Category: News Feeds

2020 is pretty damn scary. The global pandemic is ruining pretty much everything, and that includes the economy. Biglaw is reeling — layoffs, furloughs, and salary cuts are being announced with a disturbing frequency (if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Layoff Alerts, please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post). Even at Biglaw firms that haven’t taken cost-cutting measures thus far, associates are looking over their shoulders, worried that their firm will be the next to announce cuts.

But at least one firm has taken the the time to reassure associates that the coronavirus economic upheaval will leave them unscathed. Yesterday, the Executive Committee at Cahill Gordon sent an email to all associates touting the firm’s storing financials, buoyed by “the strongest first quarter results in the Firm’s history.” And the email went on to let folks know not to expect cuts at Cahill:

There have been recent reports of some law firms taking steps to manage their expenses by reducing attorney salaries and furloughing lawyers. Please rest assured that the Firm is not considering any actions like this, We are extremely gratified by the efforts and cooperation of our attorneys during this difficult time. It’s great to see our lawyers step up to the challenge of working under these conditions. We are highly appreciative of all your efforts and we recognize ow fortune we are to have you as part of the firm.

Kudos to the firm for taking at least a little of the stress folks are feeling right now off the table.

Above the Law has also heard rumors (but not substantiated, yet) of other Biglaw firms trying to reassure associates there won’t be layoffs or other cuts. If your firm has made these overtures, please reach out! Our vast network of tipsters is part of what makes Above the Law thrive. You can email us or text us (646-820-8477).

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

The July administration of the New York bar exam is officially off and the New York State Bar Association’s Bar Exam Task Force has put forward a number of proposals, asking for a September administration and seeking practice waivers in the meantime to allow students impacted by the delay to practice immediately for some period of time under the supervision of admitted attorneys.

The students who wrote the mass letter requesting diploma-privileged admission for the classes dealing with all of this are sticking by their position that a September date doesn’t solve the problem if it just gets pushed off again after the students put in weeks of studying and resist practice waivers as a flawed solution because it just pushes off the bar exam to a future date when they have to study and perform their day jobs simultaneously.

Into this mix, the deans of the 15 New York law schools have offered a letter outlining the issues they see with the bar exam question. In the short-term, the ideas don’t drift far from what’s already on the table, but the letter outlines the opportunity to make some broader changes to the licensing process while we’re at this crossroads.

Delay in the admission of our 2020 graduates to the New York bar is likely to cause our students profound harm in a time already marked by suffering, intensifying financial hardship and exacerbating the unfairness of their plight. Even if a date for a September examination is set quickly, the unpredictable public health situation means that our graduates will still lack the certainty needed to structure their lives and finances. This uncertainty will particularly disadvantage graduates who already would have struggled to piece together financing to bridge the time between graduation, taking the exam, and starting work⎯even if the exam had been administered in July. Graduates in those circumstances are disproportionately likely to come from communities underrepresented in the profession. Many such graduates have relied upon loans to finance their legal education and do not have families able to support them financially, and some are in the position of financially supporting others. Delaying the date of admission to some unknowable future date threatens real harm for these graduates.

The deans also note that almost half of the graduates of ABA-accredited law schools take jobs with the government, public-interest organizations, and small firms of under 25 attorneys — all employers that tend to serve the public interest or clients that are in some way underserved. That’s why the deans say an 18-month practice waiver requiring graduates to take the bar exam in 2021 is the minimum accommodation required.

But those key employers are also the employers with fewer resources available to let new hires just take a bunch of time off to go take a test. Biglaw could, if it wanted to, tell its new blood that they’re getting the summer of 2021 off — with pay — to take the test, a luxury the public sector just can’t afford and one lawyers working in the public sector and hoping to keep roofs over their heads definitely can’t afford. That’s why the deans are recommending a solution that we’ve forwarded here at Above the Law, but never really thought would get this kind of high-profile traction:

In addition, we ask the Court to give serious consideration to going beyond this temporary, practice-order approach in one important respect. In light of the challenges of preparing for the bar examination while holding down a full-time job, we believe the Court should consider allowing members of the Class of 2020 who successfully complete a period of supervised practice to seek admission to the bar without sitting for the bar examination. Even more than a regime of provisional permission for supervised practice while preparing to sit for the bar, such an approach would mitigate the harm caused to the Class of 2020 by the postponement of the July 2020 bar examination.

A functional apprenticeship track! It may not be the right solution for everyone, but in a world where we’re constantly concerned that law school creates lawyers on paper that lack practice-ready skills, what if the bar to licensing actually focused on “building practical skills”? A bar exam does nothing but make sure people who already passed law school can… pass another law school test. Making a practical route to admission would be revolutionary for New York.

The deans aren’t advocating for such a wholesale change right now, but if this proposal were to work out, it would be hard to imagine putting the toothpaste back in the tube. And maybe that would be for the best. Since getting a job is already hard, over the long-term, these apprenticeships should be handled through law schools and replace the third year, but I digress. That can be an article for next year when we’re all wondering why we don’t just go forward after a successful pilot program.

But it’s such a drastic departure from the status quo that it will face opposition. How does one guarantee that an applicant is actually learning anything practical while employed? What about supervising lawyers who are themselves… bad at their jobs? Maintaining quality control will require a lot of thought. We’ve done this before, but it could prove a difficult transition even in the short-term.

And then the deans just throw in this last grenade and close the door:

We further urge the future consideration of the administration of the bar exam online. Although we recognize that moving the exam online requires careful exploration of technological complexities and coordination among jurisdictions, it is evident that, were such an option feasible now, it might enable the profession to adapt more deftly to the unanticipated challenges of this global emergency.

Moving the bar exam online. Where nothing ever goes wrong.

That’s just daunting enough to make everyone think that apprenticeship might be doable after all.

Check out the full letter on the next page.

Earlier: Over 2,000 Law School Students Sign Letter Seeking Diploma-Privileged Licensure
Bar Exam Task Force Eyes September Test, Proposes Practice Waivers
July NY State Bar Exam Officially Off

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Litera’s business continuity series dives into the unprecedented challenges we are all facing and looks at how technology can help provide what law firms need to continue serving their clients, even while their teams are working remotely, unable to travel or meet face-to-face with clients, and otherwise disrupted from their regular routines. You can find the introduction here and part two, about working remotely, here.

As law offices continue to close in response to the coronavirus pandemic, individual lawyers have to adjust to working remotely while helping clients navigate an incredibly challenging time.

Fortunately, lawyers are quite adept at juggling conflicting needs and pressures — it’s a hallmark of the legal profession.

However, this pandemic has stretched many lawyers past the bounds of that stoic facade. Businesses face incredible challenges as revenue slows and the world becomes more conservative about spending. Critical investments that seemed certain, deals projected to close in the next month, payroll obligations coming due, vendor relationships and contracts are all impacted by the pandemic. Some businesses will not survive, deals may be scrapped, and investments might be delayed. Clients need more than just legal counsel. How you can maintain your client relationships under the weight of this extraordinary stress? How can you be there for your clients when you literally can’t be there? My advice is this: think broader about how you can advise your clients, think about what you can do.

Here are four meaningful ways that can help you manage and add value to your client relationships during the coronavirus crisis.

1. Understand that legal advice can impact business decisions.

Much attention has been given to force majeure clauses that allow businesses to terminate contracts under extraordinary measures, with technology emerging to allow teams to find and understand these clauses. However, in a connected world, it is important to understand and think through the overall impact of exercising these provisions in addition to navigating many different challenges currently faced by clients. How best can you help position your client for success in the future? Do you understand the depth of their relationships and business needs that you can help guide them through these critical decisions?

Help clients identify key relationships that need to be preserved and maintained for future success of the business. Rather than terminating contracts, what approaches can they take to maintain relationships long term. Understand how they can leverage options from the Federal stimulus bills to maintain business continuity. Help them understand how they might think through ways to conserve cash flow without negatively impacting business reputation.

2. Use tools to communicate effectively.

Face to face meetings with white boarding sessions are still possible if you leverage collaboration and communication tools to connect with your clients and can help you better gauge client response and receptiveness.

Project management tools can help you map out business milestones and key action items to pursue with each option. For example, if an investment transaction is put on hold, what is the current runway, at which inflection point do you add additional cash flow restrictions and what do you need to share with current investors to pursue smaller internal rounds. For clients navigating exit strategies, you can leverage collaboration tools to better assess options and identify next steps together in real time.

That said, you do need to maintain security around your clients’ information. Work with your firm on getting VPN access for sensitive transfers and ensure your email is secure.

3. Empathize with your clients.

Listening to your clients is critical right now. They need to be able to share all their concerns with you. You have an opportunity to build enduring trust with clients by taking the time to really understand their concerns, issues and needs.  Be proactive about keeping in touch so your clients don’t have one more thing to worry about. This isn’t just about keeping your clients posted; it’s about reassuring them that you are there for them and on the job.

Note that I’m talking here about communicating on a one-to-one basis, not sending generic email blasts to your entire client list. Everyone is getting enough of those communications already! Keep in touch but focus your messages on your clients’ needs rather than your efforts to stay operational. Your communications should be effective and efficient, which will ensure that they’re responsive to your clients’ concerns while also being respectful of their time. Don’t overlook the power of connecting with your clients on a human level. You have the opportunity to deepen relationships even while physically separated.

4. Keep your clients’ deals moving.

It’s just a reality of the unsettled economic forecasts that some deals may be delayed, postponed, or canceled altogether. But you can help keep them organized, on track and accelerate closing.

I built Doxly — which is now Litera Transact — out of frustration with how slow, tedious, and paper-based transactions were. Those drawbacks are only accentuated now. For deals that get put on hold, it is hard to comb through emails and notes of conversations to find an accurate picture of where you left off. Physical signatures require in-person contact with paper packets and often with the couriers who deliver them. These contacts can increase individuals’ risk of exposure to coronavirus, reverse efforts at social distancing, and interrupt required quarantine or seclusion periods for those who may have been exposed.

Typical signature packet assembly also requires printers and scanners that can handle large volumes of paper. With transaction management tools, you can decrease time and the physical tools required for creating signature packets, tie seamlessly into digital signature tools and create electronic closing books which allow deals to be completed without the delays or the potential exposures associated traditional closing measures.

Yes, this is undoubtedly a difficult episode in our personal histories, but with the current state of technology, lawyers can continue to serve their clients through it. By accessing documents and other information remotely, holding meetings virtually, and eliminating the need to physically sign or mail transaction documents, you can maintain and even strengthen your client relationships.

This last point is so important — and the consequences in terms of human health risk so critical — that Litera is offering a lite version of Litera Transact free for six months. This version will allow lawyers to keep their clients’ deals on track by creating checklists, assembling closing books, and obtaining signatures digitally. That means no face-to-face contact, no paper, no couriers, no mailing, and no trips into the office.

In the next part of our series, we’ll take a closer look at how lawyers can streamline their manual processes — or do away with them altogether — in their new #wfh reality. If you missed it, you can find the introduction to our business continuity series here and last week’s post on how to help lawyers work remotely here.

Biglaw firms continue to be impacted by the market upheaval caused by the coronavirus crisis, and the way most law firms thus far have decided to steady their finances is through salary cuts. Today, we have news on a firm that’s chosen to “spread the burden as equitably as possible” with firmwide reductions.

Loeb & Loeb, a firm that’s well known for its entertainment practice group, will be slashing salaries across the board in an effort to “minimize layoffs and furloughs.” How deep are the firm’s temporary pay cuts? Here’s an excerpt from the memo that just went out (available on the next page):

One source doesn’t feel like these cuts are very equitable, since Loeb & Loeb “didn’t even pay close to market to begin with.” Not for nothing, but now might not be the best time to complain about market salaries considering the fact that the firm is doing this to try to keep associates in their jobs. Hopefully the firm remains true to its word.

(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Loeb & Loeb.)

If your firm or organization is slashing salaries, closing its doors, or reducing the ranks of its lawyers or staff, whether through open layoffs, stealth layoffs, or voluntary buyouts, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Our vast network of tipsters is part of what makes Above the Law thrive. You can email us or text us (646-820-8477).

If you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Layoff Alerts, please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the layoff alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each layoff, salary cut, or furlough announcement that we publish.

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

It’s easy to grow contemplative when isolated indoors in the COVID-19 world, where vicious cycles spin up like tumbleweeds in a Western. Work is a welcome distraction from increased parental duties, and parenting can be a welcome distraction from the overarching question of what a diminished economy means for job security. For those without dependents or kids in school, there are worries about elderly relatives or the risks associated with venturing out to replenish supplies.

Many of the plans that companies have put into place and Q2-4 goals can be thrown out the window at this point — if you’re even comfortable opening it -– as all of the factors that were weighed in coming up with those goals are now defunct. In the meantime, we patiently wait for answers to the questions that lie ahead that remain largely outside of our control as we responsibly social distance and watch to see if the curve flattens out in response to those individual efforts.

As lawyers, though, there is a palpable sense of growth amidst all this inertia -– at least for this practitioner.  Sure — there remains the daily drumbeat of meetings and deadlines. And now, layer on webinars about the CARES Act and training around risks associated with a new Work From Home economy. But beyond that, there is a sense of interconnectedness that brings comfort to those of us who tend to overthink things (read: every lawyer ever). An acknowledgment that we are in this together –- whatever “this” turns out to be when it’s all said and done.

The Other C Word

In the weeks since the virus took hold and developed from an oblique news story into an autobiography for each and every one of us, I have seen lawyers draw upon an attribute that unfortunately, the legal world doesn’t always emphasize or value but that should always have been there all along –- compassion.

It’s not to say that the end in any way justifies the means or that the pandemic is a positive happening in any sense at all. To be clear, it’s absolutely devastating and terrifying. But addressing a global pandemic together within the legal industry has been heartening and positive in allowing us to see each others’ softer sides, as well as the occasional offspring who might dart by during a videocall which is undeniably adorable and endearing.

Because the new normal is anything but normal, it seems that everyone is operating from a place of acceptance. Taxes aren’t going to get filed on time, SEC filings are going to be delayed, courts are on pause, conferences are getting rescheduled -– all of this is understandable and excusable because first and foremost we value our ability to survive this global pandemic. And we are rooting for all of humanity, as a disheveled team with chapped — but disinfected — hands, wearing comfy sweatpants.

Time For Change

It’s no secret that lawyers are overworked and highly stressed from bearing the weight of our clients’ problems. While adept at solving problems for others, we tend to shy away from finding solutions to our own angst. And support systems can be sparse, presumably because we cave in to the perception that lawyers should be able to maintain their composure and handle anything that comes their way without any help.

So while what is unfolding is a tragedy of epic proportions and while we are learning to juggle not just the demands of work but what is essentially home schooling –- the silver lining might just be that the legal world is a little bit kinder, a shade less cut-throat, a better place to find your way not just as a professional but also a person — a team in which we all root for each other.

As lawyers, we come up into the profession from school with the recognition that there are a limited number of A’s, and a set number of summer associate positions and permanent offers. Sharing precious answers or revealing personal challenges is anathema to success insofar as it allows your peers to overtake you. But the world in which we all now practice means virtual happy hours, words of support, heartfelt concern for others and a growing sense that while our companies and firms are important, our families and health come first. This is the world that I enjoy practicing law in, ironically. Someday, we will all be allowed to go back outside to the world we knew, let’s not lose this valuable lesson along the way.

Author’s Note: The American Bar Association has resources for lawyers who are struggling. If you are going through a hard time right now, please seek help or connect with me, and I’ll do my best to issue spot this alongside you.  We are all in this together.

Jennifer DeTrani is General Counsel and EVP of Nisos, a technology-enabled cybersecurity firm.  She co-founded a secure messaging platform, Wickr, where she served as General Counsel for five years.  You can connect with Jennifer on Wickr (dtrain), LinkedIn or by email at dtrain@nisos.com.

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.

Doctors and nurses in emergency rooms and ICUs, are on the front lines fighting this pandemic. They are also regular people, with children, families, exes, and court-ordered custody, visitation, and parenting time. Family law attorneys are about to see a lot of motions to suspend visitation for clients who are healthcare professionals. Should courts be limiting the time that children spend with those on the front lines of this pandemic?

First, check on executive and judicial orders in the states in question.

In some states, governors have entered executive orders dealing with activity and travel. Some of these orders mention custody and visitation. For example, in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper’s travel ban provides a specific exception for travel for the purpose of custody and visitation. The Kentucky Supreme Court has issued an order specifically dealing with custody and parenting-time orders. Be sure to check on the orders in your state.

Next, look at the best interests of the children.

Assuming there is no executive or judicial order that conclusively solves the issue, then the overriding concern should be the bests interests of the child.  The CDC states that adults make up the most known cases to date and that children with confirmed cases generally present with very mild symptoms.  Practitioners and parents should also consider whether the child has asthma, is immune-compromised, or otherwise at greater risk from the coronavirus.  Experts have said that, in general, children have not been as at risk as adults from serious complications from the coronavirus, but that does not mean that in some cases, like with asthma, that a child might not be at greater risk.

Assuming the child does not have asthma or other health concerns, practitioners and parents should consider other factors, such as, how close is the child to a parent in the healthcare industry? Is that parent the primary custodian? Does the child regularly spend a lot of time with that parent? Would limiting time with that parent be traumatic to the child, especially given that the child’s routine is already impacted by the closure of schools, activities, and ability to be around friends?

Look at the specific circumstances of the parent in the healthcare industry.

Is the parent working in a hard-hit area like New York City, without proper protection like masks, gloves, and gowns? Or is the parent in a more rural area that has not seen as many cases? Is the parent working longer shifts? Is the parent doing everything he or she should upon return home, like washing clothes, removing shoes, etc.? Assuming the parent in the healthcare industry is taking proper precautions, like using N95 masks when performing procedures that may put him or her at greater risk for transmission, washing his or hands, avoiding touching his or her face, and removing all clothing upon return home, the risk of transmission may be very small.

Consider the other parent’s situation.

Is that parent at high risk due to asthma or is that parent immune-compromised? Does that parent share a house with or care for someone who is at greater risk due to age or health concerns? What is that parent’s work schedule? Is that parent maintaining proper social distancing? Is that parent also an essential employee, or otherwise still coming into contact with people? The circumstances for both parents need to be carefully considered.

Final considerations.

Above all else, this is about the child’s best interests; it’s not about what either parent wants. Lawyers should be on the lookout for opportunistic parents who are still angry at an ex and who may see this as a chance to limit that other parent’s time with the child. There is also a strong element of equity or fairness here as well: we are asking our healthcare professionals to put their lives on the line to save our lives. Every day, they go to work and fight this pandemic that has disrupted the entire world while the rest of us watch. Do we thank these individuals by deeming them unfit parents? Do we reward them by denying them downtime with their children? That doesn’t seem right.

Lawyers should weigh all these considerations when advising and guiding their clients during these difficult times.

(Image by Bella Muse/www.Bella-Muse.com)

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.

If you’re a lawyer practicing in a state that has instituted a “shelter in place” mandate, your comfortable daily routine has most likely been rudely disrupted. Those of you who are introverts are probably thrilled with this sudden turn of events, but if you’re an extrovert, well, my thoughts go out to you.

Regardless of your personality type, due to the pervasiveness and contagiousness of COVID-19 you’ve no doubt developed an unexpected and resounding sense of empathy for Howie Mandel, which by chance coincided with a sudden onset of mysophobia. As a result, you may have found yourself seeking to avoid face-to-face contact with your germ-ridden fellow humans by reluctantly resorting to videoconferencing via Zoom, a platform that is suddenly all the rage in today’s pandemic-ridden world.

It wasn’t always this way. Like most lawyers, prior to March 1, you most likely associated the word “zoom” with a strange little kid in a commercial who was obsessed with Mazdas, of all things. But now you’re a videoconferencing fool.

Despite having no idea what you’re doing, you’re giving it the old college try and are bumbling along. Hopefully you’ve managed to avoid using the facilities while your webcam was on and have likewise taken Bob Ambrogi’s Zoom etiquette tips to heart.

If so, then you’re well on your way to Zooming like a pro. But to truly advance to videoconferencing mastery, you need take it to the next level.

Ready to kick it up a notch? If so, here are a few of my favorite Zoom tips and tricks.

Bling Up Your Background

Haven’t you always wanted to be one of the cool kids? Well with a blinged-up Zoom background, that wish can become reality. With this setting, you can change your background to display any image you choose, whether it’s the bridge of the Enterprise, the Simpsons’ living room, the rolling waves on a beach, or a beautiful city skyline.

Changing your background is easy. First you’ll need to download images to your computer. You can search Google for desktop wallpaper or Zoom background images and then save your chosen pictures to your computer. You can also search for video background images as well.

Then, once a meeting has started, click on the up arrow located next to “Stop Video” in the left corner of the tool bar at the bottom of the screen. Then click on “Choose Virtual Background” from the pop-up menu. Lastly, click on the plus sign (+) located in the middle of the “Settings” screen on the right side and upload your chosen images from your computer. Choose the image you’d like as your background and voilá! You’re officially the coolest kid on the block!

Be Your Best Self

If you’re like most people, you’re not exactly dressed for the office when working from home. That’s where Zoom’s fabulous “Touch Up My Appearance” setting comes in. It provides a soft focus à la Cybill Shepherd on Moonlighting.

To activate this feature, once a meeting has started, click on that same up arrow located next to “Stop Video” (as mentioned above) and choose “Video Settings” from the menu. Then check the “Touch Up My Appearance” option located under the “My Video” section. That’s  all there is to it! Now your best self will be on display for all to see.

Unmute With Ease

First and foremost, always mute yourself if you’re not talking. It’s just basic videoconferencing etiquette. Then, once you’ve done so, you can always unmute yourself by clicking on the mute button.

But if you’d like to make a quick comment or someone asks you to briefly provide input, another option available is that you can simply hold the space bar down to unmute yourself while you speak and then release the space bar when you’re done. After releasing it, you’ll be muted once again.

Abandon Snark, All Ye Who Enter Here

If your Zoom meeting host has enabled private chats, you may want to treat the private chat just as you would emails or text messages. In other words, as the saying goes, dance like no one’s watching, but Zoom chat in private as if it will someday be read in a deposition.

This is because you often have the ability choose to save chats that occurred during a meeting to your computer’s local drive. When you do this, all public chats and any of your private chats are saved in a chat log. The same goes for anyone else who chooses to save the chat: they can save public chats and private chats they were involved in. This means that private chats don’t necessarily disappear once a meeting is over, since whomever you were chatting with could save the private chat and later share it with others. So to be on the safe side, ensure that your private chats are snark-free.

Be A Control Freak

Last, but not least, familiarize yourself with the settings that allow you to control meetings and participants. By doing so, you’ll save yourself a lot of hassles down the road.

When scheduling a meeting, you can choose whether to require a password for the meeting and also restrict access to only users who have signed in. Under “advanced settings” you can choose to “mute participants on entry,” which can sometimes come in handy depending on the personalities of those attending.

You can also manage participants during the meeting. To do this, click on “Manage Participants” in the middle of the toolbar on the bottom of the screen. This will open up a sidebar on the right where you have the option to choose to mute all participants. Then under “More” you can choose to lock the meeting to prevent new participants from joining, and can also choose whether to allow participants to unmute themselves or rename themselves.

Those are just a few ways to up your Zoom game in the days to come. Just think, a few weeks ago you’d have scoffed at the idea of a video conference, and here you are, nearly a Zoom master. The times they sure are a-changin’.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and Director of Business and Community Relations at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.

American law firms seem to be in a full panic thanks to the arrival of the novel coronavirus pandemic that’s been sweeping the globe. From salary cuts to furloughs to layoffs, these firms have done just about everything as far as cost-saving measures are concerned to maintain their financial health — well, almost everything.

Summer associate season is just around the corner, and while some firms have deferred start dates and others have embraced the possibility of remote work, others still have been dragging their feet, waiting for some guidance before deciding to make a move that could impact the rest of their student employees’ lives.

As Zeughauser Group legal consultant Kent Zimmermann has mused regarding this year’s summer programs, “[s]ome [firms] have canceled, made [an] internal announcement, but have not yet publicly announced the decision.” Today, we’ll be publicly announcing one law firm’s decision for them.

FordHarrison, one of the nation’s largest labor and employment law firms, contacted students earlier this week to let them know that its summer program would not be taking place. Here’s an excerpt from the letter students received:

We have made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 summer associate program as a result of the uncertainty and challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 16, many FordHarrison offices have been operating remotely and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Relationship building and face-to-face interaction between lawyers and summer associates are essential to our recruiting process and the opportunity we committed to provide to you. Client demand for our services remains high, but it is very difficult to anticipate what the coming months may bring even when the on-site work resumes. Given this level of uncertainty, we determined we will not have the appropriate learning opportunities available to provide a meaningful summer associate experience.

We reached out to FordHarrison for comment, but have not yet received word back. We will update this article with any responses we receive.

While we understand where the firm is coming from, this really puts the law students who expected to spend the summer working at FordHarrison — in any form, remotely or in person — in a horrible position. Not only will they be jobless, but the financial insecurity the firm’s would-be employees will be facing during a public health crisis is beyond the pale. “It hurts to know that summer associates matter so little,” said one of the law students affected by FordHarrison’s decision. “I hope I’ll be able to find something before May (or, at the very least, I hope I can even pay rent).”

Best of luck to all of the law students who were affected by FordHarrison’s decision to suspend it summer associate program due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Flip to the next page to see the full letter from FordHarrison.)

What is your firm planning to do with its summer associate program amid coronavirus concerns? Please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “Coronavirus Summer Associate Program”) and let us know. Stay safe.

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sad news from the front lines of the coronavirus. Retired Southern District of New York Judge Kevin Duffy passed away from COVID-19 yesterday. He was 87 years old.

Duffy, who served in S.D.N.Y. for 44 years, retired from the bench in 2016 and worked with his son, Kevin Duffy, Jr,. at the Greenwich, Connecticut, firm of Duffy & Staab. The former assistant U.S. attorney and the administrator of the New York regional office of the Securities and Exchange Commission was nominated to the federal bench in 1972 by President Richard Nixon.

At S.D.N.Y., Duffy oversaw a number of prominent trials. In the 1980s, he presided over a trial of several members of the Gambino organized crime family, as well as the federal trial of the infamous Brink’s armed car robbery. He was also the judge assigned the two trials related to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

One of his S.D.N.Y. colleagues, Judge P. Kevin Castel, told the New York Law Journal this about Duffy:

“He’s had some of the most important trials there are,” Castel said. “Yet despite all of this, in 44 years of service to the court, many of us know that at the heart of his greatness were small acts of care and concern for others, particularly at times when they were experiencing a bad period in their life. … John Sprizzo, who was a judge of this court, once said to me that with friends like Kevin Duffy, you don’t need many friends.”

Shawn Regan, a former Duffy clerk and now a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth, had similarly wonderful things to say about the judge:

“On the occasion of his 40th anniversary on the bench, he revealed to an audience the central element of his legendarily brutal law clerk interview process,” Regan said in an email. “He said: ‘It was quite simple, really. I was looking for people who I could have as my friends for the rest of my life.’”

And his son remembered him as “as good as [fathers] get,” saying, “He, quite frankly, was one of my best friends, if not my best friend.”

Our thoughts go out to his family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).