⚫️When I was starting Spencer Walsh Law in 2015, I had a vision that a paperless office would be the best and most productive type of law office imaginable. After having spent close to 20 years buried in paper, I saw becoming a paperless law office as Nirvana, and it has turned out to be incredibly efficient. But I definitely did not foresee a future where we would only be connected to the world through digitization. ⚫️ Like many people, there were entire days this year when the only human interaction I had was through a screen. The result has been the most unusual and difficult year of my life. (I suspect a lot of you reading this might say the same.) ⚫️ 2020 had a brief period of relative normalcy before COVID-19 upended everything. In 2021, the pandemic has dominated our lives since day one.
⚫️ We’ve all had to adapt to a “new normal,“ although what that looks like is different for every person. For me, the result has been a year spent mostly online. I had stretches of time without any face-to-face social interaction. When I had a break between telephone calls and hearings, I would walk around outside to see something different. After work, I took online bridge lessons and chess lessons and would play games online with my new “remote” friends. ⚫️ Our Spencer Walsh team would have a social hour once a week, where we would all meet on zoom with a cocktail or mocktail and celebrate the fact that we were operating incredibly well despite the challenges that the pandemic threw our way.
⚫️Once I got vaccinated, I started having some small in-person get together‘s, but my social life is still a lot more digital than it used to be. It’s been a strange and disorienting experience. My personal world has never felt smaller than it did over the last 12 months.
At the same time, this year was a reminder that our world is more connected than ever. ⚫️ Collaboration has been a constant theme with my work this year. The foundation continues to take up the bulk of my time, and I’m blown away by the amazing progress the Spencer Walsh team made in 2021. We had weekly virtual team meetings. Each meeting is client-focused and focused on a different topic, like getting through the bottleneck at the Impartial Hearing Office, securing funding for our clients who have been successful in hearings and settlements, and how to be efficient despite the incredible inefficiency of the New York City Department of Education. ⚫️ It’s inspiring to hear how our team, by working together, continue to find solutions.
⚫️ And, each morning as our virtual office opened, our Spencer Walsh team would have a minute of silence on behalf of all of you, and think and feel and send positive energy your way.
🖤 I hope you have been able to receive this positive energy we hold for you.
