So far, 2020 is shaping up to be the most challenging year in at least a decade for global businesses and their in-house counsel.

The first cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and by March, the World Health Organization had declared a pandemic, prompting sudden shutdowns of schools, businesses and institutions across the globe; suspending international travel and immigration; disrupting industrial and agricultural supply chains; and causing financial markets turmoil. 

Since then, in-house legal leaders have been forced to cope with wave after wave of government orders, new regulations, labor shortages, layoffs and other demands while adjusting to working entirely from home under shelter-in-place orders in many instances, often with family members who are similarly confined. Parents are simultaneously juggling homeschooling and child care, and sometimes caregiving for ill relatives, at the same time they're working from home. And so far there's no knowing when it will end.

It's a lot to deal with. But some mental health professionals and veteran in-house legal leaders have experience and thoughts to share about how counsel can tap into their inner reserves to get through it all.

Mary Alvord, director of Alvord, Baker & Associates in Rockville, Maryland, and a psychologist who writes and speaks extensively on the topic, said in a recent interview about resilience: "The original definition was the process of and capacity to successfully adapt despite challenging or threatening circumstances. We defined it more broadly as skills, aptitudes and abilities that enable someone to adapt to changes and challenges. It is not something you innately have, but that you can foster and enhance. We all have the capacity to build our resilience."

'The ability to stay the course despite difficulty'

Michelle Banks was executive vice president and global general counsel at Gap Inc., the U.S.-based apparel retailer, for 10 years during an especially tumultuous period from 2006 through 2016, and prior to that was head of compliance at the company. Today she is a senior adviser and executive coach at BarkerGilmore in San Francisco, where she coaches other law department leaders.

"We had a lot of crisis management opportunities between the last recession, the Bangladesh fire and building tragedies, the SARS outbreak and three CEO transitions," she said of her tenure. Her more than 17 years in total at the company also included 9/11/2001 and the recession that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the case of the Bangladesh fire and building collapse in 2010, dozens of workers died and hundreds were injured in a fire at a factory in Dhaka that manufactured clothing for Gap. The 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia shuttered factories.

"In these types of crises whether CEO transitions or health outbreaks and safety issues the legal department plays a very significant role," Banks says. What distinguishes this crisis from the earlier events is that it is a long-term, ongoing upheaval of unknown duration, she says.

"Resiliency is the ability to stay the course despite difficulty. What I think will be interesting about this pandemic is that it is a combination of an economic disruption and a health crisis,  and it is expected to be much more significant and much longer term than a lot of the things that I mentioned in the past," she says. "The ability to be long-lasting is going to be important. I don't think this will be powering through a few weeks or a few months of stress. The people who will be most effective will be those who are able to respond to the crisis, manage through it and shift to the new normal."

Since the fallout from the pandemic could go on indefinitely, "I think the strongest leaders will be the ones who focus on their own physical and mental health and well-being and that of their teams. This will be a long time to work through this crisis, and those who are able to move their bodies, get outside into the fresh air and get support from others will be better off. This won't be hours, weeks and months, this will be long-term. It is going to take people focusing on their team and their own well being to muscle and power through it."

Banks also says that communication skills during this crisis will be paramount for in-house counsel. "I think in any crisis management or change management situation, leaders need to over-communicate where people are experiencing fear or even grief, they will need effective and frequent communication." In addition to all the other stresses and strains, "right now, there are probably a lot of people in law departments that have sick people in their lives."

In communicating, managers also should remember that many departments have multigenerational workforces, and for some younger members, this pandemic may be their first major setback or crisis. "Because of the difference in experience in generations that is important, because some have personally experienced something like this, and others have not," Banks says. She adds the best way to communicate on tough topics is through phone or videoconferencing rather than email, given that face-to-face is not possible in many instances now. Given the extraordinary circumstances, leaders should be more flexible and dial back on the perfectionism that is a defining trait of many lawyers, she says.

"No one in our lifetime has experienced a global pandemic, and combined with this economic situation. Mistakes will be made and responding to them and getting past them will be very important," Banks says.

Learning from previous challenges, taking perspective

Alvord says, "Cognitive flexibility is key. Also, the sense that you can't control a lot of things, but focus on the things you can manage, what is controllable. What do you know at this moment?  We call this self-efficacy and recognize that you can control a lot as it pertains to your life, and your work and decisions.

"If you are not stuck in thinking one way, you can see a lot of possibilities," she says.

Walter Lamkin, general counsel of DCM Group in St. Louis, a commercial real estate development, property management and construction company, recently survived a bout with COVID-19, which he contracted during a February ski vacation in Vail, Colorado, along with a score of others in his social group. Lamkin lost two friends to the coronavirus, including a friend of 35 years who lived in Vail.

Having recovered from the virus, he is now donating his blood plasma to try to help treat others who have contracted the disease. So far, two patients who have received his plasma also are recovering well, he says.

Lamkin credits his ability to surmount these most recent tribulations at least in part to the resiliency he gained from other trials he has overcome, including the death of his first wife years ago from cancer. They had four children together, and the youngest was in the fifth grade at the time of her diagnosis, and in eighth grade when she died. "I realized from that, that I had created an illusion that I was in control but I was never in control," he says. "You don't get over things, you get through them, and I have learned to live the way so many people say they live, day by day."

Lamkin says he remarried seven years later, and between them, he and his current wife have nine children, several of whom are now sheltering in place with him in his home in St. Louis. None has been ill. He says that finding one's way through pain and loss can help build resilience for other challenges, personal and professional. "Compared to some of the things other people are going through, I sit in the house a lot but really how bad is it?" he says.

Lamkin says he brings this "battle-tested" perspective to his role as general counsel as well.  "The CEO of my company values my 42 years of experience not just in real estate or business, but things I did around the world for many years and gets the fact that I look at things a little differently sometimes on purpose, because I would like to eliminate surprises down the road." Alvord says this kind of perspective-taking is another important aspect of resilience. "Taking perspective, keeping a perspective and seeing the big picture and not just the minor details. How does this all fit? Like if you look at the back of the house you see one view, and the front a different view, but you want to look at the whole house," she says.

Danger and opportunity

Elisabeth Belmont, general counsel of MaineHealth system based in Portland, and a speaker and writer on emergency preparedness, says, "Throughout my legal career, I have taken to heart the following quote by former President John F. Kennedy: 'The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger—but recognize the opportunity.'"

Michelle Banks, senior advisor and executive coach; BarkerGilmore (Photo: Courtesy Photo)

As she helps her nine-hospital system deal with the legal issues around the COVID-19 pandemic in her corner of New England, Belmont says she is mindful that crises also yield chances to make positive change and find creative solutions to problems.

"I believe that being able to adapt to a changing environment with a positive mindset in order to recognize opportunities is a foundational element of developing resilience," she says. "As lawyers, we are trained to think analytically about legal issues. Equally important is the ability to think creatively to resolve legal aspects of an issue to assist clients in meeting their business goals, particularly during a public health crisis in which significant societal and business disruptions are occurring." One thing Belmont and other general counsel—and psychologists—agree upon is that reaching out to others for support and advice helps to build resiliency. Toughing it out alone doesn't.

"I believe that it is important to build a professional network consisting of high-quality connections with colleagues. It is beneficial to be able to call upon a colleague to serve as a sounding board on a particular legal issue or a source of moral support," Belmont says. She also says she believes sharing humor helps and strives to close daily legal department huddles on a light note.

"Appropriate humor not only helps to relieve stress, but also can help to strengthen social bonds with the individuals with whom you are sharing a light-hearted moment," she says. "Social connectivity is important," Banks says. "The better team builders are going to be able to weather this better, and their teams will rally around them more effectively."

Alvord, who says she taps into her own network of mental health professionals regularly, says, "People need that support. Alone, our thoughts get skewed and we need perspective talking to someone about it, and maybe someone in the same situation as you are."

What doesn't help? "Panic, competitiveness and perfectionism and pessimism," says Banks.

"Sometimes law schools create pessimists because they focus on worst-case scenarios. They are really going to have a hard time. People need reality, but they need some hope, too."

Again, keeping the big picture in mind is key, says Alvord. "This is specific and temporary and it is not going to go on forever. If you can think in those terms, it helps you to get over it. Depression is feeling helpless and hopeless. This is temporary, and it will get better."

Banks adds, "The parting thing I would say is that while this is a tragic crisis it is also an opportunity for legal departments to demonstrate leadership and innovation."