On Friday, March 13, 2020, Spiritus Law cofounder Marbet Lewis spoke with a movie theater client by phone about the coronavirus. She hadn’t heard of shutdowns in the U.S., she recalled in an interview, and told her client he shouldn’t worry just yet.

By Monday—Black Monday, as its known in the industry—everything changed. Less than three years after founding the alcohol and hospitality-oriented boutique with husband Robert Lewis, Marbet’s inbox went from 500 daily emails to zero in the span of 24 hours. The clients that were calling were asking for help shutting down operations rather than getting advice on attaining new licenses.