Jamie Gorelick was featured in a National Law Journal interview on how the WilmerHale partner often sought by clients for her crisis-management know-how, among other attributes, is navigating the dramatic changes to daily life created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the interview Ms. Gorelick, chair of the firm’s Regulatory and Government Affairs Department and co-chair of its Crisis Management and Strategic Response Group, discussed the similarities in what most crises require of those tasked with leading the way through crises.
“I personally have dealt with a lot of crises. So, whether they’re small or large, geographically distinct or global, the skills and the characteristics that you need to summon are the same…”
Asked by the interviewer for the fundamentals of crisis response, Ms. Gorelick said: “One is to stay calm. Two is to exhibit leadership for the rest of the people who are in your organization. Three is to think very clearly about what needs to happen. And four is to imagine what is likely to happen next or could happen next before it happens and prepare for it.”
But even someone as accustomed to handling major crises as a US deputy attorney general or in private practice, admits it can be challenging to process all that has happened in recent weeks.
“It’s unbelievable. It is of a scope and scale that is different than anything else anyone has seen in terms of the economy shutting down, the level of death and destruction. It is different in that way,” Mr. Gorelick said.
She also provided a sense of how she is personally dealing with sheltering at and working from home. Finding answers for clients to all the new questions created by the global response to the pandemic, alongside handling pre-existing work has made for some very long days. Maintaining her daily exercise routine and keeping up with friends and family virtually have helped to balance her workdays.