Frustrated many law firms didn’t allow remote working earlier in the covid-19 outbreak, seems like some partners don’t trust associates to work without supervision. How can we fix this as an industry?

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I can’t speak to your firm, obviously, but I think the work from home determinations made in the past few months are somewhat more complex and nuanced than you acknowledge. A huge concern for many firms was their technological preparedness and the ability of our Internet infrastructure to handle so many people using residential Wi-Fi simultaneously, particularly for video applications. If you want, feel free to fault firms for not anticipating those needs in advance, but as you do so remember that this situation is literally unprecedented in world history and that very few people and organizations were anywhere close to prepared to deal with the changes we all have experienced since the beginning of March. I am sure some firms also doubted their associates’ willingness and ability to maintain productivity levels while at home, worried about what other firms and clients would think, worried about contributing to panic, and worried about the not-insubstantial cost of suddenly moving 100% of lawyers and staff to a virtual environment. To me, those are not a legitimate concerns. And then of course there are all of the less legitimate reasons that firms may have drag their feet, including politics, unreasonable adherence to tradition, and perhaps other factors. Our firm went to a work from home environment for everyone as of the third week of March, so after some firms and before others. The decision how to proceed was influenced by what other firms were doing, the expectation that some clients had for continued face-to-face contact, and the other work that was necessary to enable functional WFH not only by the lawyers but also by staff members, who by in large did not have for laptops or other equipment necessary to function from home. I never once heard “not trusting associates“ as a consideration, although I have no doubt that at least some people wondered how productive people would be. At the end of the day I think we all have to judge people gently for their actions over the last month. What’s happening is unprecedented. The world has literally turned over entirely in less than a month. Judging things with the benefit of hindsight is pretty easy. Making consequential decisions in the heat of an uncertain moment is much more difficult.