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Inclusivity and High Performance Begins with Psychological Safety

A workplace where employees believe they can speak up candidly with ideas, questions, and concerns, and even make mistakes without fear of reprisal or adverse repercussions, contributes to inclusivity and can improve performance. In such a work environment, employees feel comfortable asking questions, admitting what they do not know, or expressing their work-relevant thoughts and feelings. This construct is called psychological safety.

According to Lisa H. Nishii, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Human Resource Studies and Director, International Programs, in the School of Industrial Labor Relations of Cornell University, with regard to psychological safety:

The issue to think about here is if team members can’t bring themselves to speak what’s on their mind — that is they censor themselves, then they won’t experience inclusion, nor will the group benefit from their perspectives. If team members don’t trust each other, then they’re going to waste time and energy thinking about what they should say, and what they shouldn’t say, and wonder about the true intentions of their peers when they’re interacting with them.

In comparison, when employees feel free from worrying about repercussions, how they will be perceived, or what people will think of them, they are able to be more engaged and connected in the workplace. They spend less time and energy being stressed or anxious, can create more mental space to think creatively, share their unique perspectives, and are more actively engaged in problem solving.

Psychological safety is important for all employees to feel included and is particularly important for employees who have been historically underrepresented in a particular field or workplace. I recall an early experience as an African American attorney working in a predominantly white law firm. On the first day, I filled out paperwork in a large conference room decorated with portraits of the founders of the firm — all white men. I was introduced to the office manager and head of the class action practice group — all white. I was then provided a firm manual on trends in class action litigation including photos of the authors — all white. One of the initial messages conveyed to me from seeing these images was that I did not belong. These initial messages, compounded with seeing few African Americans at the firm and even fewer in leadership positions, created an environment where I did not feel safe to ask questions, fully engage, or share my viewpoint or perspective — not because of a lack of skill or talent, but because my environment did not feel safe to authentically show up in.

Psychological safety assists in creating an inclusive environment. Inclusion enhances performance and retention, which furthers a company’s ability to meet its goals and financial targets. However, in order for organizations to get the benefits of inclusion, employees from underrepresented groups need to feel comfortable presenting their authentic selves. If an employee does not feel welcome or included, the employee will engage, if at all, out of obligation and not with the uninhibited feeling of being a part of a psychologically safe organization.

Here are six tips to create psychological safety for employees in the workplace, particularly for employees who have been historically underrepresented:

1. Understand Stereotypes and Preconceptions, and Conduct a Diversity and Inclusion Assessment

We all have conscious and unconscious biases. Unconscious biases are more concerning because, by definition, we are not fully aware of them. Unconscious biases are beliefs about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. A critical step in creating psychological safety is to understand one’s personal biases, along with those of the organization.

Therefore, an initial step in creating psychological safety is discussing bias, as well as conducting anti-bias training. Additionally, conducting a diversity and inclusion assessment can provide your organization a data-driven understanding of the current workplace demographics and culture around diversity and inclusion. Weldon Latham, founder of the unique Jackson Lewis Corporate Diversity Counseling Group, has been representing Fortune 200 companies and conducting diversity and inclusion assessments for over 20 years. He advises:

Implementing diversity initiatives in a vacuum can actually be harmful to an organization. A better approach is to conduct a diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) assessment of key metrics and cultural indicators, and prepare a DEI Strategic Plan that will inform the development of effective initiatives.

2. Empathize and Be Curious

Put yourself in the shoes of a new employee and try imagining what they are going through. This is even more important when the incoming employee is of a different race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, or status different from the majority of employees in the same or similar role. Organizations might be tempted to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to creating teams or assigning supervisors without understanding the potential for individuals who are underrepresented to feel excluded. You may need to empathize with the experience of an employee who finds themselves doubted or judged because of personal characteristics. This might alter how you create teams or assign supervisors.

As a result, curiosity becomes important. According to dictionary.com, curiosity is a “a strong desire to know or learn something.” As it relates to diversity, curiosity is having a strong desire to learn about the experiences of others to create an environment where employees feel seen and heard, and uninhibited to share their perspectives.

Empathy and curiosity in the workplace include taking the time to ask employees about their ideal supervision: the style of communication (email or call), type of feedback (direct or example), and frequency of checking in (daily or weekly). It does not mean accommodating all of these requests, but listening and trying. This not only builds trust but encourages employees to “buy in” or feel engaged if they feel they have had some say-so in their work experience.

3. Onboard with Intentionality

An important step in mitigating cultural barriers occurs at the start of employment. Michael D. Watkins stated in his Harvard Business Review article, “7 Ways to Set Up a New Hire for Success,” effective onboarding “brings new employees up to speed 50% faster, which means they’re more quickly and efficiently able to contribute to achieving desired goals. Effective onboarding also dramatically reduces failure rates and increases employee engagement and retention.”

Often employers believe in hiring talent and providing training over time. But making efforts to help employees feel welcome and valued upfront will build confidence and belief that they belong. It will also reduce stress and anxiety and create an initial feeling that it is safe to engage or add value. Moreover, if an organization lacks diversity, careless onboarding can heighten feelings among underrepresented employees of not belonging.

4. Be Consistent

Litigation often results when communication and behavior are not aligned. Make sure your actions in the workplace match your messaging. Over the past several months, employers have released statements about racism and made various commitments to diversity and inclusion. Similarly, more employers are requiring implicit bias training. Public statements and training, however, must result in changes in workplace behavior, otherwise you lose credibility with employees.

Similarly, some workplaces have “unwritten rules” on achieving success. This runs counter to an inclusive environment because there is inconsistency between written metrics for performance and promotion and the realities of the workplace. If an inclusive environment was in place and functioning, there would be no need for “unwritten rules.” Until that is the case, knowing the “unwritten rules” or what you are “up against” at a minimum empowers an individual to make more informed decisions about navigating their way in the workplace.

Psychological safety ultimately involves trust, which takes time to build and work to keep. If an employer’s actions around diversity and inclusion are inconsistent with its messaging to employees or to the public, the employer will lose credibility. Employees, particularly those who are underrepresented or who have been marginalized, will feel less safe in the workplace because of these inconsistencies.

5. Develop Opportunities for More Interpersonal Interactions

Employees need to have more opportunities to interact organically to form social bonds and trust over time. I can recall as a junior attorney speaking with a white senior attorney whom I was starting to work with more. She asked about my weekend. I responded that I went to a concert. She asked, who did I see? I felt uncomfortable saying “Public Enemy” because I felt she might not know them or might judge me in a way that would negatively impact our working relationship. Instead, I answered “a band I used to listen to in college.” As we worked together, we were able to get to know one another more and I was able to share more about myself. Through this rapport, we both realized we had more in common than we may have initially perceived. As I built social ties, it was easier to ask for help, acknowledge when I did not know something, or challenge a strategic decision.

When management takes the time to build an understanding of other people, it becomes more comfortable to speak up. It is helpful for workplaces to think of ways to foster and support positive, healthy interactions among employees. This may include collaborations across teams, informal discussion at periodic team meetings, or setting boundaries and expectations for employee interpersonal engagements that are informed by inclusion.

Moreover, if employees feel more comfortable in the workplace, they are likely to discuss any disputes internally and seek to resolve them cooperatively.

6. The Value of a Diverse Pool of Employees

When you create a work environment where employees see a representation of themselves in varying positions within the workplace, they are more likely to feel comfortable being themselves. One way to help achieve this is to increase the diversity of the pool of candidates considered for positions. The Rooney Rule in the National Football League and the Mansfield Rule adopted by numerous law firms are two examples of ways to increase diversity within all levels of an organization.

Diversity and inclusion is a journey. Like most journeys, a well-crafted vision is key to its success, but be wary of legal traps. Failing to think strategically about diversity can result in employees feeling unsafe in the workplace. A well-crafted diversity and inclusion strategy fueled by data from a diversity assessment creates more employee engagement, less employee turnover, and, importantly, helps reduce stress, anxiety, and fear that may result in litigation.

ARTICLE BY Michael D. Thomas of Jackson Lewis P.C.

For more articles on the legal industry, visit the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

A Lawyer, C.I.A. Analyst and a Crisis Management Specialist Walk Into a Bar…

Before James Comey headed up the F.B.I., he served as general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corporation. While at Lockheed, he spoke at the National Security Agency about how studying law is similar to the education intelligence analysts receive. “You read a case and decipher…relevant facts, the [outcome] of the case…you are drilled on your reasoning, challenged by other interpretations…clear writing matters…facts matter.” He went on to praise legal training “because it is an extraordinarily valuable tool in the world of intelligence.”

He elaborated on what he called a “uniquely lawyerly ability…to transport ourselves to another time and place. The ability to present facts to an imaginary future fact-finder, in an environment very different from the one in which we face current crisis and decision…we know that our actions, and those of the agencies we support, will be held up in a quiet, dignified, well-lit room, where they can be viewed with the perfect, and brutally unfair, vision of hindsight.”

Comey talked about how lawyers “must know how to say both ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ even when ‘no’ must be spoken into a storm of crisis, with loud voices all around, with lives hanging in the balance…and often, ‘no’ must be spoken in competition with the voices of other lawyers who do not have the courage to echo it.”

While I find Mr. Comey’s short remarks to be thoughtful and on target, I do take exception to his assertion that presenting facts to an imaginary future fact-finder is “uniquely lawyerly.” I would argue that same skill set is present in the men and women who practice the specialized art and craft of crisis management and crisis communications. They, too, must be able to quickly perform a situation analysis (often within the fog of information overload), look for connections and quickly play out a variety of scenarios, also knowing they will be second-guessed if things go awry. And just as important as lawyers giving red light-green light counsel, so must crisis management counsel be able to take a stand – and speak truth to power.

Bad things do happen to good people, to good companies, agencies, nonprofits, schools and hospitals. But as Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” And when those things do happen, it’s important to have both lawyers and seasoned crisis managers in the room, each with the ability to say “yes” or “no” with conviction, backed up with the kind of experience that can’t be found in a book.

In that talk at the National Security Agency, Comey said, “It takes far more than a sharp legal mind to say ’no’ when it matters most. It takes moral character. It takes an ability to see the future. It takes an appreciation of the damage that will flow from an unjustified ‘yes’ (and) when it can be, to ‘no’ when it must be.”

I couldn’t agree more.

ARTICLE BY Bruce M. Hennes at Hennes Communications.

See the National Law Review Law Office Management section for similar topics.

Building a Successful Law Firm—Without an Office

Rent is one of the largest expenses for law firms, sometimes taking up as much as 10 percent of their gross revenue. Too, it’s not uncommon for workers in large cities to have hour-plus commutes to their offices. The majority of today’s clients are more interested in efficiency and reasonable prices than how glamorous their lawyer’s office is. As a result, firms are choosing another way to work: virtual offices.

Marcia Watson Wasserman, Founder and President of Comprehensive Management Solutions, Inc., serves as a consulting COO for boutique and mid-sized law firms, helping numerous lawyers develop and sustain virtual offices. She joined the Law Firm Marketing Catalyst podcast to share her expertise and advice for lawyers considering moving toward virtual work.

Know who you’re working with

With a virtual office, you can’t pop into a colleague’s office or bump into them in the hallway. You won’t see what they’re doing on a daily basis, so you need to trust that they share the same goals, work ethic and commitment to firm culture as you. Marcia finds that people who have worked together at a brick-and-mortar firm before going virtual tend to work best, because an in-person relationship and sense of trust is already established. If you’re going virtual, find colleagues you already know personally, or at the very least, spend plenty of in-person time with them before committing to anything.

Understand your tech tools

It’s impossible to have a virtual firm without the help of cloud-based technology tools. To have a successful virtual firm, everyone must be an expert on those tools. Law firms are notorious for buying software, then failing to learn how to use it—that won’t fly with a virtual firm. You need remote systems and procedures that streamline your practice and benefit your clients, and everyone must be comfortable using them. At a minimum, you’ll have to invest both money and training time in document management software, video conferencing software, client portals for paying bills, collaboration tools and, of course, encryption and data security tools.

Cultivate communication

How to delegate work, how to offer feedback, how to manage work among teams, when and how to have meetings—these questions are equally important at virtual or brick-and-mortar firms. But at virtual firms, it becomes even more critical that you discuss them openly and have communications systems in place. When communication is only happening by email, it can easily break down. Video conferencing, phone calls and planned communication are the antidote to this problem. Virtual connection also needs to be backed up with in-person events like retreats and social gatherings, at least annually. Maintaining communication at a virtual firm isn’t just important for client work, it’s also crucial to maintain firm culture.

Working from home sounds great, but it’s not for everyone. Some people get lonely working remotely. Others get distracted or they lack the motivation to work if they’re not in an office. Just like lawyers, support staff must have the right personality and skillset to work virtually. Another element to consider with support staff is wage and hour law in your location. Most support staff are non-exempt, and you have to consider supervision, insurance and the myriad of issues that arise when you have staff working remotely. Management issues don’t go away when support staff is out of sight.

Take advantage of time to network

Virtual work doesn’t mean staying home staring at your computer all day. The majority of work might be done from your home office, but networking can still happen in person. Join organizations, go to meetings and attend events to stay connected to your profession and your colleagues. Virtual work also offers more flexibility to meet with clients and attend events important to their industry. You’ll get to know your clients at a deeper level, which they’ll appreciate, and it will get you out of your work-from-home routine—a win for everyone.

If you can’t go fully virtual, start small

Not every firm is suited to virtual work, but many firms can use some of its elements to their advantage. Especially in large cities, more firms are using co-working spaces or opening small satellite offices that are more convenient for lawyers to get to. With more attorneys working outside of the main office a few days a week, the next logical step for some firms is to encourage office sharing. It’s a huge cultural shift for partners to share an office, but it can offer tremendous space and cost savings, and this concept typically doesn’t faze young associates.

ARTICLE BY Sharon Berman at Berbay Marketing & Public Relations Firm.

For more on running a law firm, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

13 Signs It Is Time to Hire an Outside Marketing Professional

Marketing is the backbone of your law firm’s growth. Think of it this way: a bad attorney can still drum up a substantial amount of business with an impressive marketing plan, but an excellent attorney’s skills will not save them from a weak or nonexistent marketing plan. If you are wondering if you have outgrown your current marketing plan, look for these signs that you need an outside professional.

1. Marketing Takes Up More Than 15 Minutes of Your Billable Time

As an attorney, you should spend most of your time doing what you do best. If you spend more than 15 minutes per day writing and scheduling tweets, checking marketing metrics, or optimizing your blog posts, you are wasting time that should be spent researching, meeting with clients, or preparing for court. Outsource these tasks to a professional.

2. Your Returns Have Plateaued

Seeing big returns on your law firm’s marketing efforts is exciting, which is why plateaus are so disappointing. Without in-depth marketing education and experience, you are unlikely to know what it takes to overcome those plateaus. And while there is a wealth of online information on how to do it yourself, it is a better use of your time and skill to involve a professional consultant that can highlight new ways to bring in potential clients.

3. You Want to Take Your Marketing to the Next Level

No matter how brilliant and creative you are when it comes to selling yourself and your practice, you would be amazed at the opportunities and ideas that a professional can bring to the table. Whether it is identifying a potential sub-market that could grow your law firm, or developing new branding ideas that speak to a different demographic than your typical client, an outside marketing consultant can enhance your current strategy and increase your return on investment.

4. A Big Change or Event is Approaching

An important event or big change in your firm is a massive marketing opportunity, but can also be a massive source of stress. With so many small details to consider, as well as pressure for the event to be successful, a holistic marketing company can provide you with wrap-around support for your event. Not only can they show you the best ways to market your event, but may also offer event planning services, subcontractor management, and even discounted purchasing on your behalf.

5. Your In-House Team Has Become Complacent

In-house marketing teams can work as well-oiled machines, properly allocating their efforts across different team members and projects. In some cases, though, they become complacent and stop giving your firm the time and effort necessary to bring in new clients. Instead of trying to motivate a team that has lost passion for seeing your law firm succeed, consider adding an outside marketing eye to your mix. Often legal marketing consultants offer hourly consultation rates that are perfect for when you simply want a fresh perspective and a new direction without a long-term commitment.

6. You Are Striking Out on Your Own

Starting your own law firm is a significant accomplishment. Avoid the trap of saving money by engaging in DIY marketing. Although it may seem like a good way to cut costs at the outset, shoddy marketing and tone-deaf messaging can actually do far more financial damage than the amount you might save. From logo design and business cards to innovative pay-per-click campaigns and social media marketing, it is better to start out on the right foot with a solid marketing team or consultant that can give you a solid foundation for the future.

7. Circumstances Call for Rebranding

No one is perfect, and every law firm has had its fair share of blunders. However, when a huge mistake smears your name and causes any Google search of your firm to reflect poorly on your brand, it is time to call in a professional legal marketer. They can help mitigate reviews, consult on best next steps, and develop a re-branding strategy that can save your business before negative press starts affecting your bottom line.

8. You Do Not Have Time to Pursue Further Credentialing

In the legal world, reputation is key to success. For many lawyers, this means participation in cause marketing, leadership in relevant associations, and pursuing awards and credentialing opportunities. Unfortunately, not every lawyer has the time, means, or energy to research these opportunities and develop them. A good outside marketing consultant will be able to review your experience and professional strengths and use them to find appropriate places for you to speak, guest author, and submit yourself for public recognition for the good that you do.

9. You Want Help Understanding Your Marketing Analytics

Whether you work with an in-house marketing team or do your own law firm marketing, detailed analysis is a vital part of knowing what is working with your marketing strategy. This can become very frustrating, especially if you are receiving or running reports that you do not understand. Instead of trying to give yourself a full marketing education, turn them over to a specialist. An outside legal marketing consultant can review your analytics with you, highlight the areas that are meeting expectations and give suggestions on how to improve those areas that are slow.

10. Blog Upkeep is Getting Away From You

Companies with blogs get, on average, 67% more leads than companies without blogs, according to Demand Metric. It is not enough to create a new post whenever your schedule allows; blogging has to be a scheduled and highly prioritized part of your marketing plan. If your updates are becoming more and more infrequent, a marketing specialist can create a content calendar and even help you hire a ghostwriter to ensure that the posts keep coming.

11. Your Presentation and Publication Schedule Is No Longer Manageable

If you are not on top of your presentation and publication schedule, a marketing specialist can help you organize, prepare for, and promote these important parts of your marketing strategy. Remember, every presentation you make and every publication you produce is a chance to reach new clients. It makes sense to hire someone who knows how to best identify new avenues for this kind of credentialing and can take the time to ensure that everything is in order so that you are set up for success with no stress on your part.

12. Client Prospects Are Drying Up

Every law firm has slower spells and busy times. Still, if you are noticing a downward trend, it is time to analyze whether it is a normal dip in activity or a problem with some element of your marketing plan. If you have already exhausted your current networking and marketing efforts but business is still not picking up, a marketing professional can give some much needed insight.

13. Your Online Properties Are Out-of-Date or Poorly Managed

Your image is everything. Attorney websites with broken links, attorney bios that have not been updated in years, and abandoned blogs can lead clients to think you are no longer practicing. Hire a marketing specialist to consolidate online properties and manage their upkeep.

Choosing the right marketing expert can breathe new life into your client prospects and take your success to the next level. With the right support, your law firm can be flexible and relevant, able to identify new opportunities that will keep your law firm growing into a legacy worth having.

ARTICLE BY Meranda M. Vieyra at Denver Legal Marketing.

For more on marketing for law firms, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

How to Build a Legal Blog from the Ground Up

Blogging is one of the most straightforward ways to share your legal expertise, strengthen your reputation amongst peers and potential clients, and become a valuable resource to your community. Once you know basic SEO principles and have a writing schedule that you stick to, it can be fairly simple. You already have the expertise. Now, learn how to share it by creating an engaging, educational, and helpful legal blog.

Before All Else, Know Your Law Firm’s Target Market

Being an expert in your area of practice is one thing; effectively sharing that knowledge with your target market is another. One issue that legal professionals run into while blogging is failing to write to their audience. When writing to non-lawyers, avoid using legal language that lay people do not understand, cite sources in a way that does not interrupt the flow of your writing, and avoid an overly formal tone.

You already know who your target market is: your clients and potential referral sources. If your goal is to connect better with potential clients, write in a way that appeals to their needs and is easily readable. It is easy to write about complex, multifaceted issues in a technical and legally accurate manner, but it is an art form to write about those same topics in a way that a person with no legal background can digest.

If your target market is lawyers—as is the case when you rely primarily on other attorneys for referrals—feel free to write in a way that connects with other attorneys. Still, avoid jargon and make sure that your work is clear and concise, as unnecessary “filler” bogs down your writing and can lose readers.

Regardless of who you are marketing your blog to, make sure that your tone matches your branding as well as your intended audience. If you are not writing in a way that connects with your audience, the time you put into your blog will not pay off.

Top SEO Tips for Law Firm Blogs

Knowing just a handful of common SEO tricks and techniques is enough to get you started. As you expand your legal blog and spend more time using it as a marketing tool, you may wish to invest in marketing services that allow you to expand your reach. To begin, use these techniques in your writing:

Make the first 50 words pop. The first lines of your blog post are important for catching both readers’ and search engine robots’ attention. Increase your SEO score by including key terms in these first 50 words including your location and specialty area as well as the keywords for your article.
Take advantage of location-based keywords. Instead of targeting a phrase like “bankruptcy lawyer,” which is nearly impossible to rank for organically, use your city name and the names of neighboring cities to find people who are looking for specific local advice in your area of law.
Choose a handful of supporting keywords for each post. These are terms that have lower search volume than your main keywords, but are relevant to the main keywords. This casts a wider net with your piece.
Check the readability of your piece with online tools like WebFX. If your average visitors reads at a ninth grade level and your piece is written at a 12th grade level, you are losing potential readers.
Make use of links. Linking out to authority sources increases the authority of your blog post, and getting your post linked to by others boosts its trustworthiness. Be sure to link back to pages on your own website as well if you can.

Diversify Your Law Firm Blog Posts

This is a tough balance to strike. You want to be narrow enough that people know what type of topics to expect every time they visit your blog, but you also want to be diverse enough that people do not get bored. Mix up your content between evergreen topics and trending topics. Articles that are not contingent on timely topics bring in readers over years, while trending topics can bring big boosts of readers as they are relevant to current events. Both are necessary to maintain high traffic and get new eyes on your website.

In addition, consider diversifying blog post lengths. Data from HubSpot indicates that long-form posts perform best, with the target range being around 2,000 words. Still, if 200, 500, or 1000 words will suffice, padding it out to 2,000 words is a waste of your readers’ time. What this does mean is that you should spend considerable time crafting in-depth posts that answer questions and offer clear value to readers. The shorter posts can also be helpful when the point is clear and they are meant to be quickly read through.

Make Law Firm Blog Posts Engaging and Attractive

No one clicks on a blog post and wants to be hit with a wall of text. There are many ways you can make your posts easy to digest, attractive, and welcoming. Make use of subheadings and bold text within your posts, which not only break up your information, but signal important key topics to search robots. White space through paragraph breaks is a great way to increase readability of longer posts.

In addition, posts with relevant images get 94% more views than those without images. To avoid copyright issues, use royalty-free image sources like:

You can also create or commission infographics that sum up the main points of your post into an easy-to-share format.

The Power of Consistent Action

When you commit to blogging, commit fully with a realistic schedule. When lawyers begin blogs, they often plan on posting whenever their schedule allows. Unfortunately, this often translates into occasional posts or an empty blog. A blog that has not been updated for weeks or months tells potential clients that you may not be active, that you may be too busy for new clients, and that you may not even be in business anymore. By creating a consistent blog schedule, you can get into the habit of producing high-quality content and steadily increasing your readership each week.

Your legal blog could help you reach an entire new audience. From new professional connections to new clients, the benefits of a legal blog are endless.

ARTICLE BY Meranda M. Vieyra at Denver Legal Marketing.

For more on legal marketing, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

Legal Industry Highlights: Law Firm Hires, Awards, and COVID-19 Innovation in May 2020

While the world has been hunkered down at home, participating in Zoom calls and getting jobs done from kitchen tables and home offices across the country, the legal industry has continued to innovate, respond and move forward, even during these troubled times.

Read on for a sampling of legal industry changes from May 2020.

Hiring and Law Firm Moves

Last week, Perkins Coie announced that Jill Louis joined the Corporate & Securities practice as a partner in the Dallas office, in a move that further augments their capabilities in the Lone Star state. Randy Bridgeman, the co-chair of Perkins Coie’s Corporate & Securities practice praised Louis’s entrepreneurial spirit and her in house and leadership experience. He says, “Jill’s background in M&A and representing private equity-backed healthcare, infrastructure, and technology companies will be highly valuable to our clients across Texas and beyond.”

Jill Louis Corporate Lawyer — Jill B. Louis Perkins Coie

Louis has experience working with public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, franchise transactions, corporate governance matters and working in industries including retail, technology and healthcare. She has worked with large and small companies, from startups to Fortune 50 corporations, and has worked both in house and in private practice during her career. Dean Harvey, the Dallas office managing partner, says, “Jill’s arrival aligns with our ongoing strategy of expanding our corporate offering in Dallas to support our growing technology and privacy capabilities.”

Up in the northeast, Pierce Atwood added bankruptcy and creditors’ rights attorney Alex F. Mattera to the firm’s Boston office. Mattera focuses his practice on creditor and debtor rights, commercial bankruptcy, bankruptcy litigation and insolvency. He represents secured creditors, focusing on the collection and workouts of defaulted and troubled loans, creditors’ committees, debtors, trustees and other parties involved in bankruptcy.

“Alex’s expertise in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters, particularly his loan workout experience, will really help us serve our lending and business clients. This is the third major recession Alex has been through,” said Pierce Atwood Business Practice Group Chair Keith J. Cunningham. “That kind of experience is so valuable in times like these. We couldn’t be happier to welcome him to the firm.”

Mattera has presented and sat on panels for the American Bankruptcy Institute, as well as Massachusetts Continuing Education and the Boston Bar Association.

“Alex’s expertise in workouts and collections will provide the firm even greater depth on the backend of loan transactions as we continue to provide a comprehensive suite of services to creditors and banks,” said Bruce I. Miller, Pierce Atwood’s real estate lending partner.

Devon Williams Named Managing Partner Elect — Devon Williams Ward and Smith

With an eye to the future and succession planning, North Carolina firm Ward and Smith elected labor and employment attorney Devon Williams as the firm’s co-managing director elect. Williams will assume the new role at the end of 2020. She will serve alongside Brad Evans, who has served as the Ward and Smith’s managing director since 2017. Williams is preceded in the co-managing director position by Ken Wooten, who is retiring from Ward and Smith at the end of this year.

“Succession planning is essential to all businesses, including our own, and choosing a strong leader enables seamless continuity in client service, and maintains stability within the firm,” Wooten said. “I think it says a lot about our firm that we’re selecting a millennial leader to take us into the next decade. Devon will bring a unique, and much needed perspective to the perennial concerns of a fully-engaged law firm.”

Since joining Ward and Smith in 2012, Williams has led the firm’s Labor and Employment Section and co-chaired the Raleigh Geographic Team.

“I’m grateful for and enthusiastic about the opportunity to build upon the legacy the firm has experienced under Ken’s leadership while working in tandem with Brad to continue our efforts to innovate efficient legal solutions for our clients, and attract and retain top-tier talent,” Williams said.

As co-managing director of Ward and Smith, Williams will maintain her labor and employment practice, where she advises employers on wage and hour issues, federal contractor compliance, prevention of employment discrimination, employee discipline and retaliation and harassment claims.

Life sciences attorney Frank Rahmani joined Sidley Austin as a partner in the firm’s Palo Alto, Calif., corporate practice, and will be a member of the Global Life Sciences practice. Ramani counsels CEOs, boards of directors, founders and investors on financings and public offerings, strategic collaborations, licensing matters, technology acquisition and spin-off transactions.

“Frank has a well-earned reputation as a trusted adviser, which is built on enduring relationships and breadth of experience representing high-growth, cutting edge life sciences and technology companies and investors at all stages,” said Martin Wellington, managing partner of Sidley Austin’s Palo Alto office. “He has great energy, a high-quality practice and a clear vision for growth that aligns with ours. Frank’s arrival signifies our strategy to build out Sidley’s presence in Northern California.”

Womble Bond Dickinson retired partner and North Carolina trial lawyer Allan R. Gitter passed away May 17 at the age of 83.

Allan Gitter Womble Bond Dickinson — Alan Gitter

Gitter joined Womble Bond Dickinson in 1962, when Womble had about a dozen attorneys. Gitter was the lead attorney in over one thousand cases filed in North Carolina state and federal courts between 1964 and 2009. Many lawyers who are now partners with the firm tried their first cases with Gitter, including Gemma Saluta, Murray Greason, Rachel Keen, Jim Morgan, Rick Rice, Bill Raper, Ellen Gregg, Alison Bost, Brad Wood and Chris Geis.

Gitter was inducted as a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1982, and served as an Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates. He loved legal research and the law, but his interests also included coaching the Tiny Demons Pop Warner football team and his work at the Children’s Center, a facility devoted to the education and care of children with chronic health issues. He put himself through law school in part with his work as a night radio deejay on the campus radio station, employing his trademark sign-off at the end of the night: “Remember never to buy bad dreams.”

Gitter is survived by his wife of 32 years, Sandy; three children, Alison, Kent, and Ryne; two step-children, Wendy and Rob; multiple grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Law Firm Innovation, Awards and Accomplishments

Redgrave LLP, a law firm focused on information governance and eDiscovery law, formed a Restructuring Discovery Team, working closely with law firms and advisors on litigation readiness and discovery for all types of restructurings. The Redgrave team handles data collection, preservation and review efforts during pre-petition and after a bankruptcy has been filed.

“We are proud to be the nation’s leading eDiscovery law firm, and we are very excited to formalize our experience in restructuring discovery,” said Redgrave partner Christine Payne, head of the firm’s restructuring team. “Many people do not realize how different discovery can be in the restructuring and bankruptcy contexts, as opposed to typical civil litigation. There is significant client need in this area, and we want to support that.”

Managing Intellectual Property named three Texas Bracewell partners as IP Stars. Albert B. Kimball, was recognized for patents and trademarks, and Constance Gall Rhebergen and Douglas W. Rommelmann were recognized for patents.

IP Stars covers IP practice areas in over 70 jurisdictions, making it one of the most comprehensive guides in the industry.

In a decision that could provide a roadmap for local Marijuana dispensaries, A Kutak Rock team including litigation partners Andrew King and Fred Davis, and intellectual property counsel Sara Gillette representing Conway, Arkansas-based Harvest Cannabis Dispensary (“Harvest”) secured a preliminary injunction in a trademark dispute. Natural State Wellness Dispensary, LLC (“NSW”), and Natural State Enterprises, LLC, were using the name “Harvest” in for cannabis facilities across Arkansas, something the preliminary injunction now prohibits.

After an evidentiary hearing conducted over Zoom, Circuit judge Susan Weaver rejected the argument that The NSW Entities were authorized to use the name “Harvest” through their connection with Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation, Inc, a company using the Harvest mark in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida prior to the opening of the Arkansas Harvest dispensary. The court looked at precedent set by the USPTO and other federal courts, indicating products containing more than 0.3% THC are illegal under the Controlled Substances Act and therefore do not enjoy Trademark rights under the Lanham Act. Furthermore, Harvest adopted its name in 2017 and opened its facility in October of 2019, providing the dispensary with state-law trademark rights in Arkansas.

Kutak Rock partner Andrew King: “The Faulkner County outcome is the first of its kind, where a local cannabis dispensary prevailed under state trademark law against a multi-state operator for which federal trademark protection is unavailable. This outcome could provide a road map for local cannabis companies in states where cannabis has been legalized.”

Law Firm and Legal industry Response to COVID-19: A Sampling

COVID-19 has upended business as usual across the country; injecting terms like “flatten the curve”; “PPE” and “Contract Tracing” into everyday conversation. The National Law Review has covered some of the steps firms and other legal industry groups have taken to have a positive impact during these challenging times. For example, DLA Piper has signed on to the Ascend’s Five Point Action program, demonstrating a dedication to mitigating the disparate impact of COVID-19 on minority communities. Additionally, to broaden the reach of Coronavirus information and regulatory developments, Cornerstone Research worked with Stanford University to provide a database of legal articles and memos. Below are some more instances of law firms and other legal industry groups taking steps to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19.

Health Care Contact Tracing Mintz Law Firm provided pro bono counsel to Partners in Health (“PIH”), a Boston global health nonprofit, helping with the development of the Massachusetts COVID-19 Community Tracing Collaborative (“CTC”). The CTC is an initiative that works with PIH, the Massachusetts COVID-19 Command Center, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority and Massachusetts Department of Public Health to train, hire and deploy workers who will work with individuals exposed to Coronavirus. This veritable army of “contact tracers” will provide individuals with information about the virus, social support to facilitate self-isolation or quarantine, and provide appropriate next steps so individuals can stay healthy and protect their families; ultimately enhancing the Commonwealth’s ability to respond to COVID-19. Dr. Joia Mukherjee, PIH’s chief medical officer, says on contact tracing:

Access to this information helps contacts to know how to protect their loved ones, and to get tested or cared for themselves,” she said. “Without knowing our own status, without being able to specifically protect our loved ones, we are all living in the dark. (And) we know that there is significant anxiety in this darkness.

An interdisciplinary group of Mintz attorneys worked with PIH to facilitate this partnership on a pro-bono basis, helping this critical work get off the ground. Attorneys involved were Dianne Bourque and Ellen Janos, Members in Mintz’s Health Practice, Elissa Flynn-Poppey, Chair of the Government Law Practice, Julie Korostoff Chair of the firm’s IT Transactions & Outsourcing Practice, Andrew Matzkin, a Member in the firm’s Employment practice, and Corporate Associate Daniel Marden.

“Mintz is pleased to have been able to assist PIH in its efforts to change the course of COVID-19 in the Commonwealth,” said Mintz Member Ellen Janos. “It has been deeply rewarding to work on such a critically important project.”

Another group working to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 is the Diverse Attorney Pipeline Program (“DAPP”), a group with a mission to diversify the legal profession by expanding opportunities for women of color law students to secure summer positions at law firms and corporations following their first year of law school, an activity that greatly increases the likelihood of an offer of paid employment after graduation. DAPP was founded by Tiffany Harper and Chastity Boyce, both women of color who graduated from law school during the previous recession, and are passionate about mitigating the negative effects on women attorneys of color.

Recognizing the disruption that COVID-19 has had on everyone, and specifically law firm internships, DAPP is launching a fund and fellowship for students who are unable to complete their law firm internships this year. Started with seed money from the organization, DAPP has a goal of 100,000 to fund this program, and is requesting support from law firms, corporations, bar associations, and other nonprofit organizations in the form of earmarked donations.

“As law firms and businesses are forced to cut their summer internship programs, we hope they’ll consider contributing to this fund to support our work of infusing the pipeline to the legal profession with talented, highly qualified women of color in order to address the dismal statistics surrounding the number of women of color who are hired, retained and promoted at large law firms across the nation,” said Harper.

Students who receive the stipend will receive financial support as well as intensive professional development; involving volunteer legal work to facilitate skill development and meaningful training for participants. Additionally, the awardees will be matched with lawyer mentors, be provided with professional development and coaching.

“This is not a time to give up on diversity and inclusion efforts; it’s a time to refocus our efforts on preparing the next generation of lawyers for the challenges they’ll face in a diverse, global marketplace,” added Boyce.

ARTICLE BY Eilene Spear and Rachel Popa at The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC.

For more Law Firm News updates, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

Once COVID-19 is Contained– Visioning What’s Next For Offices and White Collar Businesses

When you push a pause button on a computer, it shuts down. When you push a pause button on a human, as is occurring now in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic gripping most of the world, we do not rest. We think, refresh, imagine, and try to adapt to a new world order once the pandemic abates. Darwin surmised that it is not necessarily the strongest or smartest that survive. Rather, the survivors succeed in being flexible and adapting to new environments. Zhou Enlai, when asked by Henry Kissinger what impact the French Revolution had on China, reflected “it’s too soon to tell.” Given the pressing necessity to re-connect our lives and economies, while at the same time staying healthy and safe, we do not have the luxury to reflect. Rather, we must plan for a future that is being quickly thrust upon us, or existing trends accelerated, at warp speed. This article imagines how that new world order might impact our office’s finance department. The survivors will successfully be flexible and adapt.

A recent paper on fifteen major pandemics and armed conflicts since the thirteenth century postulated that the major after-effects of those events lasted over forty years. Real rates of return were more substantially depressed during the period ravaged by pandemics, more so than due to wars, due to the significant precautions and adjustments business and society took after pandemics but not after wars. The postulate is that after wars, most countries just rebuild and, while they may have changed institutional frameworks, do not reassess ways of doing business and conducting their day to day lives.

This article offers possible post-Coronavirus changes to our office environment. While many alterations such as modifications to social relationships, office structure, technology, marketing, and the role of government are inevitable, this article will focus on new approaches to financial management and legal focus. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I hope these thoughts may help us not waste this crisis and prepare for a brighter future.

Financial Management in Companies After COVID-19

The monetary seismic aftershocks of the pandemic will reverberate our financial management in many ways, some of which are noted below.

More Cash on Hand

The social disruption caused by abruptly coasting at full employment one moment and, in a flash, jolting to a 14.5% unemployment rate profoundly alters the loyalty workers have to their employer (or former employer). While most intellectually always recognized that the office was a business and not a true social and family organization, no one could have foreseen the sudden radical separation of workers from either their jobs or office environments or both. Repairing that emotional and physical trauma will take time. One way to gradually restore the pre-pandemic security workers felt in their office environments is to provide a better sense of community overpay as a lure to attract and retain employees. Alternatively, businesses could set aside a “rainy day reserve fund”, on top of the usual 401(k) and other retirement plans, where a portion of an employee’s pay, or company profits, could be placed in a fund to which it is used only to retain employees in situations where mass layoffs were warranted. An employee would receive his or her share of the funds upon retirement or being terminated in such a circumstance if they were not used before then.

Obviously, these funds are not a panacea but a means to dedicate some resources and provide some comfort to workers concerned for their employers and their own financial security. Moreover, businesses might manage their finances more conservatively and always agree to have some minimum level of cash, say a three months reserve, to assuage employees that it can stay afloat for some reasonable period of time in case another disaster strikes. Further, businesses may consider not living too close to the edge and consider keeping on hand at least two to three months’ reserve to pay rent, payroll, utilities, and other critical fixed costs. This might be prudent fiscal discipline even in good times and a munificent marketing tool to give employees some comfort that they will not be reflexively jettisoned at the first sign of a downturn.

Focus on Higher Level of Health, Cleanliness, and Safety

Office environments may soon stress their focus on and sensitivity to health, cleanliness, and safety. This necessity will significantly increase employer costs. Return on investment on intensifying the cleanliness and sanitization of the office is not quantifiable.

These attributes, always taken for granted and never really promoted in attracting and keeping workers, may now catapult to the forefront to comfort workers’ anxieties. For example, disinfectant wipes and hand soap can become omnipresent. Coffee machines, soda machines, food dispensers, and other purveyors of sustenance as well as countertops, printers, copiers, file cabinets will be wiped after every use. The issue of how to open the washroom door without touching the doorknob may be solved by replacing doorknobs, counter space, copier buttons, coffee put handles with virus-free coatings. We might increase the scope of services our cleaning services providers to enhance disinfecting. A CFO will just have to bite the bullet and sign off on these vital necessities heretofore considered excessive.

Office Design and Use

Costs will increase to reconfigure office space design so workers feel safer. For example, office pools or closely clustered desks may be rethought or need to be reconfigured to assured proper ventilation. Plexiglas dividers between office pool carrels and facing the open halls should be considered. Chairs for visitors in offices may need to be spaced out or removed to discourage proximity. Conference rooms, cafeterias, and other gathering spaces may also need to be redesigned so people keep at an appropriate distance while at the same time enjoy some social interaction and forge some sort of community. HVAC and other ventilation systems may change to assure more optimal air circulation and toxin filtration. Meetings may be limited to a few attendees in person, spaced appropriately apart, with the other participants connecting by video. Just as we submit ourselves to baggage searches at airports, perhaps there could be random, or even routine, temperature checks either at building security or random tests at the office. Further, just as we pass a scanner to gain entrance to our elevator banks, perhaps we will all pass heat detectors to gauge whether we have a fever. All this comes at a cost, again, unquantifiable to gauge the impact on return on investment.

Higher Level of Fee Earners in Relation to Assistants

The pandemic may finally accelerate the trend toward converting labor to capital. Fee earners’ embrace of producing documents and other ways to become more self-sufficient have already increased the ratio of fee earners to assistants from maybe 1.5 or 2 to 1 ten years ago to 3 to 3.5 to 1 now. Needing to physically space assistants out more, perhaps alternate those working from home and at the office, combined with increasing proficiency of at office and at home fee earners suggest the trend is likely to accelerate to maybe 5 to 1 in the not too distant future. Some of the replaced assistants could become retooled to fee earning work, such as quasi paralegal work, especially as legal fees continue to increase with apparent inelasticity.

Office Space

The cost of office space will be another financial aspect under greater elasticity and change. The cumulative effect of more people working remotely and less office staff suggests the need for less overall office space and thus less cost. The size of offices has trended toward the small size in recent years, with an average size of around 140 square feet. Some are suggesting the downward trends will continue unabated, perhaps to 125 square feet per office. A countervailing offset to that trend, however, may be the requirement for more space due to the need for greater distance between and among workers and conferees and perhaps fewer employees out of the office by virtue of not traveling as much. Even if office sizes are smaller or the same, the trend toward office hotels and using more conference rooms where proper distancing is desired is likely to continue.

Wellness Programs

This will be yet another unquantifiable but necessary cost of the new office environment. Taking an interest in the health of the office environment is but one component of health and safety. Another is the employee’s personal health. Wellness programs have proliferated in recent years, as well as access to gyms and health clubs. These trends will only accelerate, provided that gyms and health clubs can provide sufficient comfort regarding cleanliness and social distance.

Technology Costs

Expenditures for technology are likely to increase but consider that technology pricing usually declines over time with scale and adoption so perhaps that will not be as dramatic. The crucial need for workers to be connected all the time everywhere and possibly need to be remote for long periods of time underscores the recognition that it is not prudent to be miserly with tech spending. The need for broadband, cabling, wi-fi, bandwidth, data storage, data compression, backhaul, caching, routers, hubs, processing power, internet of things, bits and bytes will be the lubricant to this generation reducing if not replacing the role of oil in previous generations. Remote working will increase the risk of hacking and the heightened need for secured networks fortified against cyber theft and introductions of malware. Further, the adoption of more sophisticated applications of technology such as AI and machine learning will accelerate. AI and machine learning will enable corporate and litigation document review more efficiently and conducted at remote locations. The need will intensify to support the seemingly insatiable demand for video and broadband service.

Decreased Travel and Entertainment Costs

Greater technology use may decrease other costs such as travel and ultimately the need for office space as more people regularly and systematically work remotely. Business trips, tradeshows, and even meals and entertainment are Petri dishes for breeding microbes. Sitting in a crowded basketball arena, constantly passing beers down the twenty seat row and then passing the germ-ridden money back to the vendor, or standing up at a theatre every time a patron wants to brush by you to get to her seat conjures up frightful images of too little social distancing. Recent income tax code revisions diminished deductions for some of these items and, unless reassessed, will only contribute to this declining tactic.

Higher Insurance Premiums

The cost of providing health care, not just to pay for all the Coronavirus cases but to underwrite future pandemics, will undoubtedly lead to higher insurance premiums. How employers share these increased costs with their employees is not only a financial matter but also a policy choice of the type of “safe” workplace image the employer desires to portray. Further, insurance premiums for business interruption coverage may also increase, even if the policyholder does not purchase pandemic coverage.

Higher Levels of Inventory

The 2000s introduced a virtual revolution in the efficiency of supply chains and improved just in time inventory management. Purchasing managers could keep inventory lean and mean, knowing that replacements were just an order refill click away. Not anymore. The confluence of trade wars, increased nationalism and now the pandemic have shattered the smooth functioning of inventory replenishment and certainty of seamless restocking. Not having to keep several months’ supply of Lysol wipes and other cleaning supplies, not to mention other basic necessities like copy paper and printer ink, saves countless dollars in working capital. Concerns for delays and shortages have the opposite effect on working capital management and increases the cost of capital as well as decreases the businesses’ cash flow which is allocated to building inventory.

Migration to More Certain and Fixed Revenue Streams

To mitigate, if not avoid, the vicissitudes of hourly billing, professional service firms may consider more monthly fixed retainer models. This steady income, in good times and bad, could soften the slings and arrows of unpredictable cataclysms (assuming the clients stay solvent or do not renegotiate). The willingness of clients to pay fixed monthly retainers, however, may be problematic and, even if it is agreed to, may be reassessed at the first whiff of a downturn anyway. Ironically, many clients who had previously suggested a fixed cost arrangement with flat monthly retainers have recently started to see the benefits of a variable cost structure, which frees up monthly burdens during challenging times.

Possibly Lower Rent Costs

With more workers working remotely, less space will be needed. Of course, that need for lesser space may be offset by the required spreading out of personnel in the workspace, so maybe this will equalize itself.

More Zealous Monitoring of Cash Collection Cycle

Liquidity in the form of prompt receipts from clients and moderately stretched payments to vendors is essential to keep a business afloat and well-capitalized. Certainly, during any challenging economic set of circumstances, the cycle becomes elongated. The experience during the pandemic reinforced slavish devotion to the basic principles that Cash is King or Queen. I would expect businesses to pursue this truism more slavishly to avoid defaults or delayed payments from customers. Prudent financial management will require retainers, staying replenished, as well as security deposits and not permit advancing significant costs. Interest for late payments, late payment fees, early pay discounts, retainers, good relations, friendly but prompt reminder calls and follow-ups, credit card auto-pay, and abrupt cessation of work are some tactics a business could be quicker to pursue to avoid being used by their customers as a bank.

Increased Taxes

While the author is not an economist, the trillions of dollars of government stimulus, amounting to over 14% of our GDP, should be inflationary (although TARP and other excessive stimulus in 2007-08 did not lead to inflation). Increased taxes are a conventional tonic to drown deficit spending. This could both lead to great use of the multitude of income and estate tax planning services but at the same time decrease business activity. Financial managers will need to deal with greater tax claims on owners’ income and creative ways to minimize the bite.

Increased Regulation

The pandemic has unleashed a torrent of legislation addressing crucial pillars of our economy and business. These include lending, labor, employment, and executive compensation. Most of the legislation was written hurriedly to deal with the impending political and fiscal crisis and the need for interpretation and well as compliance creates work for the service industry. Regulation always imposes cost, whether in the form of taxes or personnel or advisors to address the rules.

More Downtime Due to Pandemic Alerts

This pandemic will scar the psyche of many for decades to come and with the inevitable passing of stories down to the succeeding generations. Given the great disruptions a pandemic inflicts, the memories of which may become exaggerated and shibboleths as the years progress, and given the perceived slow and the less than energetic response the federal government provided, future leaders will view the efficient, competent and rapid response to even a whiff of a pandemic to be the prism through which their competence is judged. Therefore, the government will be expected to react with alacrity, not panic, and competence. Just as governors of states in hurricane regions lead efforts to warn citizens in advance of an impending hurricane and exhort them to board up their houses and head for higher ground, future national leaders, and even some state leaders, may closely monitor outbreaks of illnesses in faraway lands, just as we now monitor the formation of tropical depressions in the Caribbean, and perhaps prepare citizens and businesses well in advance. This may result in more precautionary business closures, some warranted and some like the putative hurricane that thankfully never develops or veers off course. Very few will blame a government for shutting down the office too soon rather than keeping it open too long. While we as a society balance economic health against physical health, this pandemic has slightly tilted the balance toward the latter. Therefore, business and financial models will need to add a closure cost and downtime “vacancy rate” lost revenue expense to prudently and conservatively prepare for this eventuality.

Some might say that all the talk of major transformational shifts due to the COVID-19 pandemic is an overreaction. After all, pandemics are rare black swan events. Ideally, there will soon be a vaccine. In theory, there may already be a treatment. Many die every year during the flu season. Society has to balance health and safety against a booming productive economy. All of this is true. However, in the past twenty years, we have had several worldwide pandemics, like SARS, MERS, H1N1, avian flu, Ebola, to name a few. We have also had societal and business altering events like 9/11 and the financial pandemic in 2007-8. Some might even observe that these “black swans”, being not so rare, are more like “black ducks”.

Ignoring the trends of spreading diseases in a rapidly globalized world, as well as the likely occurrence of other truly unforeseeable occurrences, is to ignore the need to properly address the ramifications of these events and perhaps recognize ways to improve our ability to mitigate disruption in the future. While no one has a crystal ball, the possible responses to the pandemic may lead to profound changes or accelerate existing trends in our office environment in a broad panoply of areas, not the least of which includes those discussed above. Our future office and work environment, particularly in how we model our financial responses, will be as profoundly different in the future as was our country before and after the last world war. Once the Genie is out of the bottle, it is difficult to put back in.

The opinions and views stated herein are the sole opinions of the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Law Review or any of its affiliates.

© The National Law Forum. LLC

ARTICLE BY Fred Tannenbaum Partner at Gould Ratner and The National Law Review’s Guest Contributors.

For more on COVID-19 recovery, see the National Law Review Coronavirus News section.

3 Cyberattacks and 3 Practical Measures Lawyers Can Take to Protect Themselves

Hackers are targeting lawyers with cyberattacks, and coronavirus is making things worse. With the recent Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant remote work, hackers are exploiting lawyers with even greater intensity. The ABA Journal recently reported that “scams multiply during the COVID crisis.”

The Top 3 Cyber Attacks Targeting Law Firms

You’re probably displaced from your usual working space and feeling out of whack. That sets the stage for hackers to advantage of the confusion — and your home computer setup. You need to know the traits of the most common cyberthreats so you can identify a scam.

1. Phishing Email Scams

Hackers send phishing emails that impersonate a legit sender and fool the recipient into giving up information. Most phishing scams trick their victims into clicking on malicious URLs. These phishing links redirect the victim to fake sites — most commonly, the spoofed login pages to Office 365 and online baking — and capture their username and password. Now that the hacker has these credentials, they can legitimately access confidential data or withdraw funds.

In 2018, nearly 80% of law firms experienced phishing attacks, according to security research firm Osterman Research. As COVID-19 increases anxiety and the amount of emails in your inbox, hackers have taken advantage. In mid-March 2020, right as COVID-19 ramped up in the United States, hackers purported to be the World Health Organization (WHO). The phishing email asked the victim to open an attachment containing official information on protecting yourself from the coronavirus. Little did they know that opening this attachment downloaded a keystroke logger that records what’s being typed. Keystroke logging is typically used to capture even more login credentials so the hacker can access as many sites and services as possible.

For further details, learn how viral coronavirus scams are attacking computers and smartphones.

2. Ransomware

Ransomeware is one of four of the biggest cybersecurity risks law firms face according to Law Technology Today. This cyberattack is a type of malware that, once installed, denies access to a computer system or data. Typically, email attachments, “malvertising”, or drive-by downloads install ransomware onto devices. To regain access to the compromised device, the victim must wire funds to the hacker. Even if the ransom is paid, it’s not guaranteed that the hackers will restore system access.

3. Data Breaches

Data breaches result in the loss of confidential data or the unauthorized access of that data. They occur after hackers execute a successful phishing or ransomware attack, which are common entry point of a data breach. The loss of this data could have devastating consequences on a law firm. If clients feel that their privacy was violated in the breach, they might sue.

3 Practical Cyberthreat Solutions Law Firms

Law firms can take several practical measures to protect their systems and data. Safeguarding identity and access, encrypting data, and investing in cybersecurity software (if possible) for anti-phishing and anti-malware will lower the risk of a successful cyberattack.

1. Encrypt Data

Lawyers rely on email and document sharing to run their firm. As these documents and communications travel across the internet, they can be intercepted. But when data is encrypted, it is substantially harder for a hacker to intercept. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts data in a cost-effective, non-intrusive, and reliable way. Creating a secure “tunnel” between your computer and the internet, VPNs protect data using 256-bit encryption. This protocol is so secure that banks and the U.S. government use it to protect classified data.

2. Use Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

If you’re in the 50% of people who use the same passwords for personal and work accounts, then take note. Weak and reused passwords increase your chances of experiencing a cyberattack. 2FA adds protection to your username and password, making it much harder to compromise your credentials. Think of 2FA as a dynamic, time-sensitive, secondary password.

2FA uses a password alongside a second one-time passcode that is sent to the employee’s device. Unless this code is submitted on the follow-up login screen in a timely manner, it will expire. If codes are not used, then biometric authentication such as a retina or fingerprint scan provide the second factor.

3. Investing in Intelligent IT systems

When dealing with high volumes of very confidential data, you can never be too confident of your online security. The odds are not in your favor: one in four organizations in the US will be breached. And recovering from a breach is pricy. Law firms lose, on average, $4.62 million dollars every data breach. If you worry about the expense of cybersecurity solutions, remember that other number.

You can spend money on anti-phishing, anti-malware, and data loss prevention tools. Or you can not spend the money and risk having to pay a ransom, deal with legal fees, reputational damage, and more. Although it’s a tough pill to swallow in the current economic landscape, preventative security is cheaper than dealing with a breach.

If you cannot afford a cybersecurity system at this time, just update your software whenever you receive a notification. This is the easiest and quickest way to secure your systems. Software updates come with security fixes that will patch any vulnerabilities in your system. Hackers are known to exploit old/known vulnerabilities. Take the time to vet your network or cloud service providers to see what precautions they have to protect your firm from cybercriminals.

You Must Anticipate Cyberattacks on Your Firm

Law firms possess sensitive data that hackers would love to leverage. Using intelligent IT systems, updating software, encrypting data, and setting up two-factor authentication are the most effective ways that lawyers can protect their data while working remotely during the COVID-19 lockdown.

ARTICLE BY PracticePanther.

For more legal tech considerations, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

IMS Insights Podcast: Episode 9- Rudhir Krishtel On Mindfulness And Wellness For Attorneys Amid COVID-19

In this episode, Rudhir Krishtel joins us to share guidance on mindfulness and wellness for attorneys. He also provides tips and strategies to help with adjustments for those balancing the intense demands of a legal career during the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his lawyer days, Rudhir practiced law for fifteen years as a federal clerk, patent litigation partner at Fish & Richardson, and later as senior patent counsel at Apple.

Today, he is a certified Co-Active Coach and facilitator, focusing on workplace wellness and intensity for law firms and attorneys. Many lawyers struggle with stress and lack of purpose in their practice. As a former lawyer, Rudhir coaches clients and hosts workshops to identify the issues that hold lawyers back from advancing in their career with clarity and fulfillment.

His work during his lawyer days led Rudhir to train as a yoga teacher through the Baptiste Institute and on mindfulness meditation through Warrior One. He also a Professional Certified Coach through the Coaches Training Institute & International Coaching Federation, and uses this training along with his experience as a practitioner to deliver much-needed support for the legal community. Details on Rudhir’s consulting and mindfulness workshops for attorneys can be found at www.krishtel.com.

Transcript

Teresa Barber: Rudhir, hello, thank you. I really appreciate you joining us today. Could you tell me just a little bit for our listeners… Tell us a little bit about your background as an attorney and a little bit about your consulting practice.

Rudhir Krishtel: Yeah, Teresa, thank you so much, and thanks IMS for having me here. I was practicing law for 15 years. I started at my practice as a federal clerk. I was ultimately a partner at Fish & Richardson in their patent litigation team in the DC office. Then for the last five years of my practice, I was senior in-house counsel at Apple out here in the Bay area where I moved to seven, eight years ago.

Rudhir: After 15 years of practice, I started to notice… What I started to see were cycles of behavior in the practice over 15 years, just ways that we all behave at work that I felt like were somewhat compromising to our practice. I started to notice that we accept that stress is a part, a natural part, of our work life. We wouldn’t get paid as lawyers at the rates that we charge, and we wouldn’t be able to do the work that we do if it wasn’t something that was challenging or stressful, so I totally understood that.

Rudhir: But there’s this interesting relationship where work caused stress, but then stress actually started to impact the quality of our relationships and ultimately the work product. It is this weird cycle where work causes stress but then stress impacts the work. I think everyone just accepted that as the norm, and I felt like this was a dialogue that we needed to have and a cycle in the system that we needed to improve.

Rudhir: It’s when I decided to leave the practice. Three years back I left the practice. I retrained first as a mindfulness instructor and yoga instructor. And not wanting lawyers on their yoga mats all the time, I ultimately trained as an executive coach. Now, I coach attorneys. I have a coaching business that’s Krishtel Coaching. I coach attorneys in their practice one on one, and we identify some of the most challenging aspects of your practice and try to move them out of the way so that attorneys have a more fulfilling practice. I also host workshops. I visit law firms and legal departments and host dialogue on ways that we can start shifting our culture, build a greater resilience, incorporate emotional intelligence and mindfulness practices. I also host online coaching programs and webinars on these topics.

Rudhir: The consulting and the coaching practice has evolved over the last many years. I’ve now coached over 100 attorneys, managing partners at law firms, general counsel at companies, a wide range of attorneys on really how they can be better for themselves and others in their practice and really trying to shift and improve our culture in the legal workplace.

Teresa: Rudhir, it sounds like you identified the need while you were in the boiling pan yourself and didn’t really see anyone meeting those needs. As you’ve worked now for a number of years with clients, especially at big law firms and at corporations in house, what have you seen as the return on it? It sounds like you also had a theory that if we start to apply this, it’s not only going to improve quality of life and wellness and balance, but will also impact work product. I would be interested in some antidotes from clients you’ve worked with so far.

Rudhir: Teresa, what you said first is what I want to tap into a little bit, which is what I did notice during my time at Apple. You make this switch from a partner in law firm to go in house, and we think about it as sort of this greener pasture switch, attorneys going in house. What I notice is I got more senior in the practice. With every level up, growing of the team, salary bump, promotion, whatever it was, every time the further I got up, the lonelier I felt.

Rudhir: It’s very interesting that here we are achieving this so-called dream, and yet I felt somewhat more isolated, and I’m a pretty social person. I’m the person at Fish that was head of recruiting for our office. I’m definitely the person that planned all of the March Madness pools and getting everybody back together outside of work. I’m that person. For me to feel somewhat isolated was really fascinating, to be naturally connected and connecting and yet feel lonely at the same time was a very odd experience.

Rudhir: But I felt it more and more as I got more senior. I started to realize, “Well, if I’m experiencing this, how many other people are experiencing this?” There’s this unique thing that happens in legal practices that we are shrouded in confidentiality and in adversity in this adversarial experience. There’s a lack of trust that we have oftentimes with our colleagues. The thing that’s most challenging for me at work, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable talking to my colleagues about, whether it be a difficulty with a technical issue or a difficulty with building business or a challenge with how I’m managing my team. Sometimes we’re not comfortable being necessarily open about that with our colleagues just because of the legal work environment.

Rudhir: I started to notice this, and I realized I’m so senior in this practice I wish I had my own set of advisors. I’m at this point where I’m generating enough revenue. I’m generating enough revenue for myself that small businesses generate. We’re in the hundreds of thousands now. Some lawyers are in the low seven figures in terms of their business generation and their income. Yet, I don’t know who my closest advisors necessarily are that I just deeply trust.

Teresa: Right.

Rudhir: I started realizing, “Well, if I’m having that issue, there must be other attorneys that are having this issue.” And it becomes even that much more compounded with intersectionality. Now we’re talking about women that might be having these challenges, attorneys of color that might be having these challenges, really everybody. When I started to notice this, I thought, “Here’s a space that I feel like we need someone to step into.” That’s the decision that I made. It’s very interesting. I work with a wide range of clients, and to sort of address your second question, the second part of your question, is it’s just been deeply valuable this work for the clients that I’ve worked with, and it shows up in many ways.

Rudhir: People don’t often think about connecting with… Well, let me say that differently, Teresa. When we have somebody in our corner that is willing to champion us, that is willing to hear us out, that is willing to co-strategize with us, that is sort of a peer in the practice and that has real confidentiality, so much is possible. I’ve sort of seen that with my clients. I’ve seen a lot of growth and evolution on people having much better relationships with their teams, managing their groups in healthier ways, finding ways to solve problems with some of the challenges they face in their teams, interacting with people in a healthier way, becoming that much more adapt at generating business and for people that are looking for some sort of a transition and feeling stuck really having place where they can start to dialogue and strategize and brainstorm on that, and we come up with just incredible directional shifts for people in their life and their business. This practice I feel like has been a huge benefit to the clients that I work with.

Teresa: You touched on something that was interesting to you a minute ago, Rudhir. You were talking about this feeling of isolation, social isolation. We’re talking today and it’s later in March 2020. Back on December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization first identified an epidemic in China. Today, we’re looking at shelter in place orders not only around the San Francisco Bay area but throughout that entire state possibly with more coming in other markets and many people now working in a brand new environment, work from home environment where those lines between family and work are blurred a little bit.

Teresa: Looking at the 2019 novel Coronavirus pandemic, this is unprecedented territory, with you and your work with clients, what are you seeing right now?

Rudhir: It’s very interesting because I tend to think that lawyers as I mentioned despite us working with each other and connecting tend to have somewhat more of a natural isolation and loneliness already. This is just me saying this. There have actually been studies. The ABA has put out studies. There are psychologists that have put out studies that identify and indicate that lawyers have less sort of a lower social tendency than others than most.

Rudhir: And so at a time when we’re now even doubling down on the isolation, I’ve seen a lot of challenge. I see lawyers that are expressing concerns over a lot of things. Here we have a group of people that are natural problem solvers, lawyers are natural problem solvers. We are always thinking ahead. As we think ahead, we’re thinking ahead to how long is this going to last. There’s an uncertainty.

Teresa: Right.

Rudhir: We’re thinking to how is this going to impact my business? For in-house attorneys the business that they’re in and corporation that they’re in, but for outside counsel attorneys, how is this affecting my business development and business generation? What does this mean for my income? What does this mean for my team? What might this mean for the health of my family and the people around me? What might this mean for others? There’s just a lot of concern layered on top of a business and a practice that already has us sort of in a position where we’re “constantly putting out fires.”

Rudhir: I think that what I’m seeing is a higher level of anxiety in some than what might usually be the case. I think when anxiety comes up, we are not at our best self. We are not behaving in a way that is sort of rooted in our best self. We’re being reactive. We are thinking about we’re in sort of a flight or fight mode. We’re thinking about ways that we can run and save things or we’re thinking about ways that we can sort of fix things right away. I think there’s a deep discomfort that’s happening in this moment.

Teresa: With the questions that you’re seeing from clients right now, I know you’ve set up a webinar right now. You’re providing some guidance to people who are looking for it. What can people do right now? With the sense of what do I have control over, there is so much certainty. What are you telling people right now?

Rudhir: Yeah. I set up a free webinar Wednesdays mornings at 9:00 a.m. Pacific, noon Eastern on mindfulness tools for managing uncertainty. I find that mindfulness practices, resilience practices, emotional intelligence practices are very much relevant in this time. I think that even just paying attention to the news has me at a slightly higher level of anxiety. I’m waking up a bit more tired than usual this week. It’s just very interesting. Not much has changed because we work from home my wife and I, and so for us to practice social distancing and kind of put a barrier around our house is actually not too different than what we’re usually doing.

Teresa: Right.

Rudhir: I’m slightly more on edge and slightly more tired. These practices of mindfulness and resilience and emotional intelligence, I think, are just really valuable in this moment. I’ve started to offer them out on a weekly webinar, just simple tools. For example, you asked what might be something that we can do. Lawyers, we tend to be very head heavy. I didn’t even understand what that meant a few years ago because I didn’t know what the difference was between that and anything else.

Rudhir: We tend to be thinking people. We’re valued for our knowledge. People want us for our advice, and we want to offer our advice. We’re problem solving. We always respect and value the attorney that “knows more.” So much of our work is in our head. Settling the body and settling ourselves in these times actually happens in the body. What percentage of our livelihood is our mind physically, and what percentage is our body? That’s an interesting question to ask. So much of us is our body. In fact, most, if not all of us, is our body.

Rudhir: One of the first tools that we talked about in this webinar was a body scan technique. A body scan is a meditation technique that allows us to just pay attention to what else is happening right now in our body. There’s just a lot of information there. Lawyers are great at gathering information. We’re incredible at intake. I think in this moment one of the tools is just actually take intake for yourself. We’re always asking someone else, “So what’s your problem? What happened? Who are the people involved?” Et cetera. The questions that I offer are, “What’s happening in my body right now? What’s happening in my breath? What am I noticing in my chest? Is it tighter? What am I noticing in my stomach? Am I at unease? Are my feet grounded? What happens? What’s the difference between grounding my feet versus sitting them elsewhere? What’s the quality of my breath? What’s my body temperature?”

Rudhir: I think when we scan our bodies… And on my website I have mindfulness audio recordings and guided meditations, and these are available all over the place. There’s apps like Calm and Insight Timer and Headspace. UCLA has an incredible meditation center, and they have some great guided meditations. I offer a few on my website at Krishtel.com. Basically, what we’re inviting people to do is actually just pay attention to what’s happening for them in a moment.

Rudhir: This isn’t something that we need to do all day. A body scan meditation can be 10 minutes of your day, five minutes of your day. Pay attention to your breath. Even right now is one of those podcasts, Teresa, if you just sort of take a breath and pay attention to what’s going on in your lungs and what’s going on in your throat and just breathe. You just notice sort of a different quality show up. We kind of exist in this on edge slightly underlying nervosa, and it’s normalized in our practice. I think we can in this moment because it’s even exacerbated, it’s slightly more acute because of all the information coming in and everything that’s changing, I think is an incredible time to pay attention to breath, pay attention to body and just what’s going on for us.

Teresa: That’s really helping in hearing you talk about almost an inventory of awareness. Rudhir, for those, wellness has been a buzzword that’s been around and gaining increasing traction and attention in recent years. Can you break down mindfulness for those that may not be familiar with that term and just help us understand when we say mindfulness, when you say mindfulness, what do you mean?

Rudhir: I’d love to. I’d start by actually just saying that when I started regularly meditating, it was the beginning of an incredible shift in my life both professionally and personally. It’s for those who are exploring meditation and dabbling, the commitment to a practice of 20 minutes a day, 20 minutes twice a day or even 10 minutes a day of mindfulness practices I think can be the beginning of a huge evolution and even revolution in your life in terms of how you feel and just fulfillment.

Rudhir: When I was at Apple about a year or two in, I started a daily practice of 20 minutes twice a day of meditating. I’ll tell you a little bit more about what is mindfulness and different ways of practicing. Just to kind of get people in tune with the benefits, I started practicing, and so much changing. Three months of regular practice, I committed to 20 minutes twice a day, and I did it because actually I paid for a class. When you pay for a class for some reason, it’s just like a gym membership. Something happens, and you’re like, “All right, I’m paying the money. I’m going to make a commitment.”

Rudhir: I make the commitment of 20 minutes twice a day. I’m a coffee drinker. It’s not the morning coffee. It’s the 2:00 p.m. coffee for all my friends at Fish and Apple. At 2:00 p.m. it was clockwork. I’d come around the halls and say, “All right, let’s just go get coffee.” I noticed after two or three months of practicing… It’s not like it has an alarm set, it’s just at that time of the day you start feeling a little bit tired. My morning energy is I’m ready to go. Around 2:00 p.m. it starts to wither.

Rudhir: I started to notice three weeks had gone by and I hadn’t asked anyone for coffee. I’m an engineer by trade. Trained as an electrical engineer, studied, became an IP attorney, so I need a logical underpinning for a mental practice. At least I did at that time. I don’t anymore. I’m all in now. But back then I sort of needed some evidence. The evidence was just clear. I have so much more energy that I don’t need coffee. I don’t drink coffee from 7:00 a.m. until midnight, and I’m just fully functioning.

Rudhir: I couldn’t believe the shift that happened for me in that moment that I was getting a physical benefit to a mental practice. That’s when I decided I was all in. I started to have healthier interactions professionally. I started to notice that things were slowing down. People talk about time is going by fast. That’s not a thing for me anymore. Time actually does not go by fast. I started to worry less about all the things that were coming and about what was happening. I just started to feel more present.

Rudhir: There’s so much energy there. The energy is because… And this is for the people that are just looking for the logic. If your mind is moving less, and it’s sort of moving at a less rapid pace, it’s triggering less emotions. If you think about when you pay attention to what your thoughts are in a two minute period, “What am I going to eat for lunch?” It’s the basic thoughts. “What am I doing this week? What’s my schedule? What am I going to eat for lunch? What’s for dinner? What’s happening with that meeting?”

Rudhir: Each of those thoughts… And you notice in a two minute period they just keep spinning. Each of those thoughts may trigger and may bring out an emotion. When emotions come up in our body that is a moment where your energy starts to get drained because an emotion can trigger you to hunch your shoulders, and you don’t even realize. It may start reducing… slowing down your breath. You don’t even know. When that email comes in from that challenging client or from that colleague, you sort of hold your breath.

Rudhir: Those little moments add up in the course of the day. In our jobs you can work from 8:00 a.m. until midnight, not leave your desk, and feel like you ran a marathon that day. Mindfulness and meditation practices start to slow that down. They start to slow down the rapidity of the thoughts. They start to readjust how reactive you are to these things. They relax your body in these moments when you might naturally be tense or stressed. You’re gaining back 5% to 10% energy.

Rudhir: There’s this book Ten Percent Happier. I relate to almost everything that’s in that book because you really are. Ten percent more energy in this moment can be huge. How much more energy do you have at the end of the day for your colleagues, your clients, your family? You just have so much more energy. Just 10% can make such a difference. You were asking about what is mindfulness, but before I go into that, I’m curious if any questions are coming up for you based on what I’m saying?

Teresa: Well, I’m just anticipating questions. I think seeing the email come in or thinking about the email, it’s not saying that email is not important or that client’s need isn’t important, it’s putting it into a place where we’re not maybe as reactive to it, where it’s kind of processed in a way that is a little more centered. Right?

Rudhir: Yeah. This is a great dovetail into what is mindfulness because I think there’s a lot there. When I think about mindfulness you’ll see a range of definitions. But I consider if we’re paying attention to ourselves, our thoughts, our emotions and our body, and noticing what’s happening with those things, without judgment. And the without judgment piece is actually really important because oftentimes what’s happening for us we might think is wrong or something’s not great about it or amazing about it. Mindfulness is actually just let’s just pay attention to what’s happening.

Rudhir: I talked about this body scan technique as sort of one way which is paying attention to what’s happening with your feet and your legs and your stomach and your lungs and your shoulders. When that email comes in as an example. We all know that email, that alert, that case alert. That colleague, that person we don’t like, all of it. It happens at least 10 times a day. Ten times a day, 20 times a day, 100 times a day you tense up when that message comes in, and just sort of noticing what’s happening in your body in that moment rather than necessarily solving the email. Because our first reaction is what am I going to say? You might notice the quality of your breath in that moment that you’re actually not breathing. It’s fascinating just taking a deep breath in that moment rather than reacting right away and just noticing what happens to your body that it settles.

Rudhir: Noticing what happens to your shoulders, they tighten up, that you sort of take a forward learning approach, that you might get uneasy in your stomach. All these things are happening. As we pay attention to that, when we’re responding to that email from that place, it’s actually fight or flight. We’re responding from a place of fight or flight. Fight or flight is sort of an old… It’s an old system. It comes from an old brain of ours. It’s the amygdala. It’s an old brain. It’s a lizard brain that we have. It basically really comes from this era and this time of evolutionarily when we were sort of fighting bears and lions. You’re sort of out in the wild and you’re worried about fight or flight. Either I attack this thing that’s in front of me or I’ve got to leave.

Teresa: Base survival.

Rudhir: It’s survival. Yeah. By and large in our legal office, outside of that scary partner in the corner, there’s no bears around. There’s no tigers. For us to be experiencing fight or flight as much as we do in the course of our day is really a ratio that it happens versus the actual need is way out of proportion. The other thing is that creativity, centeredness, true leadership, aren’t happening when we’re in fight or flight. We’re not coming from a collected and a gathered place. We’re coming from a reactive place.

Rudhir: When we write a brief in a case, we don’t write a react, we write a response. I use these two words differently. There’s reacting, and there’s responding. I think responding comes from a place when we gather data and information, we use our wise lawyer selves, we are using wisdom, and we are responding in a gathered and a collected way. We’re reviewing. We’re able to come back to people from a centered place. That’s what we want in our briefing. That’s what we want in our responses to our colleagues, in our communications. We end up feeling in a reactive place, and so it’s fight or flight. It’s like, “If they say something, I can defend myself,” or “I’m going to avoid this email for a few hours because I’m nervous about what’s going to happen.”

Rudhir: So all these things come up. But when we take a breath we notice what’s happening in our shoulders, we notice what’s happening in ourselves, we notice the thinking and the nervousness that might be happening in our head. Maybe we can respond in a healthier way. Maybe we can slow down some of that movement and gain some energy back.

Teresa: Interesting using the word creativity. We’re in a transformative moment. Whether it’s a temporary transformation or whether we’re going to see lasting effects. We have the White House signing the Defense Production Act. Many people working from home. I’m sure for many there’s a lot of scary elements to what we’re seeing with the public health crisis around COVID-19. You and I we’ve had some earlier conversations about possibilities out there, but what do you see, Rudhir, right now as possible in this moment?

Rudhir: We have to be very thoughtful about many people whose health is being compromised in this moment, and we have to really be thoughtful about many people whose lives have shifted and are challenged by access to resources and hourly workers and wage workers whose jobs are being eliminated in the short term. There’s a lot of challenge and compromise that’s happening at this moment. We want to make sure that we keep our awareness on that.

Teresa: Right.

Rudhir: I actually feel like interestingly enough a lot is possible in this moment. I think there are new ways that we’ll be able to connect with people and we’ll be testing out. For example, this webinar that I’m doing or the greater number of video calls and group calls that I’m having online where people are finding healthier ways to interact. I actually think it’s an incredible time to call that colleague or that contact that you haven’t been in touch with for a while and just say, “Hey, how are you doing?” And just get on the phone or get on a video call and just listen and be with somebody and connect in a way that you might not have otherwise.

Rudhir: I do feel like people might have a little bit more time now, and if you think it’s a time where, for example, business development dies down, I think actually it’s the exact opposite. People are looking to connect in this moment, so fill that void. Finding new ways to connect right now, to reach out, to interact, to connect with your families and yourselves, I think that’s huge in this moment.

Rudhir: I think time alone can be an incredible time for coming up with new solutions and to be creative. I think about Isaac Newton came up with some of his most valuable theories, the roots of calculus, and the basic understandings that we have on gravity, some of the most critical theories that he came up with were during the Plague when he had to leave Cambridge and isolate during that moment.

Rudhir: Social distancing, this isn’t the first era of social distancing. This has been going on with every pandemic that we’ve experienced in the history of time. Even in that moment he came up with some of the most valuable scientific principles and mathematic principles that we lean on today. There’s this huge opportunity in this moment to be creative, to think about what’s possible.

Rudhir: And as lawyers we are in this service industry, and so there’s this incredible opportunity to think about what are the new ways and the different ways in which we can serve others and add value? When we are reactive and in fight or flight, we aren’t thinking from that place. We’re wondering how to protect ourselves or wondering how… what’s going to happen to us. But when we start slowing down and rooting in, we remember that there’s so much possible in this moment for all of us, so many systems that we can build to serve our clients and to support our colleagues.

Rudhir: I’m going to be offering team building webinars in the next few weeks. Here’s an opportunity. Your entire team is isolated. How do we stay connected in this moment? So maybe we jump on an hour and a half Zoom call, and we actually do a team building exercise, facilitated exercise, in this moment. For me, I just feel like so much is possible, and it’s time to really start thinking about creative ways that we can connect with others, which we all need as humans and in our professions, and so what are the ways that we can do that now?

Teresa: That’s really interesting. We’ve been hearing talk about… We’ve all been hearing the guidelines around social distancing, but moving to the term physical distancing to recognize that we need… We still as humans we still need a little bit of that connectivity that you’re talking about. Interesting. Rudhir, some of the resources we’ve been monitoring and sharing with our clients have been resources you have been sharing with broader audiences. Can you talk to us about what’s out there right now? What resources are there? You’ve really been pouring a lot of your focus to provide some guidance and help right now in the recent days and weeks. What’s out there right now? What are you working on, and what could you suggest as resources for people?
Rudhir: Well, we mentioned it once already, but I’m doing this weekly webinar on mindfulness tools for handling uncertainty, and I’m doing this every Wednesday morning through my relationship on the co-chair of the wellness committee for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. We’re doing a similar webinar on Thursdays every week right now, myself and a mentor of mine, Angela O., are doing this webinar every week for that community.
Rudhir: I’m talking with the Association of Corporate Counsel on putting out a webinar on what tools we can use to manage the challenge. There’s a couple of bar associations that I’m working with on how we can exhibit our leadership in this moment. How can we show leadership in this moment of challenge and difficulty? From my perspective, there’s a lot of offering that’s happening in this moment, and I think what’s really beautiful and really nice about the community is actually seeing all the things that are being offered up in this moment and ways that we can support each other.

Rudhir: I think it’s a great time to pay attention and listen and get online and see what’s being offered by others. There’s a lot of opportunities to interact in workshops and dialogues and ways to connect from home right now that I think people should be tapping into. I think it’s also just a time to connect for people that have the luxury of doing that with family in their home or even with nature. There’s no restriction on necessarily going out in some areas and actually just taking a walk and connecting in that way.

Rudhir: I do workshops on building resilience. Part of those dialogues we talk about, “What’s restorative for you?” What’s restorative for you? The answers that people typically come up with are things that are just very accessible to us even in this moment, which is time with my family and my friends, connecting with my pets, eating a really good meal, watching a good show, taking a walk in nature. All of these things people find restorative are by and large free and still very accessible to us in this moment.

Rudhir: This might just be a nice healthy hibernating moment for all of us. I think that another thing is this is actually a great opportunity for skills building. I work with a range of clients. For some of them, presentations and stand up are something that they like working on. There’s nothing stopping people from being at home and recording a presentation and seeing how they are. When we start thinking about what’s possible in this moment, I feel like there is so much opportunity.

Teresa: One of the other areas, we were discussing earlier, Rudhir, related to the new work at home scenario. Looking at the normal heavy workload that an attorney deals with, at least having that separation between work and home, without being blurred now, which not the case for you necessarily. You’re accustomed to it. What guidance are you providing right now for how to handle that new blurred line and how to handle what is really a novel situation for many professionals and especially for attorneys?

Rudhir: I think that it’s very interesting seeing this transition that people are making to being at home. Luckily, I’ve been working at home for a few years now, and so this transition wasn’t so difficult. I definitely feel like there are things that we can do to make this that much more comfortable. First, I think for people that don’t work from home a lot, it’s actually setting up a comfortable situation for sitting.

Rudhir: Some people might think this is the time to just work at the dining table or in that uncomfortable chair, but we might be here for a while. Maybe it’s time to get a nicer chair, a nicer desk at home. Maybe it’s time to invest in that, a standup desk or something, a chair that’s got good support for you. So actually just sit in a place that’s comfortable and not necessarily in the thing that you might default to when you do a little bit of work from home.

Rudhir: Second, I think that things that are really helpful are really when we’re working from home the boundaries really start to fade between work and home literally. There’s really no boundary anymore. You might have this urge to almost work all the time. There’s really no limit to it. I think there’s this mentality around clocking in and clocking out that I think can be a really welcome shift in this moment.
Rudhir: If you’re putting in certain hours, actually when does the pen go down? When does the laptop get shut? What are the few hours during the day where you’re actually just doing the thing that you need to do to take care of yourself or center? For some people, they’re not commuting anymore. They use that commute time as the period to transition from work to home. Create that transition period for yourself. Sit for five or ten minutes and do nothing and allow the mind to settle and shift. Let’s not just use all of our time now or fill all of that time with work because doing that along with all the information that’s coming in and the way that the world is changing can really start draining you further.

Rudhir: I think healthy boundaries with work right now are imperative and actually maybe just creating some mental shifts. When I go down to the living room, when I’m in my next room, that’s when I put the laptop… The laptop stays in this area of the house. I don’t let it carry everywhere. Just trying to think about physical and mental barriers that you can start to create between work and home even when you’re in one place so that it’s not all bleeding together. We work effectively when we are restored. We need to reenergize. So think about the things that reenergize you and try to build in systems at home that allow you to keep that energy.

Teresa: That’s helpful. Rudhir, you mentioned one mentor a few minutes ago in our conversation. Can you talk to me about any mentors that you’ve had throughout your career who’ve especially shaped your thinking, shaped your own career?

Rudhir: There’s so many. It’s a difficult question. I remember when you emailed me in advance about some of the things you might ask, I said let’s do this at the end. I was hoping it wouldn’t even get to these. I have so many mentors. There’s so many people that have been valuable. In the work that I do I always feel like I stand on the shoulders of so many people that came before, and so there’s just so many experiences that I have that are learning.

Rudhir: I think the place to start is that I just feel like every opportunity and every interaction is a moment of learning. I feel like I’m learning from people all the time. Mentors is a really higher elevated state for somebody I feel to hold that space. I learned so much from my clients. I learned so much on calls like this. I learned so much from every interaction. I think the first thing that comes to me is actually just not losing sight of the learning opportunities in every interaction. What can you learn about this person across from you and the rich experience that they have? What value might you be able to get in that possibility of that conversation?

Rudhir: The person that made this entire next chapter of my life that much more possible for me was my wife. When I was in my last few years at Apple, I started to feel this itch, and it was… I’m not sure, but I can’t say that I’m as happy as I’d like to be in my life professionally. I think there’s something else. I don’t know exactly what I want to do. I’d sort of come home every few days with this dialogue with her.

Rudhir: I’d sort of talk about different things that I want to do. I’d tell her, I’d say, “You know, I think I need a month or two off. I need a month or two off. I’m going to ask my manager and team if I can combine my four weeks of vacation with one other month off. It could be unpaid. I don’t care. I just need a couple of months to sit.” She said, “You don’t need two months. You need a year.”

Rudhir: I just thought, ” A year?” Apple doesn’t have a year long sabbatical program. How are we going to do that? She said, “I’m giving you a year.” She said, “For one year you don’t need to do a thing. You don’t have to generate any income. You don’t have to do anything around the house. You don’t have to do anything for a year, and whatever you do after that I don’t care. But for one year just take a break.”

Rudhir: I have never had that kind of permission before or just being met by somebody that was saying, “Look, you’re good as you are. You don’t need to do anything.” I think that that’s amazing. I just felt like to get that type of support from somebody… My wife runs a nonprofit. My mind was, “How are we going to manage the finances and everything?” She’s like, “We’ll budget. We’ll plan the way that organizations plan when they go through a transition.”

Rudhir: So we made the plan. As soon as the plan came into place, and I saw that it was possible, everything that was happening was leading to signs of leaving and taking this time off. I think she has a way of thinking and a being that’s very different from what I’m used to in my environment. It’s very refreshing. She really values people taking the time to restore because we don’t know what’s possible. She’s really at the sort of root of this transition, which is allowing me the time and space to think and see some of the challenges in our workplace.

Rudhir: What I did during that time off is I just wrote a lot and investigated and understood a lot about our work, and that’s what allowed me to see this opportunity for stepping into this whole new career path for me. When I think about people that I look up to or I look to, I think about right now in this moment of my life I think about my wife first.

Teresa: Rudhir, that’s really wonderful to hear you say it, and I appreciate you sharing too on such a personal level that story.

Rudhir: Well, I just want to offer that in this moment I feel like we’re experiencing challenging times. I feel like we’re part of an amazing profession that can actually offer a lot. If anyone could use any support or has any questions, please feel free to reach out. My website is Krishtel.com. My email is simple. It’s my first name Rudhir@Krishtel.com, and I’m sure you’ll be providing it, Teresa.

Rudhir: But feel free to reach out in this moment because I just feel like it’s an incredible opportunity for making sure that all of us are feeling good in a way that allows us to support our community in the way that lawyers do. We are very important center, I feel like fabric, of the world. I feel like we are really the center of a lot of leadership in the world. I feel like we’re in this position to offer a lot, and for anyone that needs support through that process I just welcome people to reach out and connect.

Teresa: Thank you, Rudhir. It’s been really wonderful speaking with you learning more about what you’ve been doing. We’ve enjoyed seeing it and really are happy to be able to share it with our audience too. We will be in touch for sure. We’ll definitely have your resources available on the podcast.

Rudhir: All right. Fantastic. Thank you, Teresa. Talk soon.

Teresa: Thanks, Rudhir. You too. Bye-bye.

Rudhir: Bye.

ARTICLE BY Teresa Barber of IMS ExpertServices.

For more on Law Office Management, see the National Law Review.

Avoid Losing Money: Achieve Full Remote Access with Speed, Security & Scalability

Are your employees fully capable of accomplishing the same work that they could have done while in the office? Ideally, their in-office PC experience can be duplicated (securely) at home without any latency issues. If that’s not the case, your organization could be losing money with lost billable hours, or underutilization of existing solutions, etc. It’s paramount for the bottom line that your remote access capabilities are allowing your employees to achieve maximum efficiency to conduct business in a remote capacity.

There are three key areas of focus that need attention when planning a cost-effective and capable remote access strategy: speed, security, and scalability. “Putting effective security measures in place today along with mitigating remote access performance issues and ensuring the ability to adjust user access and scale will undoubtedly put you at a competitive advantage and positively affect your organization’s bottom line,” says Donnie W. Downs, President & CEO of Plan B Technologies, Inc.

First and foremost, the reliance on your employee’s end user device (or lack thereof) has a significant impact on what must be considered. There are two paths an organization can take to provide remote access to end users. The first is to allow end user devices to join the network as though they were plugged into a network jack in the office. The most common way to achieve this type of direct access is through a Virtual Private Network or VPN. The second approach is to present desktops and applications in a virtual session. This allows applications to be run on server horsepower in the organization’s datacenter and be used remotely from an end user device. Several products provide this capability, usually referred to as VDI or Terminal Services.

These options result in significantly different architectures. The primary difference is the level of dependency on the end user’s device. The VPN style solution relies heavily on the device’s capability and configuration. It’s required to provide all of the applications and computing power required by each end user. The VDI/Terminal services style solution requires much less from the end users devices. It is simply an interface to the remote session. The tradeoff is that a much more robust infrastructure is required in the organization’s data center or cloud.

Regardless of which way your organization is providing remote access today (VPN or virtual session), the speed, security and scalability (or lack thereof) will directly impact your cost.

SPEED

“To remain productive while working remotely, users need the same capabilities and performance they have when in the office,” says Downs. This translates to several things. They should be able to access all of the software and data they need. They should be able to access these resources using familiar workflows that don’t require separate remote access training. However, the most commonly missed requirement is that the remote access platform needs to provide adequate performance, so the remote access experience feels just like being in the office. Any latency will no doubt cause frustration and could ultimately affect your billable hours.

For direct access platforms this is a simple, yet potentially expensive formula. The remote access system needs to provide enough bandwidth so that the client device can access application servers, file servers, and other resources without slowing down. On the datacenter side, this means designing sufficient connectivity to the on-prem or cloud environments. Connectivity on the client-side, however, will always be more unpredictable. Slow residential connections, unreliable WIFI, and inconsistent cellular coverage are all challenges that will need to be addressed on this type of solution.

Performance within VDI/Terminal Services platforms is much more complex. Similar to direct access, we need to provide adequate bandwidth from the client to the remote access systems. However, this type of system typically has less demanding network requirements than a direct access system. Advanced VDI/Terminal Services platforms also offer a wide variety of protocol optimizations that can accommodate high latency or low bandwidth connections. That’s only half of the puzzle though. Because the user is accessing a virtual session running in the datacenter, that session needs to provide adequate performance. At a basic level, this means that the CPU and memory must be sized correctly to accommodate the number of users. But the platform also needs to match in-office capabilities such as multiple monitors, 3D acceleration, printing, and video capability. Full-featured VDI/Terminal Services platforms provide these capabilities, but they must be properly designed and deployed to realize their full potential.

SECURITY

“Remote access can expose your business to many risks – but it doesn’t have to be this way,” says Downs. “Whether your organization is supporting 10 remote users or 1,000, you need to provide the necessary access while guarding your organization against outside threats.” For successful and secure remote access, it’s necessary to manage the risks and eliminate your blind spots to prevent data loss, phishing, or ransomware attacks.

On the surface, securing remote access environments requires many of the same basic considerations as any other public-facing infrastructure. These include mandatory multifactor authentication, application-aware firewalls, and properly configured encryption to guard your organization against security risks and protect corporate data. Remote access security is unique due to the risk introduced by the devices used by your employees. These devices can include IT managed devices that are allowed to leave the office or employee-owned unmanaged devices. If your remote access end users are logging in with their own devices, over the internet, there is room for a security breach without conducting these three protocols:

1/ Conduct Endpoint Posture Assessments

For direct access remote connectivity, security is especially relevant since the end user device is being provided a conduit into the organization network. Ideally, devices connecting to a direct access solution should be IT managed devices. This ensures that IT has the capability to control the endpoint configuration and security. However, there are many environments where direct access is required by employee-owned devices. In either case, the remote access solution should have the capability to do endpoint posture assessment. This allows an end user device to be scanned for compliance with security policies. These policies should include up to date operating system updates, valid and updated endpoint protection/antivirus, and enabled device encryption. The results of the scan (or assessment) can then be used to ensure only properly secured devices are able to connect to the network.

2/ Protect Against Key Logging and Other Malware

VDI/Terminal Services remote access systems rely on the end user device only as an interface to the virtual session. As a result, these solutions provide the ability to insulate the organization’s network from the end user device more than a direct access connection. Administrators can and should limit the ability for end user devices to pass file, print, and clipboard data, effectively preventing a compromise of the end user device from affecting the infrastructure. However, there is a gap in this insulation that is almost always overlooked. Malware on the end user device with key logging, screen recording, or remote-control capability can still allow the VDI/Terminal Services session to be compromised. Advanced VDI/Terminal Services platforms have protection for these types of attacks built in. This should be a mandatory requirement when selecting and implementing a VDI/Terminal Services solution.

3/ Deploy Robust Endpoint Protection

Regardless of the overall remote access strategy, both IT managed and employee-owned end user devices should have robust endpoint protection. Traditional definition-based antivirus products no longer provide sufficient protection. These should be combined with, or replaced by, solutions that perform both behavior analytics and advanced persistent thread (APT) protection.

SCALABILITY

Capacity planning for remote access can be very challenging. It is often one of the most varied or “bursty” workloads in an organization. Under normal operations it is used for dedicated remote workers or employees traveling. But when circumstances require large numbers of employees to be remote, as they do today, demand for these capabilities will spike. Proper planning can allow remote access systems to deal with this and keep the entire organization productive, regardless of where they are working.

There are three key elements that affect the scalability of direct access and VDI/Terminal Services solutions: software licensing, network bandwidth, and hardware capacity. It’s important to remember that these three pieces are interconnected. Upgrading any one of them will likely also require an upgrade to the others.

1/ Software Licensing

Licensing for remote access solutions is generally straight forward. There are variables in choosing the correct license type such as feature set and concurrent vs named users. But, in terms of sizing, direct access, and VDI/Terminal Services solutions are usually licensed based on the number of users they can service. Proper scalability relies on having a license pool large enough to support the entire user base. Purchasing licensing for an entire user base can be prohibitively expensive, so some vendors offer more flexible licensing. Two common flexible license models are subscription and burst licenses. Subscription licensing can often be increased or decreased as needed. Burst licensing allows for the purchase of a break-glass pool of licensing that allows for an increased user count for a short period of time. Both of these models allow remote access systems to rapidly expand to accommodate emergency remote workers. This type of flexibility should be considered when selecting a remote access platform to help save your organization from unnecessary costs.

2/ Network Bandwidth

Bandwidth and hardware flexibility are much more difficult to plan for. Indirect access and VDI/Terminal Services scenarios, each additional user requires more WAN bandwidth and more hardware resources. WAN circuits for on-prem datacenters can require significant lead time to provision and resize. There are solutions such as SD-WAN or burstable circuits that can allow flexibility and agility in these circuits. But this must be carefully preplanned and not left as a to-do item when the expanded capacity is actually needed.

3/ Hardware Capacity

Hardware scaling has similar limitations. Adding remote access capacity can require hardware resources ranging from larger firewalls to additional servers depending on the specific remote access platform. Expanding physical firewall and server platforms requires the procurement of additional hardware. During widespread emergencies, unpredictable availability of hardware can lead to significant delays in getting this done. Fortunately, most remote access platforms allow the integration of on-prem and public cloud-based deployments. A common strategy is to deploy systems into the public cloud as an extension of the normal production environment. These systems can then be spun up when needed to provide the additional capacity. This is a complex architecture that requires diligent design and planning, but it can provide a vast amount of scalability at reasonable cost.

Positioning your organization with a remote access strategy that can scale will save you time and money in the future. It’s unknown how long the effects of the coronavirus pandemic will impact the landscape of remote work for organizations. Planning and preparing to continue to conduct business with a secure and robust remote access strategy in place will put you ahead of your competition.

ARTICLE BY Jason McKenry, Katie Percy, Preston Stover and Brian Vermillion of Plan B Technologies.

For more on remote working see the Labor & Employment section of the National Law Review.

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Transcript

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SPEED

SECURITY

1/ Conduct Endpoint Posture Assessments

2/ Protect Against Key Logging and Other Malware

3/ Deploy Robust Endpoint Protection

SCALABILITY