Iowa State Bar Association President's Letter August 2021

Five COVID-19 Pandemic Lessons Learned        

Part of outreach is finding those interactions, experiences and relationships that connect us – like the conversations about where we were when we found out we had passed the bar exam or where we were on Sept. 11, 2001. Certainly, the global pandemic ranks right up there as a seminal moment of universal experience and has dominated conversation since its sudden inception.

Recently I was going through old emails while looking for an email address, and I discovered an email I received from a colleague. The email was from the end of February 2020 and, at the time, we were working on an agenda for a meeting scheduled for March of 2020. A speaker suggested that she appear by Zoom and my colleague’s response to me was that he “had never heard of it.”

Reflecting back on those early days of 2020 made me think about how quickly and drastically things changed over just a few short weeks. In full disclosure, none of my immediate family members became infected by COVID and neither mine nor my husband’s employment were impacted. Outside of our personal family experience, it is not an exaggeration to say that the practice of law underwent a revolutionary change. From the closure of courthouses, to interaction almost exclusively online, things changed quickly and the legal community had to adapt to a new normal. Prior to March of 2020, if you had asked me whether I would ever try a case via video conference, I would have laughed at you.

I think back to those days – sometimes with fondness. I loved eating dinner with my family every night. One week we even had a cooking contest to see which family member could make the best dinner (the contest included a score for cleanest kitchen!). I loved all of the movies I shared with my kids during that time. My family discovered “Ted Lasso.” But I also think back to those days with anxiety – reading about the increasing number of COVID cases in the state of Iowa. I remember the fear we felt when we learned our children had been exposed and all of the work undertaken to report and manage their potential exposure. I missed seeing my mom and other family members. I spent many nights worried about our kids and how this was affecting their education, their mental health and overall development.

As things have settled into a new normal, the Iowa Supreme Court established a “Lessons Learned” taskforce to evaluate the future of COVID era judicial branch policies, or as Chief Justice Christensen calls it, “the lemonade taskforce” (for making lemonade out of lemons). As I was writing this letter, I began thinking about my own “lessons learned” since March 2020.

They would include the following:

1. You are more flexible than you think you are. Before COVID, while I had heard of Zoom, I had rarely used it. DocuSign was not a part of my vocabulary. Now I am proud to report that I really do think I could practice law 100 percent virtually. Thinking about how to be more effective, efficient and more responsive to clients will always be a part of the practice of law.

2. Change can bring about new routines that make our lives better. Before March of 2020, between my full-time practice, involvement in bar and community activities, my husband’s job and our kids’ schedules, my family and I were always moving. I never had a day where I was home – all day. Like many of you, the pandemic brought about not just days at home, but weeks! To be honest, at first this was a huge challenge for me. But then I learned new routines. My “pod” included other moms in the neighborhood who would come exercise in our driveway or garage at 6:15 a.m. I would have never done this prior to March of 2020 – thinking I was too busy or that I had to go to the gym to exercise.

3. Humor is not just important – it is critical. There were moments I felt a lot of anxiety, but there were some moments of real laughter. The memory of seeing Judge Terry Rickers’ cat jump up on his computer during a hearing will always make me smile.

4. Grace is important not just for others, but yourself. For example, while I knew that parenting teenagers was going to be a challenge, I had not anticipated having to deal with having school cancelled, activities postponed and discussions about who could be in their “pod” to keep them safe. My best laid plans of having our girls on a routine soon went out the window. School looked very different. I had to “check my baggage at the door” about this and learn to be okay with it. I did it. But it was not pretty at times.

5. Those moments that are not your best are your opportunities to grow, if you are willing to reflect on them.

As the bar association year begins, I would love to hear your “lessons learned” since March 2020. Our shared experiences, interactions and learnings during an unprecedented time in our world are those that will connect us for years to come.

Questions or comments? If you want, leave your "lessons learned" below. You can connect in the comments section or I can be reached at [email protected] or 515-288-6041.

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