A crucial aspect of the life of a lawyer, networking, doesn't work quite as well in an online setting: Imagine attending a cocktail party in front of a computer screen.
But if reinventing the industry means having to adapt to a new way of communicating and working, which can be hard and frustrating, it can also bring unexpected opportunities. The two major lawyer groups in New York have been able to turn the disruption and uneasiness caused by the pandemic into success stories.
"What's amazing to us is that our members have actually stepped up and gotten more engaged in a variety of ways since COVID," said Bret I. Parker, the executive director of the New York City Bar Association.
Attendance to continuing legal education programs went up 56% since the pandemic hit. Some of that increase is attributed to lawyers finding ways to stay engaged while sheltering in place, Parker said. But it also points to a widening audience the city bar is able to reach in a moment where lawyers find themselves dealing directly with the pandemic in their work.
In 2020, the association hosted over 120 programs related to COVID-19, over 80 of which were CLEs, Parker said.
"People want to learn the legal ramifications of the pandemic," Parker said. "Lawyers are on the front line of the legal issues that are percolating."
Because many of the association's members are now working from home, the city bar is now hosting short events during lunchtime, a time slot that was previously unpopular. The bar has ramped up its wellness programs as well, with mental health and yoga sessions to help lawyers cope with stress.
Remote access technology is allowing the city bar to draw a much wider audience. Attendance at the annual White Collar Institute, one of the bar's better-known events, was significantly higher in 2020 than in previous years, Parker said.
In 2019, the city bar programs broke 15,000 attendees. In 2020, attendance surpassed 25,000.
"We're doing pretty well," Parker said.
While the shift to remote programming has helped the city bar extend its footprint to a larger scale, the association, which turns 151 this year, has no intention to abandon its physical space in the future. With one of the best legal libraries in the country, the association's building on 44th Street has continued to be used on an appointment basis throughout the pandemic.
Parker said the city bar considers its space crucial, particularly for networking.
"If you are a new lawyer, it's really hard to build relationships only through virtual technology," Parker said. "At the end of the day, we're a profession that's about people, helping our clients, connecting with lawyers in the profession. I don't know anybody who only wants an online model."
Parker said remote access has been pivotal during the pandemic. The association's CLEs were attended by anywhere between 40 and as many as 800 people, depending on the topic. It hosted online scavenger hunts and receptions to engage its members. But once the virus is under control, it plans to return to in-person events as much as possible, Parker said.
For the New York State Bar Association, the pandemic accelerated a shift away from physically hosted events and programs, in favor of an online setting that has been largely successful in keeping people connected, according to its members.
"The situation is actually quite positive," said David Miranda, a partner at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti PC and member of the state bar. "During the pandemic, our CLE programs have been as well attended and as profitable as ever before."
Shifting to online programs allowed the bar's nearly 70,000 members — 3,600 of whom live abroad — to stay connected, and gave the association an opportunity to reinvent its operations.
"We're understanding that the mold of how we do things is changing and we are adapting with it, trying to be forward-thinking and visionary as to what the world is going to look like when we get out of this brief quarantine," Miranda said.
The association has announced Monday that it's considering changing the venue of its bar center in downtown Albany, or downsizing the space it occupies inside the historical building at 1 Elk St.
"The legal profession's dependency on brick-and-mortar law offices and courthouses has been diminished, and likely will be completely transformed in the years to come," Scott Karson, the state bar association's president, said in a statement. "The reality is that there is no reason for us to return to a prepandemic model of operating."
The location has over 60,000 square feet of space and costs the association $302,229 annually in rent. When adding the cost of insurance, maintenance, utilities and taxes, the bill goes up to $800,000, Karson said.
That lease expires on Dec. 31.
Karson tapped Miranda to lead a committee tasked with finding ways to discuss the lease in a bid to cut unnecessary costs. Options the committee is exploring include portioning off and renting parts of the building, or finding a different smaller location in downtown Albany to serve as the bar's new physical home.
"The pandemic has forced us to look at how we operate. We realized that we're probably not going to have a need for space than we had prepandemic," Miranda said. "We're looking at the historical importance of our building at 1 Elk St. and what it means to the association. But we're also looking at what our actual needs are."
The state bar association was able to adapt to the challenges of lack of in-person contact because its pivot to remote programming started before the pandemic hit, Miranda said.
Henry Greenberg, Karson's immediate predecessor, had already spurred the effort to create a virtual space for bar members to use. Virtual CLEs, webinars and online lectures had already replaced some in-person events. So when the pandemic hit, the association already has a path to resilience, Miranda said.
"We were fortunate to complete phase one just a couple of weeks before the pandemic struck," Miranda said. "When we went to quarantine, we were able to continue to seamlessly serve our members."
When most of the association employees were forced to work remotely, they were able to hit the ground running, in part because of the investments the bar had made in its shift to remote access. Some of those employees might continue to work remotely in the future, Miranda said.
The pandemic is having an unexpected impact: It's increasing diversity. In a remote world where physical proximity is irrelevant, the association can now recruit employees in a much wider geographical area, tapping into a more diverse pool of talent. Traditionally, most of the bar's employees resided in the Albany region, to be close to the bar center.
"We're seeing some real benefits and opportunities," Miranda said.
But if the shift to the online world has panned out well for the host of programs bar associations have to offer, the lack of in-person events has left attorneys wanting to connect with one another a bitter pill to swallow.
About 5,000 lawyers from all over the state, plus some who live in other states and abroad, come to New York City in January for the state bar association's annual meeting. The event is a perfect setting for attorneys to catch up with friends and colleagues and the chance to make new connections.
"We weren't able to do it this year, and quite honestly, I miss it. And our members miss it," Miranda said.
Almost the same number of people attended the online version of the event, but it's not quite as exciting as hanging out in person, Miranda conceded.
"When we come out of this, it will be better. We will still have the in-person contact and the relationships," Miranda said. "That's the secret ingredient."
--Editing by Katherine Rautenberg.
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