26 Months

I was on trial in City Hall in Philadelphia when COVID-19 arrived and shut everything down. The trial stopped and we all left the building, assuming we would return in a matter of days or maybe weeks. Yesterday, 26 months later, I returned to City Hall for the first time since then. What a long, strange trip this has been. As a young lawyer, I used to get a feeling of excitement entering City Hall and finding the courtroom where my case would be heard. Nothing has changed. I get the same feeling every time. City Hall is likely the least convenient, worst facility to try a case among the dozen or so courts where I routinely practice (yesterday I was unable to plug in my laptop because there was no outlet within 20 fee of my assigned counsel table). But it doesn’t matter. I’ll make due because City Hall is where it all started and it feels like home. I could not be happier to be back.