CARES Act townhall tomorrow and new wellness community
I hope this message finds you and your family well and enduring the ongoing challenges we face together. As we all continue to adapt our lives and practices to these times, I am sharing our newest resources to help keep you well and in business.
Free CARES Act Townhall Thursday 4/16
As law firms and other local businesses continue to feel the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we’re teaming up with the Kansas Bar Association to help our communities and host a digital COVID-19 Townhall. During this streaming event which is set for Thursday, April 16, at 1 p.m., moderator Mira Mdivani will lead a discussion about the economic help available under the CARES Act, including how CARES Act Paycheck Protection may assist law firms, employees and our neighbors.
The event is free for all members but does not count toward CLE credit. Registration is now open at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cOMck5o7S0GFRdcef-G3Yg.
You can find additional information about the CARES Act and other financial resources in our Coronavirus Resource Center for Lawyers. We will continue to supplement these resources as new material becomes available.
New online community focused on wellness
Too many lawyers are experiencing high levels of stress and do not prioritize their personal well-being. The situations brought about by the pandemic only heighten this. That is why The Missouri Bar has created a new Lawyers Living Well online community for lawyers to discuss self-care, mindfulness and more in a supportive environment of their peers.
My friend and our president-elect John Gunn will be leading the group. He reminds us that, as lawyers, we are susceptible to feelings of isolation and that the purpose of this forum is to provide space for members to connect with other lawyers with similar experiences.
The Lawyers Living Well discussion group is open to all Missouri lawyers. Sign up is simple, visit the Join a Committee/Discussion Group page and select Lawyers Living Well under "Other Community Opportunities." You will be added to the group and may choose to receive communications in real-time or through a daily digest.
You can also find a collection of well-being resources for the legal profession during COVID-19 in our Coronavirus Resource Center for Lawyers.
Five hours of free CLE
On April 1, we announced that we want to help members secure their needed continuing legal education credits while providing meaningful content directly related to our practices during the pandemic. To do that, The Missouri Bar will offer free CLE programs to members as follows:
- two hours of ethics credit, including one hour of elimination of bias credit, and
- three hours of practice management programming consisting of new content specific to the pandemic and responses to it.
MoBarCLE is hard at work developing these programs and we expect to provide you next week with a schedule and guidance on how to access these free programs. We also recognize that even with this help, it might be hard to pay for your CLE needs. The Missouri Bar offers a hardship waiver for MoBarCLE sponsored programs to help you through these times.
And remember, the Supreme Court of Missouri has given you more time to get your CLE requirements completed; it extended the 2019-20 MCLE reporting year and reporting deadline to Sept. 30 and Oct. 31, respectively.
If you see other materials or have suggestions for how to improve these resources, our practices or the administration of justice during the pandemic, please contact me.
Stay well,
Tom Bender
2019-20 Missouri Bar President