Making Partner in a Pandemic: Hinshaw & Culbertson's Brad Dunn

摘要

One of my legal mentors once told me that becoming a partner at a law firm is like winning a pie eating contest, where the main prize is being forced to eat more pie. While I now perfectly understand his humorous take on the achievement, I also understand what it is like to become a partner at a law firm during a global pandemic and the differences in those respective achievements. In short, the global pandemic forced me to do even more, while somehow simultaneously also not allowing me to do as much. Let me explain. The path to partner in a pandemic meant running my daily practice while not being able to leave the confines of my home unless I deemed it absolutely necessary, which can be a difficult decision when cases continue to move forward even though the system is technically supposed to be at a standstill. It meant agreeing to travel 30 miles each way to the house of an elderly pro se plaintiff who I was defending against so I could personally scan and review documents while outfitted in personal protective equipment because she refused to leave the relative safety of her home, refused to use the "dishonest" mail service, refused to learn how to "put documents on a computer," and refused to allow a document processing service or anyone else at all (except myself, of course) to enter her home to view the documents that my client needed to finally resolve the case.