Living and lawyering during a pandemic

Day 19. It's be 19 days since I last physically went into the office. My firm was one of the first offices to encourage and shortly thereafter require working remotely out of an abundance of caution and for the safety of our staff. It was a difficult decision that wasn't taken lightly. Lawyers and law firms particularly old and profitable ones tend to be averse to change. Lawyers also tend to be social creatures, preferring in-office meetings and work lunches to phone calls and virtual conferences. But, sometimes unprecedented times require difficult and decisive action. Understanding that the correct and necessary decision was made hasn't made it any easier, however. As I write this column, I sit at a messy desk in one of our spare bedrooms. I'm surrounded by dirty coffee mugs and a plate from a couple days ago. My hair hasn't been cut in three weeks, at which time I was already in desperate need of a trim. I'm wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. My beard is providing shelter to small animals. The days of wearing tailored dress pants, a freshly pressed shirt and polished dress shoes feel like a bygone era. In what is perhaps the surest sign that life has fundamentally changed, I've spent the last five days making a sourdough starter. I don't even bake. Instead of coffee, the first thing I do now when I wake up is check to make sure my bowl of flour and water is properly bubbling and rising. Truly desperate, unprecedented times. And then there's sports. Oh sports, where have you gone? If there was ever a time we needed you, it is now. My beloved Liverpool Football Club was a mere two victories away from winning the Premier League title for the first time in the team's history. Now there is talk of potentially voiding the season. My cherished St. Louis Cardinals were set to commence their campaign for a 12th World Series title last week. But, alas, the season sits in limbo, as do all of us. And like all of you, it's impacted our ability to spend time with friends and family. My brother celebrated his 30th birthday last weekend. Instead of the trip to Miami we had planned for him a year ago, we said our well wishes via a choppy video chat that disconnected several times. In lieu of gifts, I ordered him a bottle of whiskey and had it delivered by one of the local delivery services that's sprung up during this crisis. We also ordered him a cake from our favorite New York bakery but, due to COVID-related issues, it didn't make it on his birthday. Certainly not how we envisioned celebrating such a milestone birthday. But, we've all made sacrifices during this time, and my and my brother's have paled in comparison to many others. My corporate and M&A practice has also been significantly impacted. Deal flow has become incredibly variable and volatile. Lenders are getting nervous, businesses are frantically trying to avoid layoffs and furloughs, and private equity firms are spending their time and resources trying to salvage their portfolio companies rather than looking towards the next investment opportunity. We're helping these clients in different ways, such as advising on the new CARES Act and employee-related issues, but it has required us to be nimble and creative. Perhaps that's when lawyers are at their best, though. Outside of the corporate and M&A world, the pandemic has sprung a seemingly endless crop of legal issues. For example, what happens if a tenant can't pay rent or an owner can't make its mortgage payments? The CARES Act provides some relief and options, but significant uncertainty remains. What power does the federal government have, in our federalist system of government, to impose national "Stay at Home" orders applicable to the entire country? While the federal government has been reluctant to impose such an order to date, it seems likely that it may do so any day now. And then there are the bad actors a version of whom seem to pop up during every national crisis. The New York Times recently reported that price gouging has become an epidemic of its own, and prosecutors across the country are investigating and pursuing cases against those trying to take advantage of this crisis by jacking up prices on myriad essential products, from hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes to rice and milk. One individual recently listed a pack of 15 N95 face masks the same protective mask that frontline medical personnel are begging for on social media for almost $4,000. Despicable. I'm convinced, however, that the bad actors are far outnumbered by those who are taking this opportunity to do good, to give back and to help those in need. A new crop of modern day heroes are emerging from medical professionals to grocers to trash collectors who continue to answer the call of duty and put their lives at risk. We owe them all a huge debt of gratitude. During this time, I've thought a lot about a couple excerpts from poems by Philip Larkin and Robert Louis Stevenson, respectively, which I'll leave you with in hopes that they bring you some comfort and inspiration. Be safe out there. "The Mower" by Philip Larkin The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found A hedgehog jammed up against the blades, Killed. It had been in the long grass. I had seen it before, and even fed it, once. Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world Unmendably. Burial was no help: Next morning I got up and it did not. The first day after a death, the new absence Is always the same; we should be careful Of each other, we should be kind While there is still time. "Prayer for Home and Family", by Robert Louis Stevenson Give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we may be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another. ----- © 2020 Under Analysis, LLC. Under Analysis is a nationally syndicated column of the Levison Group. Contact Under Analysis by e-mail at comments@levison group.com. Published: Fri, Apr 03, 2020