Living in the Reopen
April showers indeed brought May flowers along with tree, grass, and weed pollen, mold, hail and tornadoes. Before Corona, I thought NBA refs were worse than a plague and then 2020 came along saying – “Hold my beer”. With May and the end of Tiger King comes a reopening of sorts. Executive and Administrative orders begin to lapse allowing businesses to open. States and cities are doing reopening in different stages and timetables. Individually, we are all making our own choices on how to approach reopening and social interaction. Certainly, we all understand that one size does not fit all. Montana is not New York and OKC is neither. Conducting ourselves now will not be like the days before Rudy came to town. Many businesses will not reopen again or will likely shutter in coming weeks. Many jobs will not return. The way we do business must and will evolve. It took only six weeks to show the weakness in the supply chain and yield approximately 33 million unemployed. It was reported in the ABA Journal that the rate of new legal work decreased nearly 40% in only a few weeks. I have heard local mutterings about law firm staff layoffs, salary reductions and lack of partner draws. Much of the focus of any discussion is on the economics of the shutdown; although, rightfully the individual decision/liberty/rights part of this risk equation continues to be a significant factor for discussion. Resistance changes hats and sides. Individual control over decision-believers become more in favor of governmental controls. Civil discourse is not civil and hasn’t been for a while, but shouldn’t our profession promote civil discussion of issues? Let’s consider different perspectives on reopening.
I encountered a new reality on the way to do essential work at my office only a few weeks into the shutdown. At that point, a local church was giving away free food boxes. The jobless ranks were increasing but had not yet reached highest levels. The lines of cars waiting for food stretched for miles every direction from the church, including backing up onto the Broadway Extension. It took over two hours that day to travel one mile to my office. The church ran out of food boxes in no time. Later, I would see on television video from across the country of people in their cars lined up and stacked side by side for miles for their turn at food pantries. Many of these people can’t work at home and won’t return to the workplace anytime soon, if ever. The U.S. economy is going to take a hit for an extended period, maybe another ten-year cycle. In our state, a downturn in the energy business will have an additional effect on our local economy. Sales tax collection, retail, banking, real estate, education – all will suffer. Given the economic realities with any reopening, it is not likely that paying attorney fees is going to be at the top of any business’ to-do list and possibly on the creditor’s matrix.
During the past several weeks, we have had a chance to be educated on the now well-known Spanish Flu of 1918 which had multiple waves with the second and third more devastating than the first. Many say those waves are coming in the fall along with flu season and others believe we have already had two waves. History and medicine seem to establish that at least one more wave is a probability. Even the most rabid pro-quarantine person knows that our culture and economy can’t wait it out that long or reopen and then shut down again. On the other hand, healthy people under the age of 60 knows that means they will likely get COVID-19; they just hope the symptoms aren’t too harsh. Those of us in the vulnerable category don’t want it, don’t need it, and probably can’t handle the symptoms. Historic and medical certainties should affect our daily decision-making but don’t seem to be.
We don’t appear to have the discipline to quarantine even for 2-6 weeks. I’ve seen videos and photos of large groups of unmasked citizens in parks, beaches, nail and hair salons, restaurants, etc. We can’t help it; we want out of the house without social distancing, and we don’t want to give up a certain standard of living. We have become accustomed to living a life without social distancing. We simply can’t imagine another week without golf, hair coloring, manicures, being out on the town, casinos and bars. The rest of the world must be amused by our first-world issues.
In recent Zoom meetings and viewing of social media posts, many attorneys and professionals seem to be just fine working at home. We get to see homes, offices, pets, gardening projects, woodworking projects and the like. With this, however, there seems to be a lack of self-awareness. Some law firms will not reopen, and some lawyers will change professions. Many of those non-lawyers in the food line or out-of-work would also do better during quarantine closure with a nice home, wi-fi, and too many kid’s toys to count. Although I have a nice set up when I work from home, I also remember others are not so fortunate. In fact, it appears from the increasing unemployment numbers, unpaid utility bills, and defaulting loans that the great majority do not have the same support system that many in our profession do. It may all be a political or scientific discussion to you, but it may be life without a meal or living on the street to another. Another individual is making their decisions on risks of reopening, wearing a mask or gloves on a different basis than yours. Too many times I see on social media the first response is that the other side is dumb, and the second response is to say the other person must be an R or a D. Rather than throw stones, we must take care of our family, each other, our communities, our city, our state and our country. You need to start at home and move your sphere of influence outward from there.
For our part, the OCBA has reached out to the membership seeking needs. We want to help in any way we can and make referrals for assistance. We remind OCBA members to volunteer or contribute to local charities. I love the face mask-making underwriting done by an OCBA attorney featured in our last Briefcase. Through the OCBA YLD, we will partner with a local charity (email blast to come) that can serve the needs of those less fortunate. For those of you who obtained PPP, OCBA will provide a free webinar on what you need to know to comply with the federal rules after you have the PPP funds (details to follow by blast email). For members with other needs, the OBA’s Lawyers Helping Lawyers Program is available to assist you by calling 800-364-7886.
We have cancelled OCBA events through July 1st. This includes the annual awards luncheon. We will honor our special 50-year and 60-year member attorneys in the July Briefcase. We all have new things to navigate in our personal and professional lives during and after this worldwide health and economic crisis. Things are changing and you should keep your mind open for opportunities. I came across some wisdom I want to share. I believe these questions apply in all situations new or old. Before acting, ask yourself: Will this harm others; Is this the best use of my time; Would I do this if others knew about my decision; Could this take over control of me; Will this make me a better person; and Does it ring true? My two cents during the reopen are to wash your hands often, keep proper social distancing and when you can’t, then wear a mask. Air hugs to all-for now.
Fn. 1: Lyle Moran, Law Firms are Seeing Major Slowdown in Business Because of COVID-19, Data Shows, ABA JOURNAL (May 4, 2020), (http://abajournal.com/news/article/law-firms-seeing-major-slowdown-in-business-cilo-data-shows).
Byline: Michael W. Brewer is an attorney, founder, and partner of Hiltgen & Brewer, P.C. in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. To contact Mike, email mbrewer@hbokc.law, call (405) 605-9000 or tweet him at @attymikeb. For more information, please visit http://www.hbokc.law.
Open & Obvious? 