When the year began, we hoped that we would not be writing the
2021 edition of this publication while still grappling with the
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the pandemic approaching the
end of its second year, 2021 has, like 2020, been a year like no
other. In spite of the continued pandemic, we are pleased to offer
updates on many important legal and business developments across a
wide variety of industries and practice areas, many of which do not
relate to COVID-19. We take this as a positive sign of a return to
at least some aspects of pre-pandemic life.
In fact, many of our colleagues chose to write about the
"new normal" or the "return to normal." But
what does that mean in a year such as 2021? On the one hand, with
continued lockdowns and restrictions and fluctuating case counts,
many employees have continued to work remotely. Return to office,
or RTO, has begun, but slow progress is being made due to the
persistence of COVID-19 variants,
