Young lawyer deals with the pandemic in a small old fashioned firm

What’s it like being a new lawyer and interim associate at a boutique firm that has existed long enough to have a volume of files pre-existing the real digital file age and clients without technology capabilities and resources for remote access during a pandemic?

At the end of last year, I found out that a law firm I volunteered at during one of my short law school breaks was looking to hire someone, because their litigation associate was taking a maternity leave. I was grateful for the opportunity to work and gain experience starting in the new year of 2020. After having spent some months looking for an associate position, this was the best opportunity available to me, as I was looking to gain more civil litigation experience. I was not, however, prepared to take on as much as I did, but like many young associates, I wanted to prove myself and show that I could make up for being a new lawyer with the passion and maturity to take on whatever came in. Some of my struggles included not only the regular learning curve and trying to gain knowledge and experience in multiple areas of law (family law, civil litigation, corporate disputes, estates, immigration, real estate), but also dealing with the fact that I had been handed a whole bunch of files that another lawyer had been working on for quite some time and had to immediately deal with client management. There was a file that I took on during trial and for which I had to finish the closing submissions, and there were files that had been going on for years. I had a volume of ongoing files, and I was not afforded the time to review and read through them all before having to deal with client management and scheduled court appearances or to figure out what contracts and other documents were due. I still struggle with this, as I do my best to review the cases when important steps come up and client updates are due.

Coincidentally, as I started as an associate lawyer this year, news of the coronavirus in China broke out. Some weeks later, I was to attend a settlement conference in which one of the parties had just come back from China. I thought an adjournment was going to be made, but this did not happen. I attended court wearing an N95 mask and gloves, as my firm told me to be extra cautious. An N95 mask is difficult to breathe in and to speak through clearly. I tried to annunciate my words in addressing the court. The court registrar didn’t want me to use their pen to sign in when they saw I was wearing gloves and a mask. Of course, I took my precautions even if I looked crazy there, and I told court security why I was wearing the mask and gloves. As soon as I could shower, I did, putting my clothes immediately in the washer. I was fine, no symptoms developed in the months after and to this day.

Things were not as virus or pandemic scary otherwise until March. In February, I was happy to hear that high school co-op students would be joining us, and that one student would be mostly assigned to me. I really needed the help, and I don’t mind teaching and training others. I had a grade 11 helper for about 3 hours (2 high school credits) on non-snow days and days when the teachers weren’t on strike this year (in Ontario, many public schools were on a rotational strike). Then came March break, with news of schools having breaks extended and more COVID-19 cases appearing in Ontario. This is when things started getting scarier for everyone. The courthouses closed, except for urgent hearings, and our firm felt obligated to send some of our staff home as they were part of the vulnerable community and we wanted them to be safe, leaving us short-staffed. Most of our files are paper based, as that’s how the firm had done it for years and how they best protected the information from privacy breaches; however, it also made it difficult to work from home. Even if the files were all scanned and uploaded to some cloud or network through a VPN setup, there would still be in-office requirements. The Law Society of Ontario has tried to be flexible to allow for remote work, including allowing for virtual commissioning, virtual witnessing of Wills and Powers of Attorney, but it is difficult to make a transition to working online for new clients that you do not know or clients that may have capability issues. It can be difficult to ascertain capability on video, so my firms have taken the position that they will still hold in-person witnessing of Wills and Powers of Attorney when possible. There are a lot of risks to consider with video witnessing should an issue arise. For example, a client could appear fine on video, and even answer questions well, but if they were interviewed in person, that client could very well show questionable flags, like touching you or trying to climb over you. You may also not be aware of someone else’s presence in the room when your client is on video.

The courts started closing sometime in March, as the coronavirus cases started mounting in Ontario. This has slowed some of my pace for some files, and it has given me a bit of a breather in knowing that there isn’t a big file that I have to catch up on of materials to complete on tight deadlines for court appearances. However, we are still short-staffed. Our assistants and students, who would usually help with some of the billing, administrative, and manual work, have left our office. Even with court slowed down, I feel like I gained extra work that is just different.

There are times when our firm is shamed for operating fully in the office, but I think there is a lack of understanding of the struggles long-time boutique firms have with remote work. Unlike large firms that deal with sophisticated clients, many small boutique firms deal mostly with unsophisticated individuals, and in some cases these clients may not even have a computer at home, much less a printer, or know how to video chat. We have clients that do not have an e-mail address. If others are looking down on us for not allowing all our staff to work remotely, then ask yourself if you would be alright if all your clients knew your home address so that they could drop off or mail you items. There are some firms that have partial staff at the office and the lawyers work from home most of the time, but that would be unfair to the clerks. It is also often impractical for both the client and the firm to facilitate some of the virtual practices. Many individual clients, even if they have a printer, will not print multiple copies of documents that are more than 20 pages long, and many will not want to pay additional courier fees either. With our firm’s real estate practice, as is likely the case for other similar firms, it is impractical for cheques to be couriered. Wire transfers pose a risk too. Not only do they impose additional costs, if there is an issue with a wire transfer it is much more difficult to track the problem, whereas with a cheque you can cancel or re-issue. Unfortunately, this means we still have staff going to the banks regularly. Many banks have reduced the number of branches that are open, and those that remain open are operating on reduced hours. If you have a busy real estate practice, staff will need to visit multiple banks each day. With fewer branches and fewer operating hours, staff are rushing to banks to stand in long lines every day.

Virtual meetings, wire transfers, and other methods to avoid doing anything in person opens lawyers up to additional risks that could jeopardize their professional obligations. This isn’t to say we don’t do phone or video consults—we definitely do, but we remain open at the office to continue best practices in serving our clients, especially the many who do not have technological equipment or know-how. The firms that continue to go into the office are not full of people that do not care about the health and safety of the staff and clients. They are not careless and reckless individuals, but may feel scared and intimidated about going into the office regularly. However, they feel they need to, just as cashiers and grocery workers do, and the principals may worry that their practice is at risk and feel responsible for keeping the jobs of the people who work for them, as well as ensuring their professional obligations are met in a time of uncertainty. Many firms have become accustomed to doing everything the “old way,” i.e., seeing everyone in person, being wary with technology and the risks associated with the possibility of being hacked, and ensuring accountability that documents are filed in person.

It has been a crazy year to say the least, and business is not business as usual. I started my lawyer career in a hectic way, and then it became even more hectic with a global pandemic. I learned not only the law procedures, but also the many difficulties a law firm can experience. It’s easy to look from the outside and think that all law firms and workers aiding in providing legal services could work remotely, but when you are part of a firm that’s big enough to require a lot of team dynamics but small enough that each cost needs to be taken into consideration with the various clients served, then you realize it’s not so simple.

Well let’s see how the rest of the year pans out!