People Mentioned
Partner, Intellectual Property, Toronto
In an article in the Winter 2020 issue of Precedent Magazine, writer Helen Racanelli discusses how lawyers are handling parenting while working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers an inside peek at the households of two practitioners, Nathaniel Lipkus and Anne Feehely. Nathaniel is a partner in Osler’s Intellectual Property Department and has been working from his home in Toronto since the spring. Racanelli points out that, while working from home adds an extra level of domestic responsibilities for parents – including acting as their children’s tech support, homework helpers and playmates – it also provides the opportunity for families to spend quality time together.
For Nathaniel, that means being able to take short breaks during working hours to engage with his kids – something he rarely, if ever, managed to do pre-COVID.
“If my two-year-old says she wants me to read her a story, I can stop and read her a story,” he says. “If I take 10 minutes here and there, it’s not a big chunk of the day.”
Nathaniel also relays an embarrassing moment when his son’s need for help connecting to his online lesson meant that all of his classmates caught a glimpse of Nathaniel … while he was showering. Suffice to say, Nathaniel hopes it was just a brief glimpse.
Read Helen Racanelli’s full article, “The unexpected upside of parenting under lockdown,” Winter 2020 issue of Precedent Magazine.
People Mentioned
Partner, Intellectual Property, Toronto