We are tremendously grateful to Shari, Carole, Jenny, Brandi and the entire team, and to all of the many Fellows who declined that refund and directed the donation of their prepaid registration fees to the Foundation.
While our 2021 Annual Meeting remains scheduled for Washington, D.C. on March 18-21, we are keenly aware that several other organizations already have announced plans to conduct their Spring 2021 meetings in virtual format. Accordingly we are taking a realistic approach to our planning, considering live, virtual and hybrid live/virtual formats for our various events. We also have structured our hotel and other contracts for the D.C. meeting to provide us with maximum flexibility to address changing circumstances which, as of this writing, sadly appear to be getting worse and not better. I can promise that we will work to avert the type of last-minute cancellation that was unavoidable last March, and keep our Fellows apprised of developments as the situation unfolds.
Yes, we've got to stop (not) meeting like this, but also to keep up the good work of the College, the Foundation, and their many projects and initiatives as reported throughout this edition of College Columns. As the year draws to a close, and so many in our country and around the world have suffered through the multiple plagues of COVID, fires, intense storms and other natural and man-made disasters, we should take a moment to consider how fortunate we are to be able to continue working in virtual format to support our clients, firms and families, and to be members of a profession that is in a position to give back to the communities we serve. So during this holiday season, and after a bitterly contested national election, let's all focus on the importance of kindness, tolerance, generosity, civility, empathy and public service in our daily personal and professional lives.
Wishing all of you and your families and loved ones a safe, peaceful and enjoyable holiday season, and a better year for everyone in 2021.
What Was, What Is and What Is To Be
Both Jan’s and Joyce’s caseloads immediately dropped. For Jan in Kansas, a goodly number of cases are still being filed. His filings are off by maybe a third. The cases filed are generally decent cases with higher monthly payments than before. He is seeing fewer “attorney fee only” cases, possibly because many of the job losses are in the lower income brackets, which is where many of the low dollar cases derive. For Joyce, the Arkansas caseload dropped drastically beginning in April 2020 by 60% of previous filing levels and has recovered in October to 50%.
For both trustees, so far, the monthly receipts have remained stronger than would be expected, although with the decline in cases, receipts will eventually see declines. Jan remains optimistic in his budget projections particularly with the quality of the cases being filed, although one never knows about the future. Joyce, optimistic by nature, remains cautious to see what the future holds.
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