To all of our current and future clients, we hope you’re all safe, healthy, and doing all that you can to get by in these strange and trying times. While we have followed the government’s emergency orders by sheltering-in-place, engaging in social distancing, and taking all available precautions during this pandemic, we have also maintained a constant presence in our office. Rather than have our phones answered by our usual answering service for the last eight weeks, Gene has had them forwarded directly to his cell phone, so as to be immediately available 24/7. Law practices being exempt from the government’s emergency order to close, our office has been in continuous operation since the outbreak of COVID19. We have continued answering the phones, securing the release from jail of new clients arrested, and maintained a constant dialogue with prosecutors as they work from home on current cases. We remain available to assist our current clients, as well as those seeking legal representation.
We also appreciate the first responders and those in our medical community who are on the front lines fighting this disease. And while we can express our heartfelt thanks, we also feel a responsibility to our community to do our part, however slight in comparison it may be. The immediate victims are those afflicted by this disease itself, but in reality COVID19 leave countless others in its wake. All of those furloughed while businesses close; all of those now laid off, or who’s positions have now ceased to exist, they too are victims of COVID19’s presence.
We’re not on the front lines, in hospitals, or emergency rooms, but we can do out part. We’re sympathetic to all of those who have been touched by this pandemic, and though it pales in comparison to what so many others have sacrificed, our part is to assist them to the best of our ability. Our part is to realize the playing field has been leveled, but leveled for all of us. There will always been a need for court-appointed lawyers to represent those who are indigent and unable to afford their own private attorney; but that’s where we can help, where we can do our part to fight this disease. If someone has been furloughed or laid-off, if someone’s financial situation has been altered by this pandemic, we still want to help. We still appreciate the opportunity to sit down with that person, discuss their case, offer our guidance and advice, and do all that we can to work within their budget to represent them as we’ve done for the last forty years, and with over 90 yeas of combined legal experience.
In the meantime, be safe, wash your hands regularly, shelter/work-in-place to the extent you can, and maintain social distancing while in public. Reach out to those in high-risk groups such as the elderly, and see if you can do anything to lessen their chances of being exposed (going to the grocery store for them, etc.). Stay in touch with those who are sheltering by themselves; call friends and loved ones that you haven’t spoken to in years, just to see if they’re OK. One day we’ll come ashore, we’ll stretch our legs, look around, and maybe bid a fond farewell to some of our fellow travelers, but in the meantime we’re all in the same boat.
At least that’s the way we see it.
