I t ’s a S m a l l W o r l d
Discounting your fees during a pandemic is for
DUMMIES by: bradley miller
And what you should do instead It is 3 A.M. The house is dark and quiet. Your significant other is sleeping soundly on the bed next to you. You suddenly sit up with a jolt, your heart racing and a cold sweat rolling down your forehead. What little sleep you’ve gotten the past few weeks has been sporadic at best. Instead, you lie awake at night wondering if you are going to have enough money to make payroll. What do you tell your staff when
you have to let them go? One of the worst things you can do in an emergency is panic. When you panic, typically one of two things happen. Either your “fightor-flight” instincts kick in and you start making hasty hormone-guided decisions, or you become paralyzed with fear and indecision.1 Neither are helpful when you are trying to respond in an emergency. Many law firm owners have been living in a constant state of emergency since mid-March because of COVID. While law firms were classified as “essential businesses” and able to remain open, new client inquiries and legal work dried up for some firms overnight. Most law firms typically
20 | Columbus Bar L aw yers Quarterly Fall 2020
