Shaking It Up:
Perspectives of Attorneys Working From Home The coronavirus pandemic has affected all industries; restaurants are only serving patrons outside, retail stores are moving to a predominately online system and small businesses are finding new ways to reach their customers. Private and public companies have shifted to working from home, with all of the trials, tribulations and flexibility that working from home introduces. Many employees, now, are dealing with a much different work schedule than the one they had gotten used to back in February. Some exclusively work from home, on the standard 9 – 5 shift. Others have an adjusted schedule, having to juggle children who are getting schooling exclusively online this year. Some go into the office every so often, with the bulk of their work being from home. And some still are going to the office every day, on a normal schedule (albeit while wearing a face mask).
For attorneys who are used to face-toface meetings with clients, colleagues and judges, it can be hard to get used to meeting digitally. Coffee hours, late-night strategy sections, work parties and networking events are all happening in a form that many attorneys are unused to. As a profession, the mental shift toward conducting business through applications like Zoom or Skype, or simply over email, has caused stress for some, while being an easy change for others. Everyone has been dealing with the impact of this pandemic differently; outside commitments, workload, technology and personal comfort all vary, so no one view will be the same. To gauge how younger attorneys have been coping with the changes, we reached out to our Young Lawyers committee and asked them to share their own perspectives on dealing with the pandemic.
Todd A. Fichtenberg, Esq. Allison L. Harrison Law, LLC todd@alharrisonlaw.com “I was supposed to get married March 21, 2020‌ but the craziness hit the weekend before. Fortunately, my best friend is also a pastor, so after I packed up my downtown office on March 16, 2020, he married us in a private ceremony with just the three of us in
16 | Columbus Bar Lawyers Quarterly Fall 2020
