Like many businesses, the Sechler Law Firm was blindsided by the pandemic and shutdowns over the past 2 years. For a law firm focused on helping people with wills and trusts, the whole ordeal was very frustrating. There is no bigger wake up call regarding the need to do estate planning, than the global pandemic. People needed our services more than ever, but we were not permitted to provide them. Pennsylvania requires certain estate planning documents to be witnessed and notarized in-person, but it was illegal for us to provide this service, in-person.
Adjusting to Change
We had to make a plan to help our clients. Once we decided what our goals were, we considered what available resources we had. From there we took the steps required to accomplish those goals. That meant providing free wills to first responders, and doing “steering wheel signing meetings” in parking lots. Given the covid protocol we all had to abide by, this was all done with latex gloves and masks. We created online education content to replace our in-person workshops. It also meant we had to revise our systems and processes to facilitate working from home. Some of these actions will change the way we do things forever.
Growing Our Team
As a result, our firm is now growing fast. We’ve hired multiple support positions and added several lawyers. We moved from our office in Mars to a much larger location on Rt. 19 in Cranberry. We are hiring multiple positions and most of those positions are at least partially remote (something we wouldn’t have considered before the pandemic). We are better equipped at providing our services to our clients, because of the technology we learned to use over the last two years.
Estate planning hasn’t changed much since before the pandemic. However, it has become more important to do some estate planning now, than previously. The process involves first setting goals then becoming educated on the different options available to you. You then need to make a decision regarding your plan and put it into action.
If you’re ready to put a proper plan in place for your family, check out one of our free upcoming workshops. Visit https://sechlerlawfirm.com/workshops/ and register for a workshop. We’ll help you with goal setting and provide you with some options. Then, it’s up to you to decide what your custom plan looks like. It’s that easy.
