
I hope that you know that we are here for you. We will all get through this together. If you ever need to talk or are worried about what this means for your life or your case, give us a call. We are happy to talk to you, even with our kids screaming in the background.
Stewart
