Page 18 - Delaware Lawyer - Fall 2020

FEATURE
Trisha McGinnis
Perseverance Is Key
Lessons learned from When I was taking classes for my paralegal certification, I was told that
working through a
working in the legal field, you must be able to adapt to change quickly. I certainly acquired that quality, thanks to the pandemic.
16 DELAWARE LAWYER FALL 2020
pandemic Iam a paralegal for the Attorney General’s Office, in the Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust. Due to my son being considered high-risk, I began working from home several weeks before the shutdown. Being a small division — including myself, the division consists of eight colleagues, including deputy attorneys general, special investigators and a research specialist — we were pretty close and work extremely well as a team. The
pandemic has not changed that.
While it took some time to get used to having to log in remotely each morn- ing, thanks to our IT Department, it went seamlessly. The AG’s executive staff ensured that everyone was safe and had everything that we needed in order to effectively work from home. I was in the middle of working on a complex discovery project when the pandemic began. The care in gathering the pertinent information could not be relaxed because of this extended
emergency.
I had no idea the evening I left the of- fice would be the last time I would see it for quite some time. The new norm developed in a new home. We had just moved in mid-February. Life now con- sisted of having documents printed from my home printer, then strung out all over the dining room table and floor, amid the still-unpacked boxes; scheduling weekly Zoom meetings for cases that don’t stop because of COVID; trying to figure out how to turn on the microphone or even the camera so that we could all see and hear each other during the Zoom meet- ing; and learning new technology with- out someone next to me with an explana- tion. I still have yet to figure out how to convince the dog to not jump up, or want me to throw a ball, or the cat not to walk over the laptop during a Zoom meeting.
Many texts, phone calls, emails and, of course, frustration occurred in try- ing to get used to this new norm. Our division continued to persevere and assist each other when needed. Chal- lenges included having to contact