As 2020 draws to a merciful close, we stop to reflect on the impacts and openings we experienced within the EDRM community. From a bang up, hug filled January at Legal Tech New York to an avatar-based romp through the EDRM’s virtual island campus, we experimented with connecting in decidedly different environments during this year of a novel pandemic.
We yell “Goodbye and Good Riddance” to Blursday, Doomscrolling, Zoom Fatigue and to lost masks.
We are so proud of our community that was able to retool and reframe current offerings and positions. We are exceptionally proud of those that overcame the extraordinary challenge of losing a job in a pandemic and global recession. From those listing positions on the EDRM Hub, to those gathering to give and get support on our EDRM Tuesday support call, we are grateful for our community coming up under those experiencing the worst of the pandemic.
We said farewell to Seattle’s Dave Kitrell, a longtime community contributor claimed by COVID, and we honored Tom O’s beloved Gayle O’Connor with the inaugural 2020 GO Spirit Award to kick off our E-Discovery Day Expo powered by EDRM. We tracked the days with those surviving COVID and those supporting people with COVID, people who thought they might have COVID and those anxious about contracting COVID.
We salute the leaders of our EDRM 2020 Global Advisory Counsel, our Project Trustees of and contributors to our 19 active projects. We are so proud of our inaugural EDRM Podcast Network guests and our podcasters: John Tredennick and TAR Talk, Marc Zamsky and Musings with Marc & Mary and Debbie Reynolds and The Data Diva Talks Privacy. We love our outstanding Trusted Partner Network and Expo sponsors for supporting and enhancing our community under the most challenging of circumstances. We honor Doug Austin, Cat Casey and Darius Bennett for their fabulous blogs.
Special thanks are due to Reed Smith’s Dave Cohen, Chair of our Project Trustees, Sidley’s Robert Keeling, our Chair of the EDRM Global Advisory Council, David Greetham, our Executive Advisor, Craig Ball, our General Counsel, and offer our gratitude to Lilith Bat Leah, Laureen Kautt, Ben Hartzell, Jen Wolff and Claire Lee for their timely support. We honor our faculty, including retired judges Andrew Peck, Ron Hedges, James Francis and Ira Warshawski. Kaylee and I are particularly grateful to Melinda Vaughn of our Foundational Partner, the Bolch Judicial Institute, and our founder advisors, Tom Gelbmann and George Socha.
We yell “Goodbye and Good Riddance” to Blursday, Doomscrolling, Zoom Fatigue and to lost masks. As we put one foot in front of another, one day at a time, we are heartened by the expansion of the light at the end of the tunnel. We look forward to seeing your smile, in person, as we emerge in this new year, 2021.
Warmest regards,
Kaylee & Mary
