President’s Page

A Hope for Spring

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” – Anne Bradstreet

The President’s

Page

BY JOSEPH FUSZ PRESIDENT

While we are not living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and balancing a Puritan lifestyle with the harsh conditions of colonial life, as Anne Bradstreet did, the past two years of pandemic life have not been without their shares of hardship and struggle. This month represents the second anniversary of the shutdown of the legal system in Lake County due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the divergent path forward that our lives have taken since then.

It has been a difficult time, and we have suffered a tremendous amount of loss over the last 24 months. Loss of the familiar professional surroundings that we experienced in-person at the courthouse; loss of personal interactions with our family, friends and colleagues; loss of civic norms and customary courtesies that have been weathered away by stress, anxiety, and uncertainty brought on by coronavirus. This says nothing of the death of family and friends due to the pandemic. We truly have faced our share of adversity.

Adversity can be a difficult thing to quantify, especially in a profession which is built upon “comparables” and the principles of stare decisis. Tort practitioners often look to the Jury Verdict Reporter for the value of personal injury or medical malpractice cases. Criminal litigators often talk about the “value of a case” based on prior fully negotiated pleas between attorneys or sentences imposed by the judiciary. In family law, legal advice can be given based upon past results and local practice. Therefore, there can be a natural inclination to judge someone’s situation based on another’s experience

However, everyone has unique circumstances when it comes to their pandemic experience. Be it at home or at work, we are not all similarly situated. Moreover, comparing one person’s situation to someone else’s is not fair or equitable to either side. All of us are carrying tremendous responsibilities on our shoulders. Just because it appears that someone is carrying more than you does not mean that your own load to bear isn’t heavy. As one popular Internet image extolls, “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.” That also includes being kind and fair to ourselves in our introspection and self-reflection.

It has been a difficult time. But as Thomas Fuller first wrote in 1650,

Joseph Fusz President Tara Devine First Vice President Katharine Hatch Second Vice President Kevin Berrill Treasurer Daniel Hodgkinson Secretary Hon. Patricia Cornell Immediate Past President Dwayne Douglas Hon. Jacquelyn Melius Craig Mandell Sarah Raisch Jeffrey O’Kelley Jeremy Harter