Unprecedented time...
Friends & Colleagues -
During this unprecedented time, I wanted to share some positives that have given me hope. While the health crisis has created a lot of fear and anxiety, both internally in our firm, and externally for our clients, CCB and I, are already beginning to see positivity each day.
Just yesterday I participated in a managing partner peer-to-peer conference call, set up by Giovanni Ruscitti of Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti LLP. (Many thanks again for organizing the group and call Gio!). Participants varied in size and practice area, representing the whole industry. Our midsized law firm and separate mediation company are experiencing the same things raised in the discussion from office closings, IT, and HR, with the root of the discussion revolving around our firms’ employees and clients. The takeaway was: We are not alone. Each firm is doing what they must to adapt, produce, and survive. We are all working hard to meet the clients’ needs. And it is not lost on all of us just how accepting and understanding the clients have been.
We have all had our clients’ scheduled mediations, hearings, and trials either cancelled or conducted by new conferencing technology. All of us are coming to terms with new technology. At CCB we feel fortunate to have invested so much effort, time, and resources into this already. We were already offering mediations via video/audio conferencing. And we hope to spur additional business and encourage others to schedule sessions with us and other attorneys who are doing the same thing. Unbundled work for clientele and/or other attorneys is becoming more prevalent and with technology, easier for us all to do.
As my domestic relations colleagues already know, arbitration is a favored and excellent form of ADR for domestic matters. And we have experienced lawyers who have availability to arbitrate for lawyers with clients who do not want to wait the health event out. Frankly, this presents an opportunity to encourage resolution outside of the traditional court system, something many of my colleagues have spent decades trying to promote.
With a wide range of hourly rates and availability, CCB is trying to be as creative as possible during these uncertain times. We are doing what we can to carry on, so that our clients can get on with their lives, despite world and local events. We will not let this stop us in our tracks.
The downturn in the market, and its effect on asset valuations, is going to create friction for our domestic clients with some desiring to move a matter forward quickly, while others wishing to delay the process. Fear of layoffs, home schooling, uncertainty on how to pay mortgages, etc. will require us all to find creative ways to combat these challenges. In many ways we have seen this before, the financial crisis in 2008 is not unlike the present. We all coped then (many thrived), and we are hopeful to do so again.
We all wonder: How long will this last? How bad will it hurt? Will we recover quickly and see an economic boom? As for CCB, fortunately we had transitioned to virtual officing that also has brick and mortar locations. We maintain the offices for our clients, and for our employees to collaborate and mentor. Luckily, we had been tech-forward, enabling our employees to work remotely, utilize cloud technologies, bill and communicate from wherever there is internet service. This has really been a blessing during this time – especially now with stay-in-place orders.
Getting a little more into the weeds, CCB and Divorce Resolutions operates, whether in office or remote, using a combination of Office 365, Practice Panther, Box cloud services, Adobe, DocuSign, Family Law Software, Redack’s Software, and Westlaw. Additionally, we have utilized a variety of additional iOS apps that connect to our main software platforms. Months ago, we began to better use Microsoft Teams, an app within Office 365. It turns out that Teams is a lot more powerful than even we knew, and we’re discovering other benefits of it. With approximately 35 employees we had some fun and held our first virtual Happy Hour last week, which helped raise our team’s spirit and connected us during this scary time.
So far, we are all healthy. We, and our clients, are all adapting to this, just like you. Pivoting as quickly as possible and expecting to continue doing so as events evolve. Navigating the day-to-day has become a job in itself for some of us, with added emails and issues. All of this was never part of the discussion years ago in law school.
In closing, CCB offers a variety of legal services, including civil and commercial litigation; family law (unbundled and ordinary representation work), business services, including employment law, banking services, and real estate; liquor licensing; personal injury and criminal; and of course, arbitration and mediation through our new company, Divorce Resolutions We always appreciate your business and your referrals. At Divorce Resolutions, we offer a range of rates and availability based on our years of experience, and we’re excited to say all of the current scheduling will be conducted via video conferencing, screen share, and cloud doc exchange. Please don’t hesitate to consider our services, especially if you have clients who do not want to wait out the mandated court delays.
We are keeping note, and plan to share when the opportunity presents, the names of the lawyers and firms who have notified us that they are still accepting referrals and /or handling video ADR during this time of crisis. Please reach out and share your experiences. And if you read through this entire email, thank you, that’s impressive!
Take Care,
Cyndy Ciancio