Category: News Feeds

Last month, I reported on research into the impact of COVID-19 on law firms and clients, compiled by the practice management company Clio, based on anonymous data from its customers and from surveys of lawyers and consumers.

While that research found that the pandemic had caused a sharp drop in new legal matters coming to law firms, new data out today from Clio shows signs that the legal market is recovering, with a spike of new matters through the first week of June from -26% to -14% compared to baseline.

While still negative compared to baseline, Jack Newton, Clio cofounder and CEO, told me that he sees that as a very promising sign of recovery and says it was the largest spike in new matters since the pandemic began.

Even so, firms are still feeling the effect of that earlier drop in new matters, which led to a corresponding drop in billing volumes. The average law firm billed 14% less in April and 27% less in May compared to the prior year, Clio found.

And even though the increase in new matters should eventually result in an an increase in billing volumes, high unemployment rates have resulted in 71% of lawyers expressing concern about their clients’ ability to pay their legal fees, the survey found. A quarter of firms report having to forfeit more revenue compared to before the pandemic due to clients’ inability to pay.

Clio’s survey of consumers during May found that a quarter anticipate having to deal with a legal issue in the near future, with the majority of those describing their anticipated issue as coronavirus-related. Even so, and consistent with the prior survey, most consumers say they would put off addressing their legal issues until circumstances around the pandemic return to normal.

Today’s release is the second of Clio’s planned series of briefings over the coming months assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the legal industry and consumers. The findings are based on aggregated and anonymized customer data from Clio’s practice management platform as well as on surveys of legal professionals and consumers conducted during May.

Among other findings included in today’s research report:

• Business-related practice areas have been less affected by others. Meanwhile, the areas that have seen the largest decline in new matters are traffic, criminal and personal injury.
• Legal professionals are adapting to the “new normal.” Among legal professionals working from home, fewer say it is having a negative impact on their practices. At the same time, more firms report having adapted their client acquisition strategies during May as opposed to April.
• Layoffs at law firms are increasing. Clio reports that the number of staff layoffs at law firms increased in April and May. Of two surveys conducted in May, roughly a quarter of firms said they had laid off staff and roughly 30% said they expect to to so.

Similar to findings in the first report, as many as a third of clients continue to believe that lawyers have stopped offering their services as a result of the pandemic, even though the survey found that only 2% of firms actually had.

The survey suggests that firms are likely to need to adjust their fees going forward. As of late May, Clio found that 15% of consumers had lost their primary source of income due to circumstances related to the pandemic, and 25% had experienced a significant decline in income.

On the bright side, a large number of firms see technology as more important to them than they did before the pandemic. This is especially true for electronic document sharing, e-signature software, and videoconferencing software.

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on motherhood in the legal profession, in partnership with our friends at MothersEsquire. Welcome Nanda E. Davis back to our pages.

No one knows what our new normal will be, but we have already seen that our world is changing at every level. In other words, this is the perfect time to bring about positive and needed change, including in how we parent. With everyone stuck at home, it is more important than ever for dads and moms to equally share parenting responsibilities. In order to do that, moms and dads need to have open and honest communication about responsibilities, including the mental load.

What is the mental load? The mental load refers to all those things that need be remembered for the delicate balance of household, work, school, and extracurriculars to not to fall apart, including sports schedules, playdates, payments for daycare, and when muffins need to be delivered for a class party. Google “mental load,” and you will be inundated with articles (including ones from NBC, Huffington Post, and New York Times, just to name a few) explaining how the mental load is crushing moms.

For lawyer moms, the mental load was hard enough pre-COVID-19. Now that we are all trying to work from home while balancing childcare, the mental load feels extra heavy. How can we as moms delegate that mental load so that it doesn’t all fall on our shoulders?

Step 1: Identify What Is In Your Mental Load

Everyone’s mental load is different. The first step to delegating any of your mental load is to take the time to figure out what makes up your load. List everything you can think of, big and small, enjoyable and tedious. Include keeping track of everyone’s schedule, deadlines for school projects, school forms, bills, tasks that go into clothes, cleaning, and food, and anything that is necessary for all the activities we hope to be able to safely return to one day.  It may initially seem like creating a list is yet another task that adds to your stress, but it is impossible to delegate what you cannot identify.

Step 2: Talk To Your Significant Other About What Part Of The Mental Load You Want to Delegate

I see a lot of working moms who feel resentment and anger towards a spouse who is not offering to take over part of the mental load. However, your spouse cannot guess what it is that you would like them to do, or why you are stressed.

As you prepare for the conversation with your spouse, think about what you would most like to have off your plate. In an ideal relationship, you would take on the tasks that your spouse struggles with the most, and vice versa. Think about your strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths and weaknesses of your spouse. Is one of you better at details? Does one of you have more time during your day to pick up the phone and schedule appointments?

You might also want to start small, and maybe pick out two things that you really would like to have off your plate. When you talk to your spouse be clear, unapologetic, business-like, and communicate anything that you think is really important about the task. If you’re not used to having these conversations with your spouse, it can take practice, and you have to give yourself grace as you learn a new skill.

Step 3: Let It Go

Letting it go really involves two steps. First, you have to let go of the idea that to be a good mom you have to do it all. How you divide up any of the tasks on your mental load does not change the fact that to your children, you are one of the most important, influential people in their lives. You are a role model for how to have healthy relationship, communicate effectively, resolve conflict, and how to balance your personal and professional lives. This is even more true now that we are all staying home, and children are seeing a lot more of their parents. It is far more important that you are a good role model in these areas than whether you fill out permission slips. When your children grow up, think of how you would want them to raise their children and whether you would want them to insist that both parents pull equal weight.  Delegation does not mean that you have failed, and it is not a reason to feel guilty. On the contrary, it shows self-awareness and good self-advocacy, skills you want your children to have.

The second step: let go of the urge to micromanage or check up on your spouse. Will your spouse follow through on that task exactly as you would have? No. However, assuming you’re in a healthy relationship, chances are you married your spouse because you trust him to make good decisions and to look out for the best interest of your family. If he takes over lunches so you can schedule client meetings at that time, will he fix the same thing for the kids every single day? Maybe. So what? If the kids are happy and fed, then task accomplished. Keep in mind that these are new roles for your spouse and just as you would encourage a new employee or even your own children as they are learning a new skill, so too should you encourage and show confidence in your spouse. If you nag your spouse or go behind his back to do it yourself, then you’re sending the message that you don’t believe he can do it.  You delegated the task so that you don’t have to worry about it anymore, so stop the worrying and focus on everything else on your list.

COVID-19 has forced us all to re-examine work-life balance and our priorities. Change is happening at all levels of society — from big corporations to our private lives at home. Use this time to have open and honest conversations with your spouse, including ones about your mental load.

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Nanda E. Davis opened her firm, Davis Law Practice, in Roanoke, Virginia, in 2014.  She specializes in divorce, custody, and matters involving Child Protective Services.  She is the mother of two boys and active in the Roanoke Chapter of the Virginia Women’s Attorney’s Association. More about her can be found on her website and she can be reached by email at nanda@davislawpractice.com.

A great New York bastion of overwhelmingly white elitism is reeling, wracked by recrimination, resignation and soul-searching in the aftermath of the George Floyd’s killing by police. Another has, uh, not. And so while the media—necessarily if also endlessly navel-gazing as it is—spills millions of gallons of figurative ink handwringing, Wall Street has been content to say the right things and make the right promises and accept the plaudits and grateful thanks (and the fulminations of racists) that come with them.

* 17 firefighters in Detroit have been sued for taking a picture in front of a burning building. Pretty sure they’re supposed to do more than just take pictures of fires… [Detroit Free Press]

* The Indiana Attorney General has had his law license restored after being suspended from practice for inappropriate behavior toward women. [NWI Times]

* 56 former prosecutors have signed a letter advocating that two lawyers accused of firebombing an NYPD police car be granted bail. [Washington Post]

* The general counsel of the Florida Department of Transportation is being investigated by the Florida Bar after he allegedly admitted to forging signatures on government documents. In the meantime, he’s still keeping his $132,000-a year-job. [Miami Herald]

* A Tennessee attorney has been arrested for allegedly coercing clients to have sex with him in lieu of paying fees. [WJHL News]

* The Illinois Attorney General is recovering well after testing positive for COVID-19. Wishing the attorney general a speedy recovery! [NBC News]

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Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

Flatten the Research Curve

Flatten the Research Curve

Wolters Kluwer

Ed. Note: Welcome to our daily feature Trivia Question of the Day!

According to the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which law schools out of compliance with accreditation standard 316, which requires 75 percent of students pass the bar exam within two years?

Hint: The ABA announced the noncompliance at its May 15th virtual meeting, and the schools were asked to submit a report by Feb. 1, 2021, and if those reports do not demonstrate compliance with the standard, they’ll be asked to appear at the council’s May 2021 meeting.

See the answer on the next page.

Deutsche Bank has gotten into a lot of trouble over the years for a lot of things, but mostly for money laundering and all that goes into it, especially not being very good at detecting money laundering. But it’s not the only Teutonic financial institution with an uncanny ability to look the other way when cash needs washing.

The Financial Conduct Authority has handed German lender Commerzbank’s London branch a £37,805,400 fine for failing to enforce proper anti-money laundering controls…. The fine relates to a five year period from October 2012 to September 2017, during which the FCA published guidance on how firms could step up their efforts to tackle money laundering.

Flatten the Research Curve

Flatten the Research Curve

Wolters Kluwer

Recently, the United Kingdom and Canada made the news regarding the estates of two violent citizens. In April, Gabriel Wortman died after he shot 22 people in Nova Scotia. Many consider the shooting the worst in Canadian history. Last week, in the United Kingdom, a judge ruled that Sally Challen would be allowed to inherit from the estate of Richard Challen, her dead spouse. Sally killed Richard in 2010 after decades of abuse. She was thereafter convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Last year, her murder conviction was overturned, and the act was deemed to be manslaughter. Her reduced sentence was credited with time served, and she has been set free.

During her court cases, Challen argued that she suffered from years of abuse by her husband, whom she killed by repeatedly beating him with a hammer. The defense team claimed that she was the victim of coercive control and suffered psychiatric illness as a result of the violent and consistent abuse.

The Slayer Rule is a common law doctrine wherein one who murders another cannot inherit under the decedent’s estate, whether it be through the laws of intestacy or the law of wills and trusts. In practice, the application of the Slayer Rule is complicated in cases where abuse is present, and questions will often arise as to whether the death was murder, manslaughter, or some form of self-defense. By Challen’s conviction changing from murder to manslaughter, she was able to reap the benefit of the inheritance laws.

In Challen’s case, she successfully challenged the murder conviction, which resulted in not only a mitigation of punishment, but an inheritance. Judge Paul Matthews, in his decision, noted the extreme and terrible conditions under which Challen was abused and also emphasized that every situation has its own set of facts. In this case, he stated that the circumstances were extraordinary and that the decedent certainly contributed to his own death.

Prior to Wortman’s mass shooting and arson of several Nova Scotian houses, he physically assaulted his common law wife. On the day of the killing spree, he attacked her and tied her up. When the spouse escaped from captivity, she ran to a neighbor’s house and reported Wortman to the police, warning them that he had firearms. Wortman was shot dead at a gas station following his killing of 22 people.

Wortman collected police memorabilia, including police cars and uniforms. He used a car marked Royal Canadian Mounted Police in his shootings and even wore parts of the police uniform.

Wortman, who was a denturist,  had a sizable estate, consisting of about $1.2 million in real property as well as savings accounts. He wrote a last will and testament in 2011 and named his common law wife as his executor and sole beneficiary. She has since renounced her role as executor. The Public Trustee will serve instead. Witnesses report that there was a history of abuse in their relationship.

Questions also remain as to where the firearms were acquired, although it is believed that he received them from a deceased friend. Some have stated that Wortman was paranoid as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There also exists a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking damages from Wortman’s estate. The case claims that Wortman’s estate is liable to the families of the victims. Nicholas Beaton is the representative plaintiff because his pregnant wife, Kristen Beaton, unlike Wortman’s and Challen’s widows, did not survive.

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Cori A. Robinson is a solo practitioner having founded Cori A. Robinson PLLC, a New York and New Jersey law firm, in 2017. For more than a decade Cori has focused her law practice on trusts and estates and elder law including estate and Medicaid planning, probate and administration, estate litigation, and guardianships. She can be reached at cori@robinsonestatelaw.com.