2020 has been a challenge, interesting, devastating, uncertain and still unfolding. The year started off with the constant news and jokes about our local baseball team banging on trash cans in a rather unsophisticated method of stealing signs. Then things got more serious with a pandemic. Followed by national and international condemnation of the death of a man from Houston at the hands of the police in Minneapolis, MN. And we still have hurricane season and a presidential election to endure.
On the legal end, there have been frequent orders from the Texas Supreme Court and local courts on a regular basis to navigate the pandemic. Zoom hearings have become the norm. The technical side of Zoom hearings that I have seen in the court sometimes leave a little to be desired. Jury trials are not happening. Courts are considering reconfiguring the courtrooms to accommodate jurors. Masks in the courtroom have become the norm. Getting a temperature check to enter the courthouse has become the norm.
We have continued to operate without missing a beat as far as work goes. Like a lot of folks, my office space has been pretty empty since March. I have managed to attend about 30 hours of Continuing Legal Education towards my State Bar of Texas Texas Board of Legal Specialization requirements. I worked on Spanish a bit! My daily courtroom appearances came to a screeching halt in March, April, May and into June, but have started up again. The conference room remains open for social distance meetings. We have continued to work as usual to move the cases along, take on new cases and resolve existing personal injury cases. Our investigators have continued working as usual tracking down witnesses to accidents to get statements. I plan to attend, virtually, the State Bar of Teas Annual Advanced Personal Injury Law Course at the end of July. It's a three day event, watching it on line is a little different, but it has its advantages too. You can hit pause to take care of whatever else is going on. Like let the dogs out!
So, 2020, while it is off the charts abnormal, continues to roll on with some normalcy. When the State basically shut down for about three months, I spent more time talking to my dogs than humans! Hopefully both my dogs and I benefit from all that time together!
Business remains open as usual in this challenging year.