IT'S A NEW DAY, IT'S A NEW 'NORM'

Digital, paperless, empty law office. Zoom meetings, Go-to-Meetings, video conferencing, facetiming. Working remotely. “Going to the Office” means going to another room in your home. Telephonic interviews. ‘No Contact’ lawyering. The pandemic became the Mother of Invention, born out of necessity. The pandemic brought lawyering into the digital age. No more thick paper files; rooms full of filing cabinets; endless copying; and bulk mailing to clients. In fact, no more in-person meetings with clients, prosecutors, judges, juries or fellow lawyers. The upside is that the legal profession has become more efficient and can offer better service to our clients. Instead of telephone messages, our client’s simply email their attorney and receive a written response which the client can read, understand and keep. Lawyers can respond more quickly to questions via a simple email instead of plodding through a pile of pink telephone messages with resultant delays incurred by exchanging voicemail messages instead of fortuitously making connection the first try. Attorneys as well as client’s can make Zoom Court appearances from the comfort and convenience of their own homes or businesses. Having evolved and adapted, there seems to be a real benefit to maintaining the new ‘norm’. The ‘Old Days’ are less than a year old.