Image: Nola, also known as Umbrella Girl or Rain Girl by Banksy as seen on our retreat to New Orleans, February 2020

In February of this year, our firm was on our annual retreat in New Orleans. News regarding the Coronavirus had reached us, but the threat wasn’t a reality yet. There were some people wearing masks at the airports and even less on the planes. We enjoyed our time in New Orleans by reflecting on the previous year of 2019 and created a vision for the firm in 2020 and made goals regarding client services, adding additional team members, financial and personal milestones. We ate, drank, toured, reflected and enjoyed one other’s company outside of the office in a beautiful historical city. Shortly after our return we added a new attorney and mediator, Theresa Loughran and a new legal assistant, Jessica Brown to our team and prepared to manifest our vision of GROWTH for the year 2020.

Within a short amount of time the reality of  the pandemic became clear and we quickly altered our office to best serve our clients while maintaining safety for them and ourselves. We also accommodated our staff by having some work from home to support school aged children, some working from the office with children and some working from home from time to time based on comfort levels. Our firm never lost sight of maintaining exemplary and uninterrupted service. We offered a virtual Divorce during Covid series, virtual consultations and meetings and notary services and worked with our professional referrals to find therapists, financial specialists, accountants and real estate agents to help our clients find success through personally vetted interdisciplinary networks. 

All that being said, we did in fact live out our vision of growth. We grew in areas we didn’t expect to be challenged in, which is in itself true growth. We didn’t achieve every goal we envisioned in New Orleans, but we did meet and exceed goals we couldn’t have even imagined before life changed for everyone in the last year.

When faced by a personal, professional or pandemic challenge it is important to acknowledge your limitations, learn from the conditions and accept what can and can not be changed. We did not dwell in the pandemic or the various cultural and political issues that arose in our city, our country, our world. We acknowledged, adapted, listened, accepted and celebrated what we could control and change. We volunteered, we donated to local nonprofits, we remained present for our community, our clients and ourselves. We challenged ourselves during a challenging time. We grew.

Most importantly and not surprisingly, we witnessed the strength of our clients going through some of the most difficult times in their lives during one of the most difficult times for our world with grace, grit, and resolve. We celebrate and have gratitude for each and every one of our former, current and future clients that continually astound us with their actionable hope and fearlessness. 

We wish you all a safe holiday season with a sincere hope that we can see all of you again soon.