In light of the recent pandemic and our core values to be on the same side as you and our community, we’re committed to ensure that our team, our families, and your team and your families are safe during this uncertain time and we’re doing everything we can to “flatten the curve” on spreading the virus. All in all, we hope that some of these options will allow us to help you get things done when you need them done, in a way that fits in your comfort zone for contact and collaboration. Feel free to copy/paste or adapt this in your businesses, if you feel that would be helpful. We’re in this together. So, starting right away, here’s how it will be a bit different around our office and how we’ll do things:
Our Team We have encouraged everyone on our team to work remotely from home if they have people in their lives who have health issues that would make them more vulnerable to getting this virus like the immune-compromised, respiratory concerns, kids, seniors, or if they’re a hypochondriac (aren’t we all at this point?) or have anxiety around this and feel safer to be working from home. We’re lucky to have set up a system that allows for remote access seamlessly. So although you may see less people around the office, we will be just as productive getting things done and also be: • Standing and sitting 2 metres away from each other • Waving and air-high fiving, and not hand-shaking or hugging
Our Clients We are encouraging all our clients and partners to flip in-person meetings to phone calls, Zoom conferences or Facetime meetup’s so that you can get the advice you need, while staying safe. We’re sending out anything we can by digital signing on your phone or by PDF for printing and scan/photo back. Of course, if you have been or in contact with people who have traveled to China, Iran, Italy or Japan, or been on a cruise, not feeling well in any way, or not sure, please give us a ring to chat about options that would work. We’ll catch up in person when this is over, but for now, at least we can still get things moving along at the pace that you’re used to.
Our Legal System Unfortunately, when it comes to the legal system, they have not caught up to how to do some things virtually (yet!), so there are times when we still need to have original documents or meet up for an original signature. For these limited situations, we’ll: • Sanitize tabletops together before each meeting • Offer bottled beverages rather than glassware if you wish • Sit in the big boardroom so there’s at least 2 metres away from each other • Send you scanned copies after the meetings rather than passing originals • Take the pen with you when you leave (well, we encourage people to do that anyways) In addition to using couriers and deliveries as much as we can, we’ll also be offering a drive-up option for you to pull up to a parking spot in our parkade or some other convenient location we can find, and one of us will come to your car and pick up documents from you or we’ll bring a clipboard and sign the documents in the car outside where there’s fresh air, so you don’t have to touch doors or elevator buttons on your way up (especially since we now have an urgent care centre in our building where they do testing for the virus).
Other Stuff This is also a good time to check into your business’ contingency and continuity planning, including agreements with suppliers and clients, getting documents like Powers of Attorney in place in order for others to help, automation, and technology to get through corporate risks like this. We’re still in full operation with communications lines fully open and are here to support you, so feel free to reach out in a way that is comfortable for you. Our office is 604-973-0188 and general email is hello@papercliplaw.com. Take good care of yourselves and each other, Elizabeth
