While litigators are focused on returning to the office and resuming in-person trials, a return to bad old days of the pandemic is appearing increasingly likely. While no one relishes going back to lockdowns and mask mandates, a recurrence would have a significant but uneven impact on lawyers.

Lagging vaccination rates and highly contagious strains of COVID-19 threaten to trigger a continuing increase in infection rates, according to some experts. Projections from a consortium of researchers working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that infections will continue to rise into the fall, with a peak in October at 60,000 new daily cases and 850 fatalities per day. The COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub combines predictions from various universities and other organizations to create what it calls ensemble projections.