Hope in the Era of the Not Normal

AuthorJune M. Besek
Pages1-1
Published in Landslide® magazine, Volume 13, Number 3, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL), ©2020 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.
This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
Perspective
As we enter 2021, we think of the painful past year. Our
personal and professional lives were thrust into upheaval,
and we are aware of the devastating consequences coro-
navirus has brought. All of us—colleagues, clients, families,
children, teachers, neighbors, and people throughout the world—
are experiencing the most challenging time we can recall, and it
is still far from over. What we face is certainly “new,” but most
of us still can’t regard the way we live as “normal.
With deadly statistics continuing, “We’re in this together”
has added meaning. In every way we share wide-ranging
challenges: ofces closed, many of us continuing to work
from home, loss of jobs and businesses, limited social interac-
tion, and all in the midst of great human suffering on a global
scale. But there are things we can and should do together, and
there is hope and promise in dealing with the adversities we
face in common that affect our lives and profession.
Within this climate of continuing loss and uncertainty, we all
see and benet from creativity, energy, and new ways for doing
just about everything, everywhere. The ABA and your ABA-IPL
Section community are working for you without interruption.
We are adjusting to challenges and creating new opportunities to
serve you as we advocate for our profession. We rely on a variety
of platforms, like Zoom, GoToMeeting, Webex, and BlueJeans,
for connecting with others, sharing our content, networking with
our peers, leveraging expertise, and providing education. At
the same time, we see science, technology, and art explode and
expand. Existing technologies and countless new ones will help
us connect with each other, develop new ways to work, and nd
answers to crucial questions.
We have shown that we effectively can work together to
nd solutions. The resulting ingenuity is as much a hallmark
of the human spirit as it is for our profession.
The ABA is a vibrant community with a wealth of
resources, information, content, and connection for
you and your practice. It can help you directly with
resources to assist in dealing with anxiety and depres-
sion, including those that focus on COVID-19 (https://
www.americanbar.org/groups/lawyer_assistance/resources/
covid-19--mental-health-resources).
This truly strange period will improve, but moving beyond
it will still take time. Thankfully, safe and effective vaccines
are on the way, but they will have to be widely distributed and
achieve widespread acceptance. We can see already how many
of us are surviving, adapting, and ourishing, even as we carry
with us memories of those not so fortunate.
I look forward to seeing many of you virtually on a new
dynamic platform that we are excited about. IPLSPRING
Virtual will occur from April 7 to 16, 2021. Through more
than 30 CLE programs, you can learn about the most current
issues in intellectual property law presented by the world’s
experts. At our online events, you will be able to visit with
each other and meet new contacts who will add to your net-
work and enrich you and your practice. (See the facing page
for further details.)
On behalf of ABA-IPL, I urge you to connect with our
Section and the American Bar Association to benet from
what we do together for you and our profession. Please also
feel free to reach out to me directly. n
June M. Besek is chair of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law. She is the executive director of the Kernochan Center for
Law, Media and the Arts and a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School. Her research and teaching focus on copyright and related rights,
particularly as they relate to new technologies. She can be reached at jbesek@lawcolumbia.edu.
By June M. Besek
Hope in the Era of the Not Normal

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT