Business as Unusual

You’re not alone, if, like me, the past month or so seems to have been an eternity. Even the avalanche of emails received from businesses at the outset of the pandemic telling us that they had robust disaster plans in place and it was to be “business as usual” seem a distant memory.

Well, a month or so on and we’re still here, working to do the best for our clients.  Yes, we’re still doing the same tasks but how we do them has changed ….perhaps even forever.  Just a few short weeks ago “Zoom” was an ice lolly that I recall occasionally having if the local ice cream van had run out of a Strawberry Mivvi.  How times change.

Perhaps the best way I think to describe the current situation is not “business as usual” but in fact “business as unusual”. I have to be honest here and confess that I did not come up with this idea myself – it was something that I noticed on a website of local Barrister chambers and it got me thinking as to how to best describe the current situation and how we are overcoming challenges and coming up with workarounds – not just as a firm but also the entire legal and Courts system.

The ways we have had to adapt in a short space of time and for us, on a firm-wide scale have looked back on it been nothing short of a marvellous achievement.  Yes, some things take longer than if we were in the office and can at times be annoying (certainly for technophobes like me) but we get the job done.

On this note, I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to all our staff who throughout has continued to be an inspiration. In particular, a special thanks to Tony Wight, our ICT Manager who has facilitated this change from a technology point of view and shows the patience of a saint given some of the group What’s App messages – usually around 9 am on a Monday morning when everyone is trying to log in!

Additionally, also thanks to our Office Manager, Claire Thornton who has been fantastic keeping in touch with staff and helping to supervise the skeleton staff we have in the office who ensure that those who are working remotely can continue to do so by scanning post and sending out the mail.

Additionally, thank you to our clients and their understanding of the situation, particularly in these challenging times.  We hope that any disruption to the services we provide you has been minimal.

At this time, the health of everyone is of paramount concern and one day – hopefully, we can go back to “normal” whatever that may look like.

Who knows – perhaps we are now just waiting for the “Unusual” to become the “Usual”.