SIDEBAR Summer/Fall 2020 - 6

MONTGOMERYBAR.ORG

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
COVID-19: Practicing in a pandemic
In early March of this year, we had absolutely no idea what lie
ahead for our bar association and our legal community. At first,
the difficulties presented by the COVID virus seemed a nuisance,
and then an inconvenience, but as the seriousness of the situation
unfolded, it became apparent that it would upend all we had
become accustomed to, and would require the implementation
of efforts and strategies that were both new and untested. While
we are still in the midst of this ongoing battle, I sincerely feel that
we have successfully weathered the worst of the storm and I again
must attribute all of our success to the hard work and dedication
of many others.
Specifically, I must start out by recognizing and praising the
efforts of our exemplary bar association staff, and while each
and every member of our staff rolled up their sleeves and wasted
no time analyzing the various challenges and contemplating
approaches and solutions to navigate the choppy waters that lie
ahead, I confidently acknowledge and laud the efforts of three
of our staff members - Jack Costello, George Cardenas, and
Megan Ware. Jack has been instrumental in just about every
major decision that has occurred since March. With the pending
departure of Nancy Paul, and our top leaders largely focused on
the monumental task of choosing our next Executive Director, I
cannot begin to express how valuable he was to our organization.
He essentially single-handedly set up and managed the COVID
resource page, amongst the very first, if not the first, of its kind
in the state. This page succeeded at keeping our members
immediately up to date on court pronouncements, safety
protocols, and other important statewide mandates. Jack also
assisted with virtually every other facet of operations, foreseeing
upcoming challenges and helping to shape our approach long
before things became problematic. George Cardenas managed
the incredibly difficult conglomeration of tasks relating to moving
all of the bar association's activities and programming online, a
simply monumental undertaking ripe with never-ending new
challenges and difficulties. Even when he had things shored
up from the MBA perspective, his work was never done, as he
had the unenviable task of managing and monitoring all of our
online events, and of course, dealing with each of our members'
(as well as many members of our distinguished bench) own
personal technical limitations, always in a patient and helpful
manner. Last, but certainly not least, Megan Ware, who only
just recently celebrated the completion of her first year with the
bar association, and who was simply irreplaceable in assisting
the executive director search committee with numerous tasks
relating to the search process, and also communicating all day
long, sometimes late into the evening, with all of our committee
chairs and members regarding upcoming and ongoing webinars,
committee meetings and CLEs.
Of course, it wasn't only the staff that pulled us through these
difficult times. Our section and committee leadership played a

6 SIDEBAR

huge role in this transition and I commend all of those leaders
for their efforts in getting up to speed on how to conduct online
meetings and for keeping their committee members informed
and involved throughout the initial transition. Additionally,
the Board of Directors, although unable to meet in person,
actually convened virtually for the first time ever on March 26th,
mere days after the initial lockdown was put into place, and
then every two weeks thereafter for nearly two months, thereby
enabling the business of the Association to continue. Finally,
the Montgomery County bench has proven our greatest ally
during these challenging times. While I heard other presidents
from around the state ponder and critique the disconnect
between court operations and the needs and desires of parties and
practitioners within their own respective counties, I wondered
how I was so fortunate to have President Judge DelRicci and
our full slate of dedicated judges, who were determined to work
incredibly closely with the bar association in designing and
implementing phased protocols for the continued pursuit of
justice in a safe manner. While there are certainly many negatives
and inconveniences the COVID pandemic has brought us, I
sincerely feel that the relationship between the bar association and
the bench has grown even stronger over this time, and that has
been both deeply satisfying and meaningful to me.

Race, Diversity, Inclusion
A third challenge of incredible importance and significance
arose in the immediate aftermath of the video footage depicting
the appalling and inhumane treatment of George Floyd at the
hands of Minnesota law enforcement. The frustration and anger
of our community, and many of our members, boiled over. The
divisiveness and bitter contempt that seemingly rushed over the
country like a tsunami, threatened to undermine and frustrate our
years of efforts in striving to forge a more diverse and inclusive
bar association as well as our Montgomery County community
as a whole. But with the effort and unparalleled commitment
of the leaders of our diversity committee, Jimmy Chong and
Lauren Hughes, Co-Chairs, and Evelyn Devine, Vice-Chair,
http://montgomerybar.org
SIDEBAR Summer/Fall 2020

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