Hope comes from the East.

Our Managing Partner Forums have provided insight across the network.

And this has included the unexpected.

On any normal day, BC (before Corona), the news that two MI members had met and had lunch - and that one of those members had just been on a business trip, would simply not be news.

But with many of us not having seen friends, family, clients or colleagues for weeks and even next-door neighbours only at a 2 metre distance, this is a big deal.

And more so, since it involved Jun Yang from Jade and Fountain and David Ettinger from Keller & Heckman, both in China, (Shanghai) which got Corona-clobbered first.

Reportedly, lunch and the catch-up was excellent and there were hundreds of others also out and having lunch. The trust is rebuilding. And for all the hardship and gloom, stories are emerging about the businesses that adapted and innovated to survive.

Both law firms are busy and largely back at work and ‘un-masked’ at their desks, though masked when travelling in. For all the recent video-calling, Jun was specifically requested by a key client in a neighbouring province to attend a face-to-face meeting to progress matters. Another sign of progress.

The message to us all still in lockdown across the world, is ‘hang in there’ – we’ll get there…