It is hard to overstate the changes that the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought for American lives—our ways of working, schooling and spending leisure time have drastically evolved in the past several months. Businesses, schools, restaurants and museums have all worked to creatively craft solutions to address the disruption, the new realities of the pandemic and the current economic climate. The legal industry, from law firms to courthouses, has experienced significant change as well. Attorneys, particularly young attorneys, should use this time as an opportunity to evaluate and address their careers in light of these changes to determine whether the organization, practice area and legal market in which they practice is the right one for their immediate future, and whether a legal career even remains the right path.

Over the past few months, the legal industry has implemented changes to its ways of working and its business models. While some law firms had become more flexible with work from home prior to the pandemic, face time remained paramount. The pandemic has demonstrated that telework is feasible for almost every firm employee and many legal activities, including court hearings, arbitrations and mediations. While teleconferencing is not ideal for every scenario, in others, such as mediation, it has proven its efficiency. Instead of spending eight hours in a conference room waiting to speak to the mediator for 20 minutes every hour, attorneys and their clients can work on other cases while waiting for a call from the mediator. Additionally, the pandemic has hastened the necessary and beneficial—but previously slow—implementation of e-filing systems in many state courts.

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