A Message to Our Readers

• Author: John O'Brien
• Pages: 7-7

A Message

to Our Readers

BY JOHN O’BRIEN

escalate, and we considered how to

address it in print. We soon realized

the crisis was evolving so quickly that

any coverage we’d try to provide in

the magazine surely would be outdated

by the time it arrived in your mailbox

near the end of March. What we didn’t

know was how dramatic that evolu-

tion would be.

Within days of wrapping up the

April-May issue, all of us were work-

ing remotely. All schools and many

businesses were closed, and we were

ordered to shelter in place.

But the societal impacts were more

signicant. The number of coronavirus

cases began to rise, as did the numbers

of those who tragically lost their lives to

the disease. By now, many of us know

someone who’s been struck ill by the

virus. And many of us know someone

who’s lost their life to it. If not, I pray

that continues, just as I pray for the

continued health and safety of all my

co-workers, our members, your families,

staffs and friends.

Even though our nation has been

struggling with the crisis for months, it’s

too early to know what lasting effects

it will have on our society. How many

people will fall ill—and how many lives

will be lost—are questions I’m not sure

I want to know the answer to.

Likewise, how this crisis will ulti-

mately affect the legal profession and

justice system is still unknown. Surely

some impacts will be felt for years.

That uncertainty, coupled with the

continued rapid evolution of the pan-

demic, led us here at the ABA Journal

to conclude our production process

wouldn’t allow us to provide compre-

hensive coverage of the crisis in this

issue.

Our commitment to you

Although the nature of our production

process has limited our ability to cover

the pandemic in the print magazine, our

staff has worked tirelessly to provide

robust coverage of the crisis online.

Our coronavirus-related reporting is

compiled at ABAJournal.com/covid-19,

and we continue to update that page

frequently.

Rest assured that in the coming

months and years, the Journal will

continue to cover the impacts of this

crisis on the legal community. It’s

part of our commitment to serve our

members and the legal profession—one

that hasn’t wavered in the face of this

adversity. Q

John O’Brien joined the ABA Journal as

editor and publisher in November.

The June-July issue of the ABA

Journal you’re reading now

marks the second edition of

the magazine you’ve received

since the COVID-19 crisis forced funda-

mental changes to American society.

Since the disease rst became an

issue, and particularly since the pan-

demic escalated in March, the Journal

staff has produced signicant coverage

of the crisis at ABAJournal.com. As the

virus continued to force changes to the

way attorneys practice law, how courts

hold proceedings and how clients access

legal services, our staff has been there

to provide uninterrupted coverage on

our digital platforms, just as we worked

to ensure you would be holding this

magazine right now.

Looking back to when the ABA

Journal staff wrapped up production

on the April-May magazine, it was a

different world.

The COVID-19 pandemic already

was an international crisis, and the

disease already had started to take root

in the United States, but life for many

Americans had yet to be upended the

way it has been for the last few months.

It was March 12, and most of the Jour-

nal staff was working out of our ofce

in Chicago. We had sent the nal pages

to our printer in Wisconsin and were

proud of the product that soon would

be delivered to ABA members.

A fast-moving story

Because of the deadlines required

to produce the publication, the vast

majority of material for the magazine

had been submitted more than a month

earlier. Most of the pieces had been in

the works for weeks, if not months,

before that. Indeed, when most of the

April-May stories were being created,

COVID-19 had yet to become wide-

spread front-page news.

But in the course of the magazine’s

production, the situation began to

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ABA JOURNAL | JUNE-JULY 2020

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