Law And More

Landlord Nation - Post-COVID-19 New World Order Can End Housing Insecurity

"Eventually the rent will be due …" - Mary Cunningham, Fellow at Urban Institute, April 7, 2020. Here is her study.

According to Cunningham's research, about 11 million low-income people in the U.S. won't be able to pay their rent on a sustained basis. As a progressive think tank, the Urban Institute advocates policies addressing what now goes by the label "housing insecurity." If no policy action is taken, homelessness can surge.

The unemployment triggered by COVID-19 has worsened housing insecurity. But the situation has been around ever since the cost of renting kept going up, often more quickly than wages in a geographic area. 

For instance, a study by Clever found that 1960, rental expense rose 72% or 2.7 times faster than household income. 

Even anecdotal evidence shows that America seems to have become Landlord Nation. Since fewer people can afford to own their homes, there are more renters. That has transformed the overall shelter situation into a landlord market. In many states there is no cap on the percentage that monthly rent can be boosted at lease-renewal time. In too many rental complexes, the sheriff arrives and he/she doesn't ring twice. The eviction notice is posted. 

From the get-go with the industrious Puritans, America has been about success. Because of Landlord nation, that concept is being retrofitted to denote the simple ability to pay the rent. That's unambiguous. Rent can be paid on time or not paid. 

When there is no need for special negotiations with the property manager, those people are often perceived as solid citizens. When there have to be frequent pleas for extensions and a history of late payments, those leasing can find themselves being informally classified as "trouble." If they are eventually evicted there can be a sigh of relief in the complex.  Those "troublemakers" are gone.

A positive side effect and part of the new order of COVID-19 could be a surge of initiatives for affordable housing - or making what is already in the housing stock more affordable. 

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For Whom The Moving Van Comes: It Comes For Thee (over-50 staff, lawyers, law professors)

Relocation for the over-50 has become increasingly an issue. And an urgent one. That's especially the situation for aging legal staff, lawyers, and (highly paid) law professors. Everything law is in play. 

Even before the current COVID-19 unemployment crisis research documented that the aging worker can bet on losing that good job and, even worse, not landing a replacement which pays comparable compensation. Currently, that probability has increased exponentially.

The bottom line: Those aging living in pricey metro areas and suburbs likely can't afford that lifestyle any more. Relocation is a have-to. That applies:

If you throw in the towel and retire

Decide to semi-retire

Resolve to keep working by establishing a new identity where aging bias isn't so severe such as in Arizona

Launch a business geared to another geographical location. It could be all you need is another $35k. And you can live well.

For you, that relocation, after the decision is made to do it, might seem like a simple transaction: Sell the house or fulfill the lease, pack or sell the material belongings, and go. Enjoy the adventure, right. 

That's not the way it plays out. The process is complex. And, believe me, not an adventure.

My relocation, which finally ended with my move to Toledo, Ohio, has been a strange journey.

That kicked in during April 2014. The writing was on the wall: It was impossible to make ends meet in the New York Metro area. Simultaneously it was increasingly possible to operate my two boutiques remotely. They were and are communications and coaching services. 

I chose Tucson, Arizona. The trip there, the apartment, and the establishment of telecommuting businesses all went according to plan. My fixed expenses dropped more than a half. Emotionally and spiritually it was a relief to be away from the careerism of the Northeast Corridor.

Then a very strange thing developed.

The past, by way of former college classmate Kathleen Huebner, became an unwanted presence.

It arrived in the positioning and packaging labeled "concern." My my. There is that old-fashioned adage that advice is criticism delivered in a velvet glove. 

Perhaps Huebner et al., who had been a mover and shaker in the field of vision impairment, had regretted retirement and buying a house in a retirement development.

Perhaps Huebner and the rest had a festering resentment against me. In itself that's a major reason to duck creatures reaching back from the past. 

Or maybe they were just bored. 

That shouldn't have derailed the relocation train. But it did.

Huebner was the only person I knew in the Tucson metro area. Made vulnerable by the move, I was excessively shaken. Lesson learned: Be totally protective of yourself when parachuting into a new geographical location and lifestyle. You have been stripped of your usual defenses. 

The next lesson learned during this unusual journey is that none of us, at least once over-5o, is as flexible as we assume in our heads to be.

Within 6 months of the transition to southwest AZ, I was homesick for east. But at the same time I couldn't afford The East I had known.

Internet research turned up that I could get back to 4 seasons at an affordable price (and leave the ghost of Huebner behind) in Youngstown, Ohio. Nice try, but, as the cliché goes, no cigar. In Youngstown, there was not enough to do and even less so once the economy tanked after GM shuttered the Lordstown plant.

The lesson learned there was this: Be willing to tweak a decision.

OH was okay. But not Youngstown.

I did, though, hang out there too long, not willing to admit there needed to be one more uprooting.

Since September 2019, I have been based in Toledo, OH. It's perfect. Even more affordable than Tucson and Youngstown, with a world-class museum, several top universities within an hour, and people so much like the ones I had to leave in 2014.

What I am celebrating this month is plenty. Here are just a few things on the Hurrah List:

•  I got out. "Everyone said" I would lose my earning capability if I left the New York Metro area. Yet, I was able to bypass the oppressive opinion of everyone. Yesyesyes, the answers are all within ourselves.
•  I had the insight and strength to ditch Huebner and the rest of the members of the Class of 1967 who were indeed so eager to help me out. There doesn't have to be any loyalty to those who had been in our little lives at a very different time. Maybe the college diplomas should have a disclaimer: These people can be hazardous to your growth. 
•  I surrendered to the reality of aging that adjustment is a tough nut to crack.
•  I forgave myself for errors of judgment along the way. Self-forgiveness is everything. Among the monsters of the mind is regret. Don't go near that hell.
•  I paid off all debt, piled funds into an investment portfolio, and rolled back my medical-test number to "healthy." 
•  It was smart to drive back to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut twice. I had to get it that all that had changed, without me. Those locations were no longer "home." At least, no longer mine. 
•  Somehow, an inner peace I hadn't experienced since childhood took hold of me. As Don Draper from "Mad Men" articulated in the Kodak pitch, the transition from being a child to an almost-adult is fraught with pain. So many of us, like me, hadn't shaken the pain. The strange trauma of relocation made it necessary to take the leap into who I was now. The pain lifted. 

In the new Post-COVID-19 world order, the moving van will cometh for more and more of us. What we need to put it in is the willingness to develop a fresh understanding of who we can become and what we need to start on the next phase of the journey. It's not what we expect. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Vault Favorite Downey Brand Struggles to Save Jobs

With good reason Downey Brand law firm is a Vault favorite. 

The midsize firm, based in Sacramento, California, is doing what it can to save the jobs of all who work there - ranging from partners to the hourly.

Abovethelaw reports that Downey Brand has made these moves to reduce costs. The objective is to navigate the current perilous economy. 

The initiatives include:

20% pay cut for four months, ending July 31st, for all on salary. Those include income partners, counsel, associates, and staff.

Reduction of days for work from five to four for hourly workers.

Compensation adjustments for equity partners. But terms and conditions have not been made public.

Saving jobs is the heroic stance in the legal sector. As is known from 2008 - 2009, once knocked out of that box, many never were able to scramble back in.

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April 1, 2020 in Year of COVID-19: The Sheriff Doesn't Ring Twice

 

It's come to this: rationing of emergency medical care. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that at NYU Langone Health, Robert Femea gave ER front lines "sole discretion" for who is put on a ventilator. They also have permission to withhold futile incubation. In that decision-making loop the Ok, Boomer could be assessed as, crudely put, not a good bet for treating.

So goes another day in the coronavirus pandemic.

Andrew Cuomo becomes increasingly attractive as a presidential candidate.

His approval rating, depending on the latest presser, is around 90%. On CNN, his news-anchor brother Chris Cuomo brought up the possibility of Andrew as next U.S. president.

Among the many edges Cuomo has is that the public trusts him. That is so much so that he can make errors of judgment and is quickly forgiven.

Celebrity culture might be ending.

Folks are too scared about dying from the virus to give a damn what Ellen DeGeneres throws out there as guidance or supposed inspiration. 

It's posited that celebrity culture began with Teddy Roosevelt's flamboyant daughter Alice. The Ok, Boomer might remember the catchy song associated with her "Alice Blue Gown.'

Instead of celebrities America is embracing those ordinary people who serve in necessary functions.

On social networks, there are lots of likes for and comments about the workers at Aldi. We cheer that they are receiving "hazard" pay for manning the grocery lines. 

Tomorrow, April 1st, is THE DAY.

That's when many bills, including rent, are due.

As a public service, some corporations are letting it be known that they are open to negotiation. For example, when I called into my Bank of America Visa card about rewards (you bet, those can help out plenty with balances), the automated messaging was front loaded with this: The powers that be invite discussions about alternate ways to approach payment.  

But there are businesses which might not be concerned about the branding implication of taking swift action against those not paying their bills on time. After GM shuttered the Lordstown, Ohio plant, evictions from apartments were routine. And the sheriff doesn't ring twice.

Not everyone is in a financial pickle - lessons learned. 

There were individual catastrophes before The Time of Coronavirus. In 2003, I had lost my nest egg, business, and mind. Here is my book on that, including lessons learned, which can be downloaded free. 

Not only did I resolve never again to live above my means. I embraced what's now called "radical frugality" or "minimalism." Then I referred to it as a "vow of poverty." In the front lines of that psychic (and behavioral) shift had been cognitive therapist, based in West Hartford, Connecticut, Amy Karnilowicz. 

The results included going from six-figure debt to having a surplus of income at the end of most months and maintaining an investment portfolio.

Takeaway: Research how to live cheaply. It can be done, even in America. My most recent initiative has been to donate my automobile to Kars4Kids. That, according to Nerd Wallet, can save someone an average of $8,469 a year. I had been at that fork in the road: Buy a new car or figure out how to get from Points A to Points B, C, and D without a car.

Some can enjoy the pause and some bump up against the tipping point of despair.  

On social networks, brandname lawyer Norm Pattis (he had defended Connecticut's Fotis Dulos) reflects that slowing down is not a bad thing. The courthouses are closed so he and other lawyers are not cranking out the usual lawyerly things like briefs and aren't appearing before a jury.

However, Pattis is self-employed. He is positioned to manage his financial everything. The self-employed have more wiggle room in hard times. 

Lawyers employed by law firms aren't so fortunate. Recently Womble Bond Dickinson laid off junior lawyers. Reed Smith is slowing down cash distributions to partners. 

Ironically, those lawyers losing jobs might find themselves scrambling for help, just like the former servers in restaurants and the clerks in department stores.

They should click into the Paul Weiss Coronavirus Relief Center, created by lawyers working pro bono. It simplifies the mazes for help.

Red tape can be daunting. It could also be the tipping point into despair.

On an individual basis, pitch in with helping those allergic to red tape to get the information and aid they need. Recently, readers who are gig workers have been asking me how to apply for unemployment. That's permitted by the CARES Act. Here is my public service post on that development for contract workers and the self-employed. 

Allow ourselves to change. 

The New York liberal in me is being forced to re-think values. Where I am living now (very affordably) is not a coronavirus hotspot. But an hour away is one. Governors, mayors, health officials, and medical personnel are deciding whether the hospitals here will be open for those from the hotspot. 

This time my mindset is the conservative NIMYB. That is, not in my background. So far the cases of the virus and the deaths are low in this county. Allowing those from a hotspot to be treated here could be the game-changer.

"At my age," as the saying goes, I never expected to have to be "tested" so severely. After I bounced back in 2004 from my individual year in hell I assumed I was entitled to a smooth ride. HaHa. 

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Associate Layoffs - That Shoe Finally Drops in Legal Sector

Junior lawyers and the JD Class of 2020 were holding their breath.

What they feared was that reductions in force (RIFs) would creep over from administrative staff (not needed in remote times) to lawyers.

Well, on Abovethelaw.com, Kathryn Rubino reports that the shoe has dropped. This is the first time during the coronavirus crisis that a major law firm has had a RIF involving associates. 

That law firm is Womble Bond Dickinson.

Yes, it's really happening. Those let go are entering a marketplace as bad or not worse than that of 2008-2009. That's why they don't have the luxury of denial.

Severance and unemployment will run out soon enough. So will their savings, as junior lawyers discovered in The Great Recession.

The lucky ones back then figured out the doc review game, that is how to land, hold, and move on to better assignments in that niche.

Under the pen name "Alex Rich," one former BigLaw lawyer chronicled the how-to on Abovethelaw.com. Later it was discovered that the lawyer-turned-journalist had been Rubino, who is now employed full time at that legal news site. 

In addition, also from the get-go, the in-touch ones were reimagining how they could leverage their education, knowledge base, and skills for making a good living in the longer term. That might be in legal or related to legal. Or, it might not be. For a number of them it turned out to be in compliance, real estate, and marketing communications.

Likely, during this upheaval in their careers, those lawyers who are displaced will have to focus on getting access to all the help, financial and otherwise, that is available.

Once source for that is Paul Weiss' Coronavirus Relief Center. Even before the pandemic became serious in the U.S., Paul Weiss Chairperson Bard Karp saw the future.

In it a lot of people, probably for the first time in their lives, would need to have centralized a kind of UX system where they could speedily and seamlessly get what they needed during the crisis.

Did Karp realize that lawyers themselves would be using the Relief Center? That's irrelevant. What counts is that he was able to mobilize hundreds of lawyers to pull all-nighters pro bono to set up this unique help zone. 

The RIF for associates is only a part of Womble's cost-cutting strategy.

In addition:

•  Some employees have been furloughed
•  Graduated pay cuts across the board for those still left standing. For employees earning more than $100K that will be 10%.

The founder of this blog Jane Genova has extreme empathy for those let go. We are our jobs. When we lose them we lose a piece of ourselves. Grief is appropriate.

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Law Firms - The Bad Politics of Layoffs

Man the Political Animal has replaced Economic Man.

At least in the corridors of power. And, much of the media and on Main Street.

Therefore, for law firms, layoffs are not a wise way to manage a 2008-like crisis. Especially if those reductions in force impact the Little Guy. The Little Guy can include both staff and junior lawyers. 

Essentially that was the message from the Law.com podcast focused on two issues:

1) Is the legal sector sliding into another steep downturn, much like or worse than that of The Great Recession?

2) If so, what might be the emerging best practices? Beware, the old ways could get law firms branded as The Enemy. 

The guests were Bill Brandt, founder of DSI, and Keith Wetmore of Major, Lindsay & Africa. 

The layoff issue is filled with complexity. 

On the one hand, the current situation of across-the-board remote work makes most of administrative staff not needed. In addition, as those following the business of law firms know, there had been lots of hiring of lawyers during the recovery. Overcapacity is a reality.

On the other hand, both government leaders and the media have made it their business to highlight the tragedy of workers who have lost their jobs because of the coronarvirus. The pain is beyond money. In America, we are our jobs. That's that.

On PBS, thought leaders have pointed out that in other nations such as Denmark the approach during this crisis was to do whatever was/is needed to keep businesses open and people employed.

In the U.S., businesses frequently had no choice but to shut down and let workers go. Post-crisis, it will take time for those businesses to rebuild. Anyone who has naively taken a break from a career gets it: Re-entry is tough, maybe impossible.

The alternates to layoffs are many. They range from requesting extensions of lines of credit to instituting furloughs. Through the latter, workers can collect government-funded unemployment compensation in the interim. That expense is not on the law firm. Then, when the timing is right, they can circle back to their jobs.

I would add that, once back on the job, they can be trained to perform the functions that the new normal demands. Both Brandt and Wetmore hammer that the legal sector will never return to what it had been before COVID-19. The scope of this assault on business-as-usual is driving law firms to rethink all their processes.

Interestingly, in The Atlantic, Ed Yong presents the post-pandemic world order. He envisions the overall shift to be so profound that babies born today will be entering a whole new chapter in the history of mankind.

Consequently, they should be labeled "Generation C." What the world is after the coronavirus is all they know. The analogy is  Generation Z, digital natives. They never experienced an analog culture. As a result, just about every institution had to change to accommodate their reality. Generation C's reality won't be that of Q1 2020.

Another recommendation from the podcast, also related to the politics of The Time of COVID-19, is that law firms should be creating and transmitting positive messages.

Yes, the thought leadership kind.

Yes, both internally and to other constituencies such as clients.

Yes, law firm leadership should be picking up the phone and contacting clients on a very human level. Let them discuss their anxieties. Old-fashioned hand-holding? Corny? Probably, but really needed right now. Old is new again. 

Law firm Paul Weiss has already gone beyond that. It has moved to the next step: taking action.

Paul Weiss' Chairman Brad Karp created the pro-bono initiative Coronavirus Relief Center. 

The shorthand way of describing that is a kind of UX design that guides the public through the maze of what's available to help them during COVID-19. The configuration simplifies and streamlines.

Anyone who has struggled to resolve a billing issue, for example, with an insurance company or hospital, understands the extreme frustration.

Here is how Karp describes the initiative in his own words. 

How will the law firm be structured and what will be its values in the future? 

First the dust has to settle before even the experts on the business of law can speculate about that. 

Meanwhile, the 19th century guideline for law firms to embrace is the meme from the novels of Charles Dickens. No matter what ordeals his characters had to endure in the Industrial Revolution what got them through was what he called "the milk of human kindness." That held off despair, no matter what.

Sheltered-in-place, law firm leaders might download Kindle versions of Dickens' novels like "David Copperfield."

During this unique kind of economic upheaval, brands, including those of law firms, need to soften. Not harden. Generation C will be living in a very different kind of capitalism than dominated before COVID-19. That is beginning to configure right now.

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Law Firms, If COVID-19 Hangs On Too Long: Equality of Sacrifice

Consultants on the business of law are already playing out what-if scenarios if COVID-19 hangs on and on. And, having been through 2008-2009, law firms are reviewing what should be on the table for surviving the worst of times. 

On Reddit's r/LawSchool, members of the JD Class of 2020 anonymously share their angst. There could be a circling back to the rescinded job offers and the delayed start dates during The Great Recession. Those w/o offers sense they could be staring into hell. By time there's a bounce-back from the carnage of COVID-19, they could be yesterday. Law firms could restrict recruiting to new graduates and brandname laterals.

Given remote operations - which could go on for months and months - staff isn't needed. 

In the past, the response of law firms to financial distress had been brutal. Not only had there been large reductions in force. There had been stealth layoffs. Those terminated were made to believe their performance was subpar. 

This new disease could introduce some humanity. And, doing good can mean doing well.

The model for that was how the Lee Iacocca turnaround team saved the hundreds of thousands of jobs inside and linked to auto company Chrysler. The meme was: the equality of sacrifice. 

Everyone in the loop, ranging from federal government and shareholders to executives/employees and vendors, agreed to suffer somewhat so that that they wouldn't have to suffer the loss of everything if the corporation collapsed. Iacocca's own salary was a buck a year.

In that same spirit in the legal sector in 2020 there has been the Coronavirus Relief Center.

It came into being through the vision of Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp. 

The Relief Center, built piece by piece by lawyers pulling all-nighters laboring pro-bono, eliminates the red tape for those caught in the coronavirus crisis. It's a kind of UX system, simplifying and streamlining everything needed to gain access to public assistance. Essentially Karp's mission was for members of the legal community to share in some of  that pain out there. Pain can mean unexpected gain.

How can law firms also embrace the equality of sacrifice?

Already there is chatter of types of across-the-board adjustments to compensation. That's a way of preventing layoffs. In America we are our jobs. 

Those haircuts can take the form of delaying equity partner draws.

There also could be a graduated pay cut, as planned at BuzzFeed. The CEO at BuzzFeed will receive no salary until the crisis is over. His mission is not to lay anyone off. 

For legal staff making $75K or less that pay cut could be X percent of compensation. For associates Y percent. For non-equity partners Z percent.

Even though this is the age of extreme public relations, some law firms don't get how reductions in force tarnish the brand. Clients, prospects, potential merger partners, and lateral talent are spooked. 

Another approach can be investing more resources in cross-training. Why don't associates know how to develop new business?

Sure there are natural salespeople. But the skills involved can be learned. Consultants are hammering that cost-efficiency is not enough. Revenues have to also be maintained or increased to survive an economic downturn. When IBM was tanking and in came outsider Lou Gerstner, the culture became: We all sell. The equality of sacrifice is to share the power that comes from rainmaking in order that the firm remain out of financial distress. 

A third kind of sacrifice is to reimagine billing in order to help distressed clients have a better shot at success through restructuring. Again, that goes back to the old-line wisdom of doing well by doing good. Classic examples are the junior lawyers doing pro bono projects which wind up before SCOTUS. Big brandnames were made. Taking a haircut on a fee can generate lucrative new business.

The genius embedded in the equality of sacrifice concept is that it doesn't feel like a sacrifice. Instead it's experienced as a developmental exercise. Lawyers in the loop of the Coronavirus Relief Center can now leverage that management know-how in their practice of law. Alumni from the Iacocca turnaround were golden.

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Law, Tech No Longer Sexy - Expect More TV Med Shows

The front lines of heroism during these Coronavirus Times are the selfless and exhausted medical doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and EMTs. 

Not only do we salute them.

We know how much we need them.

Obviously, for the next season there will be more medical programming, both instructional and fictional, on television.

Meanwhile, with courts shuttered, no high profile trials are in session and there isn't the flurry of motions in cause-oriented lawsuits such as "Tolton, et al. v. Jones Day." On LinkedIn, even celebrity lawyer Norm Pattis (Fotis Dulos defense) admits hw is enjoying the pause in the usual action. 

So, no, right now, what's related to law isn't sexy.

And, with our lives at risk, who cares about the new features on a smartphone. More to the point, with stay-at-home mandates those digital devices are leaving a bad taste in our mouth. We long to touch reality.

Funding for tech startups is down.

And in our hearts we get it that it's the EMT, not Apple's Tim Cook, who will get us breathing on the way to the ER. 

So, no, right now, what's related to tech isn't sexy either.

Producer Dick Wolf, who invented "Chicago Med," would be smart to exploit the surge in popularity about Everything Healthcare. He can put together a three-hour special set in the "Chicago Med" box about the inner workings of a healthcare center and the inner lives of those who labor there, selflessly. Fans already crave more of Dr. Charles, the in-house psychiatrist. It[s wonderful that he was a bad father.

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Instead of Layoffs - BuzzFeed Model Law Firms Might Consider

Clouds are darkening over the global legal sector.

Robinson Borg, Goldberg Segalla, and Belkin Burden Goldman had already done layoffs. Across the ocean, UK-based Gateley is holding back the interim dividend. That could be a prelude to reducing manpower.

Could law firms consider an alternate to large layoffs?

That would be through pay cuts.

Belkin Burden might have conducted a larger reduction in force had it not also reduced by half the salary of some staff and lawyers. They still have their jobs. 

A version of pay cuts - graduated ones - is being planned by media outfit BuzzFeed.

BuzzFeed is experiencing financial challenges. In the media, the usual play-out in this Time of COVID-19 is that traffic is up but not necessarily revenues. Ad demand is down. 

The leadership at BuzzFeed, including Chief Executive Officer Jonah Peretti, doesn't want to have layoffs. The plan, which needs union approval, reports the Daily Beast, is to implement a graduated system of pay cuts. That would begin in April.

For example, those earning less than $65K would have a 5% cut. For executives, the pay cuts could reach 25%. Peretti indicates he would not accept a salary until the crisis is over.

This model is one other businesses, both in the media and other sectors such as law, could pilot. In addition to saving jobs that could enhance the brand. Reductions in force are not good for branding. Clients and prospects can get spooked.

In addition, losing a job is such a trauma. Some never really recover. Many of the Lost Generation of Displaced Lawyers of 2009 remain the Walking Wounded. 

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Paul Weiss Chairperson Brad Karp Moves to Front Lines of Worker Suffering

The Chairman of law firm Paul Weiss - Brad Karp - has been an early adopter in rallying lawyers, as well as businesses not in the law loop, to help Everyman/Everywoman during COVID-19. His very visible presence established a kind of template for why to help - and how. 

Following is Karp's more recent statement about the need to pitch in:

As the leader of a law firm employing more than 1,000 attorneys, and as someone who has helped lead national pro bono initiatives to reunite separated immigrant families, promote gun control, safeguard LGBTQ rights, protect reproductive freedom and secure voter enfranchisement, I am daunted by the carnage our nation is about to confront involving the tens of millions of American workers devastated medically, emotionally and economically by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. While we fear that the loss of life resulting from this pandemic may be catastrophic, we know for certain that our most vulnerable citizens will be ravaged economically as a result. 

In this time of fear and isolation, it is imperative that we in the legal profession not lose sight of our professional obligation to help others in need.  While this pandemic will continue to impact all Americans, its devastating economic consequences will not be equally shared. The impacts will be felt most acutely by those in our society who are least able to endure loss.  To slow the spread of the virus, states and localities across the country are closing schools, restaurants, bars, retail shops, museums, theaters, libraries, parks, stadiums and other public venues and directing people to stay home—actions that will be catastrophic both to the tens of millions of hourly workers in our country who live paycheck to paycheck, and to small business owners dealing with lost revenue and mounting costs.

The need for help is staggering. The numbers here speak for themselves.  More than 50 million Americans earn “low wages,” defined as median hourly earnings of $10.22 or less.  More than half of all U.S. adults live paycheck to paycheck and do not have an emergency fund covering three months of expenses.  And most American businesses do not extend severance pay to employees. Add to these sobering realities the fact that these low-wage employees work predominantly in industries that are among the most catastrophically hurt by the pandemic, including 16 million Americans in the leisure and hospitality industries, 5 million food service workers, and 4.5 million retail clerks.  The American Hotel & Lodging Association estimates that, nationally, 1 million hotel jobs, or nearly one half of the total jobs in the industry, have already been or will be eliminated in the next few weeks. Every day, the headlines become increasingly dire. 

In recent days, our federal, state and local governments, along with the nonprofit sector, have responded to this crisis by making emergency resources available to those in need of assistance. In reality, however, significant barriers prevent those most desperately in need from accessing these critical resources.  Even in ordinary times, most of the affected individuals would find it daunting to identify the programs for which they are eligible, let alone understand the intricacies and sort out the complex claims and application processes.  Many programs have overlapping subject matter and confusing eligibility requirements. Many programs are funded at one level and administered at another, adding further complexity. Agency phone lines and websites are overwhelmed and crashing under the avalanche of inquiries. Community services organizations, already underfunded and stretched thin in helping the most vulnerable, are under tremendous strain to keep up with the daily rollout of new relief programs.

Lawyers can play a vital role in breaking down these barriers. As the crisis deepened, I asked my colleagues at Paul, Weiss for volunteers willing to collect, digest, organize and synthesize the flood of information about emergency relief available to the tens of millions of Americans most impacted by the pandemic and to build an infrastructure to make this information accessible to and actionable by the most vulnerable. My colleagues answered the call in unprecedented numbers.  More than 400 attorneys volunteered in the first two hours; since then, many have been working around the clock, pro bono, to identify and analyze the hundreds of potentially applicable federal, state, local and nonprofit relief programs. They have prepared indices of available relief, summarized the key programs and eligibility requirements, and provided a roadmap for how to apply for and secure relief.

Today, [Tuesday, March 24] our firm’s online Coronavirus Relief Center has gone “live.”  The Relief Center is an easily navigable repository of the most up-to-date information on hundreds of local, state, federal and non-profit relief programs available to the millions of Americans economically impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.  The programs provide a broad range of emergency relief: opportunities for out-of-work employees to receive enhanced unemployment benefits; provisions enabling certain employees to take sick leave, family leave and avail themselves of other forms of relief for missing work; opportunities for qualifying families to receive emergency cash assistance; opportunities for small businesses to secure grants to cover payroll costs; opportunities for small businesses to apply for zero-interest loans to mitigate lost profits; loan programs available to qualifying small businesses to fund working capital costs; plus many additional forms of relief. 

The website demystifies what otherwise would be a daunting process. It offers a menu of jurisdictions to choose from. After selecting a jurisdiction, their state of residence, for example, users are offered a menu of available programs for individuals and small businesses in that jurisdiction. They can click on any relief program to view a short summary of the program, in simple terms, including eligibility requirements and the types of relief available, in a format that is easily understood by non-lawyers.  They may also view contact information for those responsible for administering the program’s relief and links to additional information about the program and application forms, if available. 

Of course, my law firm is not alone in caring for those whose lives have been hardest hit by the pandemic.  Bar associations, public interest lawyers, legal aid organizations, private practitioners and corporate law departments are mobilizing resources to bring relief to the vulnerable and powerless.  As news of our project has become known in the legal community, we have been contacted by dozens of law firms and in-house legal departments eager to make a difference. I have been deeply moved by this outpouring of unity and this commitment to the public good. Our firm is committed to contributing whatever institutional and human resources we have at our disposal to help those in need.

But the crisis we are now confronting is too daunting, too sprawling, and too complex to be addressed by a single law firm or even a group of law firms—no matter how well-intentioned and no matter how well-resourced. We intend to form partnerships across the bar, our clients and the public interest community to support these efforts to help those desperately in need. And while our online Coronavirus Resource Center is focused on the needs of Americans, we will be working internationally with organizations like The Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice (www.vancecenter.org) to enable law firms outside of the United States to provide pro bono legal support for those affected in their countries.

To deal with the economic dislocation of tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe, the private bar, writ large and in historic numbers, will need to join forces with leading public interest organizations to confront the challenges we now face as a society.  This is a call to action across our legal community.  Our work is only beginning. 

As many of us spend our days shuttered at home, our routines, our work, and our lives interrupted by this invisible virus, it is critical that those of us with the resources and skills to help not lose sight of those among us who are most vulnerable, and who will not have jobs to return to after this pandemic eventually subsides.  What all of us do right now will make all the difference to these individuals—and will ensure that we, as lawyers, are part of the solution.

Brad S. Karp has been the Chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison since 2008. Here is his backgrounder on LinkedIn. 

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