Page 117 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
email at 10:00 pm, or to go off the record for a moment if mom’s physical therapist rang the doorbell in the middle of a Zoom deposition. In the past, I would have been reluctant to discuss a family emergency with opposing counsel, out of concern for “showing weakness.” But the ability to be transparent about the situation and request flexibility when my mother’s needs were most acute made it possible for me to meet her needs, as well as my clients’, in a way that might have been impossible even a year before.
The pandemic gave me another much-needed piece of a puzzle that would otherwise have had a gaping hole: constant access to a mental health care professional.
I have jokingly referred to April as my “case worker” for years, but this June, she took on that role in a very real way. She sat on the back porch with me on several nights after my mother had gone to sleep and just let me talk. She stepped in on days when I’d hit my limit. She helped liaise with the entire team of professionals involved in my mother’s care; she researched and located the best places to buy medical equipment as new needs emerged. And when it was time to assess the significant changes that needed to be made at my mother’s house before her eventual return, April helped identify and implement improvements that mom talks about to this day, and she helped us shape the dialogue with my mother in ways that established trust, rather than resentment.
In short – her skills as a social worker and therapist made an unbearable situation more bearable.
LESSON 5 – WHEN THE PANDEMIC IS OVER, WE SHOULDN’T SETTLE FOR OUR OLD WAY OF DOING THINGS.
One of the most important lessons I have learned through these experiences is that either my career or my mother would have suffered in 2020 if I had not been able to surround myself with the right kind of help. As COVID-19 infection rates fall, vaccination numbers go up, and we begin to look forward to returning to life as usual, we don’t have to leave behind the handful of positive things that have come from 2020.
I can’t wait to be able to have our firm working together again, to get back into the courtroom, and to have the chance to attend conferences with colleagues whom I’ve missed for months. But my partners and I also are going to remember that briefs do not have to be drafted in an office or during traditional business hours; that meetings, depositions, hearings, and even trials can—when necessary—be conducted remotely; and that it is not always necessary to be at the office and away from home for twelve hours each day. With a little flexibility, we can all make it easier for our colleagues to continue to keep their practices intact while also meeting their families’ needs and responding to emergencies. If the entire legal community can
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