This past year legal departments found out just how elastic they can be. Call it "agility" or "resilience," but the fact is in-house leaders absorbed extra work from hiring freezes, COVID-19-related litigation, data privacy concerns and workforce issues, all from the sometimes chaotic confines of their homes. So to say that this past year has created a lot of "challenges" is a bit of an understatement for those in the trenches. The truth is that the challenges this past year presented have been immense, particularly on people's mental health. While the 20-foot walk to the "office" may have seemed like a dream when compared to the two-hour commute into the city in the early days of the pandemic, running a nearly fully virtual workforce for over a year has undeniably created real issues around connectivity, morale and engagement.

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So what can be done to ease the stress of this new reality?

According to Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, openness and candor are crucial ingredients.  "One thing that's been effective in drawing people out is showing some vulnerability and sharing with the team: I'm struggling every day with my kids, my schedule, my stress," he adds. "I talk a lot about the struggles I'm having and, hopefully, in doing that I can make people realize that we're all in this together and not everyone is figuring things out."