Second Quarter 2020

I really want to say the past three months have been very different from how things usually work in the legal world, but it's also hard for me to do too many comparisons because I have not even been a lawyer for a year yet! As of right now, Covid-19 cases in Florida are hitting staggering numbers. June closed out with almost 10,000 new cases in Florida per day and they seem to still be rising. Some cities and counties are taking additional measures, but for the most part Florida businesses remain open. Daytona has issued a mask mandate that everyone must wear a face covering when indoors or when social distancing is not possible. Various other cities have issued mask mandates as well. It certainly is a change to go to stores/gas stations/takeout restaurants and see everyone in masks- and see people turned away if they do not have a mask.

The timing is definitely strange, but I am also almost a little bit grateful for when I started working as a lawyer because I don't have routines established yet that need to be changed due to the new electronic/distancing approach. All of our hearings, case management conferences, and trials remain online, done via Zoom. We set up a Zoom Room at the office for doing hearings and court appearances, with one large screen, one large camera/speaker, and a control pad. I am still working on learning how to use it to its full potential, but it is definitely a cool setup.

This quarter I helped work on an appeal for the first time here, which I very much enjoyed. We filed the initial brief, which dealt with multiple issues including alimony, equitable distribution issues, and children issues. It is a great learning experience to see how they all work together in a case, especially at the appellate level. Reviewing a record, completing various research assignments, summarizing transcripts, and seeing it all come together into an appellate brief is such a fulfilling experience. I hope to be able to do more work on appeals as the months and years go on.

As far as personal matters this quarter, I went on my family trip to the Keys this summer for a few days. We see each other all of the time, but it is nice to go on the fishing/vacation trips as a family every summer or almost every summer. And another exciting thing happening for me- I got Invisalign! I am not excited about wearing them for 18 months, but I am very excited to see how my teeth will look by then.

So, all in all, it is quite an adjustment to the way things are right now as compared to six months ago. I know in my last blog I was just talking about the lockdown, which we are now out of (but with many more Covid-19 cases). None of us know what's going to happen, but being able to do all of the necessary meetings, hearings, and other court appearances via Zoom has made it still feasible to do the work we need to do in the meantime.