Hogan Lovells emergency packs being repurposed during the coronavirus outbreak. (Courtesy photo)

Amid a critical shortage of key medical supplies for frontline U.S. health care workers combating COVID-19, particularly for personal protective equipment such as masks, employees at Hogan Lovells found a way to help. And it didn't involve legal advice.

The firm said marketing and business development specialists in its New York and Washington, D.C., offices remembered seeing N95 masks in emergency packs handed out to new Hogan Lovells employees. The N95 masks, while not 100% effective in preventing infection, are as close as mass-produced barriers can get and are the recommended choice of health care workers.

Mostly forgotten about, the packs were intended to be a last resort in the wake of an event such as a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

Now they have a new purpose. Over the course of the week, essential Hogan Lovells employees such as IT staff and office managers, along with other staff volunteers in Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have worked together to collect and transport those masks to medical facilities facing shortages.

The firm said it was able to round up over 1,000 masks so far and expects to double that number over the weekend. The haul so far has also included close to 200 pairs of safety goggles.

N95 masks and other supplies (Courtesy of Hogan Lovells)

Word of the collection plan circulated through the firm beginning on Monday, and 48 hours later supplies were being delivered to medical facilities.

"We are not scientists and probably have a limited ability to create a vaccine," said Eve Howard, regional managing partner of Hogan Lovells' Washington, D.C., office. "Credit the people on the ground who were thinking about other ways they could help."

"We have some really creative people," added Denver-based Cole Finegan, the firm's regional managing partner of the Americas. "It was very touching what a human response it was, so many of our people asking 'how can I help someone?'"

Hogan Lovells has about 2,400 personnel across its 15 U.S. offices. According to the firm, each of the packs the employees received had at least one mask, sometimes two. And they happened to be N95 compliant.

The firm had essential employees who were still working in the offices go through and harvest the masks and any other potentially helpful items, such as goggles or sanitation wipes, and get them ready to be sent to local hospitals and other medical offices.

The firm then reached out to local facilities to see which of them needed supplies and when. In almost every instance, the response was yes—and now.

Howard said the firm is also receiving calls from clients, including some suggesting they may be able to manufacture supplies themselves. Mostly, they are just looking for ways to help.

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