Sunday, March 15, 2020, 2:46 p.m.
From: Cameron Garrison
To: All Employees at Lathrop GPM (Attorneys and Staff)
Subject: Lathrop GPM COVID-19 Update
Importance: High

All,

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lathrop GPM will move to a remote working environment in all of our offices beginning Wednesday, March 18. Monday and Tuesday of this week we will be finalizing our preparations to operate our business remotely. Starting Wednesday, our offices will remain open and accessible to key staff whose presence in the office is business critical (we will let you know if that includes you), while all other Lathrop GPM partners and employees will be expected to work remotely. We will maintain this approach until further notice.  To be clear, we are still not aware of anyone at Lathrop GPM who has contracted COVID-19. Rather, we are making this decision to proactively attempt to protect our people and help “flatten the curve” of the spread of the virus.

A few very important notes on the technology that will allow us to operate remotely. PLEASE read these carefully:

  • If you are in the Minneapolis, St. Cloud or Washington, D.C. office and have a firm-issued laptop, we need you to bring your laptop in to the office on Monday so that we can load VPN onto your device. VPN will dramatically improve your ability to work remotely and will allow the firm to provide necessary updates and software to your laptop during the time that we are working remotely. It is essential to our ability to operate in a remote environment.
  • If you do not have a firm laptop, someone from our information technology group will be contacting you on Monday or Tuesday to provide you a laptop or otherwise assist in preparing for you to work remotely.
  • For those whose access will be through a laptop, for the time being, the only things you will be provided are a laptop, a power cord, and a mouse. Our IT staff and help desk is going to be extremely busy in the coming days getting everyone up and running. Please display patience with them, and please do not make requests to have anything other than a laptop, power cord and mouse for your house. 
  • If you have not already registered for our AlertMedia program, please do so as soon as possible by visiting this link. It is critically important that you do this, as this is how we will reach you with important information if you cannot access your work email for any reason.
  • If you have not completed the home technology survey, please do so right away. This information is vital for effective planning of resources to support you while we are working remotely.

You will also be contacted on Monday or Tuesday by your supervisor (for all administrative professionals) or your Practice Group Leader or their designee (for all timekeepers) to discuss how we will expect you to perform your job remotely. It is absolutely critical to our organization that everyone continue to do their jobs just as if they were coming in to the office. Our clients’ needs will not stop just because we are working remotely. And it is essential that we keep our business operating efficiently so that Lathrop GPM can continue to thrive and support all of our wonderful employees through this difficult time.  In the coming days and weeks, we will provide resources that will help you understand how to effectively work from home. Please consult those resources and do whatever else is necessary to allow you to continue to work at the same high level that you do every day in the office. 

We know that some of you may have specific work-related needs that might require you to come in to the office and/or to access resources or equipment that is located in our offices. If this is the case, please let your Practice Group Leader or supervisor know and we will determine how to address those needs on a case-by-case basis. 

Many members of our administrative staff have been working extremely hard to prepare us for this situation. While I’m sure there will be some hiccups, I am confident that we are better prepared for this than the vast majority of firms in the country. And we have a team of talented professionals that will be helping us through the process. 

This is uncharted territory for all of us. While apprehension is understandable, please remember that this is an extraordinary organization and all of you are extraordinary people and employees. We are going to get through this together. While our work environment is going to be very different for the foreseeable future, we will still do the same great work we always do for our clients. And we will still lift one another up, even if, for a while, we’re doing it over phone lines and video feeds rather than in person.

Finally, please remember that the best sources for information about COVID-19 are the CDC and the WHO.  

Thank you for all of your cooperation through this process. I will continue to communicate important information as things progress.  However, please also look closely for further communications from your supervisor or PGL, as well as from our administrative staff, as we move into this new reality. In the meantime, please continue to direct any questions to Court Landon, Ryan Palmer, Jody Schmidt, Jim Schroeder, John Storey or me.

Thanks,
Cameron