When David Lat, Managing Partner of Lateral Link, contracted COVID-19 back in March, he made the pandemic real and personal for many of us in the legal industry. Three months later, I have him as my last guest on In Seclusion and ask him what lessons we've learned through it all. He gave me three.

1. We've learned to work successfully on a remote basis. This is no small deal for the legal industry who stressed the need to be in the office.
2. Lawyers and legal professionals have learned how to use more technology tools in a more effective and efficient way. It turns out that lawyers can learn new tech when they are forced to.
3. We all have gained a great perspective of what's truly important to us in our work and in our personal lives.

It's been a challenging three months of working during a pandemic, an economic crisis, and a time of social upheaval. It's been a pleasure talking with over 70 professionals and having them share their experiences, insights, and predictions with us all. If you haven't caught all of the episodes, I suggest going through the list and picking out a few to binge. Stay safe, healthy, and sane everyone!

Remember, we may all be In Seclusion, but we're in this together.

Host: Greg Lambert (@glambert)
Producer: Janice Anderson
Artwork: Dean Lambert
Music: Jerry David DeCicca
Twitter: @InSeclusionPod

Victoria Hudgins, Reporter at LegalTechNews, reports on the legal tech sector and noticed that some of the first cuts that major law firms made during the pandemic were related to their technology innovation teams. Lawyers and tech staff were subjected to layoffs, furloughs, and pay cuts almost immediately as firms feared a reduction in revenue and work. She wonders what that means for these legal innovation teams. Will firms take their foot off the gas on innovation? How long will law firms continue to invest in these teams? Will the resulting actions be that law firms will have to look externally for innovation once we get beyond the pandemic? Time will tell.

Remember, we may all be In Seclusion, but we’re in this together.

Host: Greg Lambert (@glambert)
Producer: Janice Anderson
Artwork: Dean Lambert
Music: Jerry David DeCicca
Twitter: @InSeclusionPod

Jason Barnwell, Assistant General Counsel of Modern Legal at Microsoft, does not like it when his outside legal counsel comes to him with traditional offerings during a crisis. If there is ever a time to package legal services in a way that helps in-house attorneys manage their limited resources, that time is now. Don't ask the client to define what services you can provide them, come to the client with the knowledge you've learned from all your other clients' needs, and provide insights, and options on how to address current and potential issues. Bring options to the client. The options do not have to be perfect, or unassailable. But they start that conversation to find what the client needs, and how the firms can be creative in helping with that need.

Remember, we may all be In Seclusion, but we’re in this together.

Host: Greg Lambert (@glambert)
Producer: Janice Anderson
Artwork: Dean Lambert
Music: Jerry David DeCicca
Twitter: @InSeclusionPod