Greetings Section members, and Happy New Year! I hope you and your families are healthy and safe as we start to wave goodbye to Omicron. May we all have the courage of the tiger as we tackle the challenges of 2022.
One month in, and it has already been a whiplash kind of year.
The Covid-impacted winter holidays brought considerable worry into our workplaces. In January, the parents of school-age kids in my own firm described how they were unsure every day if their child’s school or childcare would be cancelled, whether their child would need to be picked up early due to an outbreak, the cycle of constantly interrupted routines and quarantines due to school exposures, wildly varying mandatory school testing regimens for children (including some testing sites that required an hour’s drive twice a week to get a little one tested before 7:00 am), and the persistent worry that parents must remain vigilant to try to keep the virus away, magnified greatly by those who had to suffer through a covid illness or outbreak across their own families.
On top of Covid worries, the 2022 news cycle has elevated community fears about being targeted for hate, whether while at services at a Dallas synagogue, attending Howard or Spellman or any of the over 20 historically Black colleges and universities recently targeted for bomb threats, or just waiting at a bus stop or for a subway as an Asian American. Even as we stand together to condemn these threats, we recognize these have been exhausting and scary few weeks.
But against this grim backdrop, we who are labor and employment lawyers have also been witnessing a positive phenomenon: the explosion of new jobs, job moves and demands for wage growth as our communities re-open and rebound. As business booms, we also continue to welcome demand for diversity, equity and inclusion in, and from, our workplaces, and to adapt to new expectations for healthy work.
Amidst these influences, our Section has been working hard to support its members to continue to meet the moment.
Our 2021 Annual Section Conference, held last November in Los Angeles, exceeded all expectations, and the great content produced by the Conference planners continues to inspire discussion across the Section. Among the great offerings, I was privileged to moderate the Section’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Luncheon: “Intersectional Lives, Intersectional Experiences: How Transgender Women of Color Laid the Groundwork for Modern Equality Laws.” This panel was produced by the Hon. Stephanie M. Jones, Public Co-Chair of the Annual Section Conference, and the leaders of the Section’s DEI in the Legal Profession Committee: Co-Chairs Katherine Huibonhoa, Jo Linda Johnson, Kristi Matthews, Ossai Miazad, LaRell Purdie and Brenda Suttonwills, and Vice Chairs Alan Bowie, Jallé Dafa, Anna Wermuth, Jason Wojciechowski and Joane Wong. Many thanks to panelists Dee Farmer, Drïan Juarez, Anya Marino and Tracey Wallace for lending your incredible talents to our Section.
In addition to the Annual Section Conference each November, the Section’s Standing Committees produce their own conferences (“Midwinter Meetings”) in the first part of each year, focusing on content unique to each committee. This year there will be nine Midwinter Meetings between February and May, beginning with the Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee Midwinter Meeting in Kauai and ending with the International Labor and Employment Law Committee Midyear Meeting in Berlin, Germany, in May. Visit Midwinter Meetings (americanbar.org) to view program agendas and registration information.
The Section’s Webinar Committee also has been producing tremendous content, free of charge to all Section members, including the upcoming panel on February 22, “Rocky Relationships: Navigating Difficult Clients and the Ethics Issues They Pose.” The Section’s Webinar Committee and its DEI in the Legal Profession Committee also are jointly producing a 2022 heritage month series, beginning with an inaugural “Black History Month” panel, on February 24. View the complete list of upcoming and archived Section webinars.
And, the Section’s Outreach to International Lawyers Committee continues to elevate the community of those practicing labor and employment law internationally, with a new series of short videos from our members around the world about why they have joined our Section.
Like me, I hope you will continue to draw strength from this vibrant LEL community and immerse yourselves in the many timely and inspiring educational offerings and community networks.
Take care and be well.