A few days from publication of this issue of the Marin Lawyer will be the one-year anniversary of the first shelter-in-place orders. How and where we are working now looks different not only from before the pandemic but from soon after it started as well. Remote working continues to evolve and it is clear to everyone that some aspects of it will remain when the pandemic is over. In other words, remote working isn’t going away. Indeed, I was willing to file an action in probate court in Los Angeles because the Superior Court there has already made the ability to appear remotely permanent.

I did much of my work at home already, from pre-mediation calls that could last hours to research and drafting, not to mention tasks like editing the Marin Lawyer. Most lawyers did not, especially litigators. For most of us, remote working is certainly different from what we were used to and brings different challenges, especially for parents with children at home. In this issue, we bring you several articles to help you work remotely.

As a profession where communications with our clients are privileged, cybersecurity takes on added significance. Of course, it is an issue when working at the office too but there someone else may have handled all of it for you. George Usi, CEO of a cybersecurity readiness firm, brings us an excellent primer on cybersecurity. His article is full of practical tips and links to sources of help, whether tools or advice. Phillip Lombardo, who works for an innovative cyber insurer based right here in San Rafael, explains the ins and outs of cyber insurance and what you should look for when purchasing it.

Daniel Schneider, a litigator who practices in New York and California, writes about the challenges of working from home in a Manhattan apartment where a child goes to school in the other room and a dining table acts as office for both spouses (and that’s his actual “office” in the photo!) Of course, the need to work remotely has affected our clients too. Family lawyer Christina Sherman discusses some of the ways that remote work—or at least being home instead of at work—has changed families and family law.

No doubt virtually everyone in our families is spending more time online. Between the stress of the pandemic and political polarization, online communication is fraught with risk. Mediator and facilitator Cordell Wesselink gives us 10 guidelines for how to disagree online so that we can have productive and respectful dialogue. Hint: Many of his suggestions work offline too.

If you want to know how long we might be working only remotely or how we are going to recover economically and you missed our February membership meeting with State Senator Mike McGuire and Marin Economic Forum CEO Mike Blakely, you can find out in mediator and MCBA Secretary Scott Buell’s recap of the event. And if you missed our wildly successful installation celebration and scholarship fundraiser, you can read MCBA Director Ann Munene’s report on what a good time we had. And even if you didn’t miss it, you can be inspired by the biographies of the three recipients of this year’s MCBA legal scholarships.

And finally, a thank you to our guest editors for this issue: Scott Buell, Mike Chaput, Chelsea Heaney, and Karthik Raju. We’ll be back with our next issue in June. In the meantime, we wish you good health, success with vaccination, and perhaps a little bit more ease working remotely.