(Excerpts from this Q&A were originally published in Lawdragon)
Lawdragon: How has the novel coronavirus impacted your practice?
David Elsberg: No firm is immune to the challenges presented by the coronavirus, but we have taken steps to protect our firm against the financial and cultural impacts of remote work. From day one of our operations, we’ve been conservative fiscally, and invested in a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure which adapts well to this environment.
Jennifer Selendy: Where we practice may have shifted, but we remain fully capable of delivering extraordinary legal services to our clients in these challenging times, and have been fortunate to file a number of new cases, take depositions, continue our recruiting efforts, and meet virtually as teams with minimal disruptions.
LD: What is your firm doing to help the community during this time of crisis?
JS: Maintaining our tight-knit, collaborative culture is very important as we all face the disruption and dislocation of working remotely. One of the things that continues to bring us together, beyond the commercial cases we’re handling, is our pro bono and public interest work. This commitment to the public good is what drew so many of us to create the firm in the first place. We are devoting significant time and resources to help women and families living in poverty in New York City, public servants fighting for student loan forgiveness, environmental advocacy groups, and many others.
LD: What is your top piece of advice for clients in regards to this pandemic?
JS: While the Covid pandemic raises some unprecedented challenges, there are steps we can take to mitigate the disruption and the resultant toll on business.
Most of our clients experienced the Great Recession, and we are proud to have counseled many of them through that difficult period. Our advice to clients today is: Proactively identify and monitor reliable information sources relevant to your business, and assemble a group of cross-organizational leaders who can make decisions in this rapidly changing environment. Be direct and realistic in your assessment of pain points, and to the greatest extent possible, plan ahead to address those issues. Err on the side of over-communicating with employees and clients about how Covid-related issues are being handled. And in those communications, be transparent and realistic.
Read the full interview in Lawdragon.
