On Thursday (20 March 2019) I asked via Twitter and LinkedIn for entries for a crowdsourced list of law firm client- or public-facing web or mobile app services to help answer COVID-19 related legal issues or streamlined intake. I am keeping this updated as more sources come in. The update history appears at the end. The listing begins after two editorial comments and are organized by interactive site, content website, other content and resources, and mobile apps (null set so far).
I share here what I sourced. I will update this post if you contact me. I reserve the right to make editorial judgments about what to include. For some entries, I also include my own editorial comments.
Special Note Added 18 Apr 2020: See especially the Stanford Law COVID-19 Memo Database, released around 16 April 2020, which offers a searchable database of over 4,000 law firm and Big Four memos. More detail below.
A special thanks to Mark Salamon, who started assembling a list and shared it with me.
For free legal tech resources see Bob Ambrogi’s Coronavirus Updates. For resources from legal publishers, see Jean O’Grady’s Legal Publishers Roll Out Covid-19 Resources, Toolkits, Documents, Advice (Some Even Free).
Editorial Comments – Workflow versus Content; Website Design
As of 23 Mar 2020, I have two editorial observations.
Workflow versus Content. The crisis with its shutdowns / lockdowns / restrictions raises many legal issues. Most of the law firm resources here are US-based law firms’ content-rich websites. As with any content-rich site, there is always a question of how best to navigate and find answers.
In contrast, in Australia, Lawcadia, a developer of “Smart, simple technology for more efficient legal operations.”, offers an interactive system that, from quick look, appears to offer a systematic way to deal with multiple issues. Lawcadia has partnered with Gadens so that in-house users can obtain additional advice.
I have not had time to do a deep dive on Lawcadia or any of the resources listed here but based on my extensive experience with legal digital services and managing / using large volumes of content, this type of interactive intake, with systematic tracking, is what I believe clients will find most useful.
I end my editorial comment with a quick personal note. As of Feb 1, 2020, I found myself between jobs unexpectedly. Job searches always take time and in this crisis, the time to a full-time job is rather unclear. So I am available for consulting assistance.
Website Design. When someone provides a link to a resource, I load that webpage and glance at it. I don’t try to evaluate the content or the design. I will say, however, that even on quick glance, I notice HUGE differences in law firm website design. And some are much easier to read than others. I don’t if the differences I see reflect when the site was last redesigned or conscious design decisions.
Interactive Resources
I have long tracked interactive digital advisory systems (list here) so start with this category first. By interactive, I mean a service that either takes users through a Q&A, generates a form, or otherwise relies on user input. (Even if a website is regularly updated, in my definition, that is not interactive.)
“The Senate” is an interactive crowdsourcing platform to SenseCheck™ positions of lawyers and risk + compliance professionals. The company has started a COVID-19 Senate. RF Comment: I love this concept. I’ve long been a fan of crowdsourced answer. Now, more than ever, they can have immense value. The challenge here are the limited number of responses; on quick skim, the highest number of responses I see is five. [Hat tip to @reeamos.]
Ballard360 state legislation tracker is “a dashboard on hashtag#PowerBI that enables us all to be informed and discover what actions our states are taking to combat #covid19.” [Hat tip to John Harbison.]
COVID-19 Legal Workflow an interactive system or in-house counsel by Lawcadia (Australia) to identify legal issues, capture those issues, triage them, and respond. Lawcadia have partnered with Australian law firm Gadens for in-house teams that want to tap additional advice and support. There is a short video on the main landing page that provides a nice overview of the service.
COVID-19 Policy Generator by Wilson Sonsini’ sixfifty. Interactive document generation for 1) COVID Extended Sick Leave Policy, 2) COVID Remote Work Policy, 3) COVID Travel Policy, 4) COVID Reimbursement Policy. See also Bloomberg Law article about this (so HT to Roy W Strom).
ComplianceHR’s COVID-19 Resource Center (see banner at top of page). ComplianceHr is a joint venture between Littler and Neota Logic. “ComplianceHR’s COVID-19 Resource Center allows users to navigate the most pressing and quickly expanding COVID-19-related questions and identify answers to help guide and ensure compliance.” [HT to John Lord.]
UK Travers Smith free force majeure contract review app for clients. Email contracts to app based on open source machine learning and AI, which creates report on various force majeure related clauses. [HT to Legal IT Insider.]
Websites / Blogs
I suggest that anyone visiting these sites be sure to scroll down the web page because some have fairly long lists of resources. These resources are in chronological order of information received.
Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP. website and 24×7 employer hotline. [Hat tip to @susancarnevale]
Morrison Foerster Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Center website with webinar recordings, client alerts, blog posts, and more. [Hat tip to Angela Petros.]
Mayer Brown COVID-19 portal with updates and links to global travel navigator and COVID-19 Blog. RF Comment: I especially like the Navigator user interface of a map with optional list view. Also, the firm clearly acted quickly, obtaining the URL https://www.covid19.law/ for its COVID-19 Response Blog. [Hat tip to @philipbryce.]
Eversheds Health Matters Coronavirus update website with links to multiple resources. [Hat tip to @anusiagillespie.]
Baker McKenzie Coronavirus Resource Center website with links to multiple resources. [Hat tips to @simondandy.]
Seyfarth COVID-19 Resource Center website with links to multiple resources and a prominent link to subscriber for updates. [HT to Molly Porter, Director of Marketing]
haynesboone COVID-19 Advisory website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Mark Salamon.]
Paul Hastings Advice for Businesses in Dealing with the Expanding Coronavirus Events website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Mark Salamon.]
Holland & Hart LLP Coronavirus Resource Site website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Mark Salamon.]
JacksonLewis Coronavirus/COVID-19 website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Mark Salamon.]
Orrick COVID-19 Resource Center: Considerations for Businesses & Employers website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Mark Salamon.]
BLG COVID-19 Resource Center website with links to resources. [Canada][Hat tip to Andrew Terrett.]
Duane Morris Coronavirus (COVID-19) website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Mark Roy.]
Hinshaw Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Oliver Thoenen.]
Perkins Coie Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance for Businesses website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Mark Salamon.] The firm also has, under a separate URL, a dedicated blog, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Business Guidance.
Pepper Hamilton / Troutman Sanders Covid-19 Resource Center website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Mark Salamon.]
Fisher Phillips COVID-19 Resource Center. The home page is the resource center. [Hat tip to Evan Shenkman.] RF Comment: I like that the resource center IS the home page; what a good idea. Is anyone looking for anything else right now on 23 Mar 2020? (The main nav menus continue to lead to all the firm’s other content.)
Skadden COVID-19 Publications and Webinars website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Harris Tilevitz.]
Ince Coronavirus update website with links to resources. [Hat tip to Sophia Arshad.]
Ogletree Deakins Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Center website with links to resources. [HT to Lauren Bassett.] I especially like the FAQs on Federal Labor and Employment Laws. RF: This morning (25 Mar 2020) I read a Tweet about clients wanting short, easy-to-understand answers. FAQ is a better approach than long memos.
Dentons COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Hub with links by country and topic. [HT to ALM article.]
TerraLex Coronavirus Business Response Resource Center. TerraLex is a network of firms; this site aggregates information from member firms. [HT to Andrea Wood.]
Other Content and Resources
Stanford Law School COVID-19 Memo Database. Around 16 April 2020, Stanford Law released a full-text searchable database that aggregates over 4.000 law firm and Big Four memos on COVID. It also has a list, longer than this one, which I crowdsourced, of many law firms’ COVID landing pages. Memo Database. Firm Resources Database. Its explanatory note explains: “The database includes any law firm listed among Amlaw’s 2020 top 20 in total firm revenue or in profits per partner, each of the “Big Four” audit firms, and any affiliate of the Rock Center, that maintains a separate webpage dedicated to the coverage of legal matters generated by the current COVID-19 crisis. The database tracks only memoranda indexed within those COVID-19 designated webpages.”
Thomson Reuters / Practical Law COVID-19 resource center . TR has assembled news from Reuters and TR, resources for government customers (of special note is Contact trace and locate resources with CLEAR), and from Practical Law, the Global Coronavirus toolkit.
Law360 Coronavirus Closing Courts and news – free. LexisNexis owns Law360; it also offers a free downloadable Lexis Practice Advisor® Coronavirus Resource Kit (requires registration).
In general, I am not a fan of web PDF documents but in the interests of speed and content management in a crisis, it’s acceptable. It’s much easier for lawyers and staff to manage a PDF document than a microsite.
COVID-19: Eversheds Sutherland US Courts Closure Chart. A big chart with court closings. (51 pages as of 23 March 2020 – 10:30AM EDT) [Hat tip to @anusiagillespie.]
Mobile Apps
None identified yet
Update History
I originally posted this on Saturday, 21 March 2020, at 17:00 EDT. Updates, all US Eastern Daylight Time:
18 Apr 2020 – 08:18AM
30 Mar 2020 – 09:12PM
26 Mar 2020 – 01:51PM
26 Mar 2020 – 09:33AM
25 Mar 2020 – 09:49AM
25 Mar 2020 – 07:41AM
24 Mar 2020 – 11:27AM
24 Mar 2020 – 09:20AM
23 Mar 2020 – 10:17PM
23 Mar 2020 – 07:08PM
23 Mar 2020 – 02:39PM
23 Mar 2020 – 10:00AM
23 Mar 2020 – 09:03AM
23 Mar 2020 – 08:23AM
22 Mar 2020 – 10:05PM
22 Mar 2020 – 10:05AM
22 Mar 2020 – 08:47AM