COVID-19, Ethics, and The Law — Sheila M. Parrish-Spence

COVID-19, Ethics, and The Law

BY ATTORNEY SHEILA M. PARRISH-SPENCE

In 2019, the legal profession was functioning as it always had for decades. The courthouses were busy. Witness protection, law enforcement, court and hearing rooms, clerks’ offices, agencies, bar associations, legal supply stores, and more were open and busy until the interloper, COVID-19, an infectious, airborne, respiratory disease, covered the globe and became a deadly pandemic. Judges, court commissioners, and lawyers serve to uphold justice.

Due to the global pandemic, the legal profession enacted new policies and rules to continue working for the good of the people despite quarantines, social distancing, and mandated wearing of masks. The restricted movement and interaction brought constant awareness of sanitizing courthouses and law offices for health and safety. Many of the legal professionals have been quarantined, hospitalized, or succumbed to COVID-19.

The year 2020 started off well in the legal community until March. An interloper called COVID-19 invaded the US. This was not an epidemic – a disease that is only nation wide. It was global – a pandemic. The national and global news was grim. Many people have been quarantined or hospitalized, and some died. As of April 2021, the Centers for Disease Control had reported that over 566,000 people had died from COVID-19.

This national epidemic is unlike any other. The nation— including the legal community — survived polio from 1916 to 1955, HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, cryptosporidium from contaminated water in 1983 and teh H1N1 flu in 2009, all survived polio from 1916 to 1955, HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, cryptosporidium from contaminated water in 1983 and the H1N1 flu in 2009, all with daily reports infection rates. Yet, the legal profession was undaunted. Instead, it creatively enacted new modes of working ethically in our legal profession.

As the pandemic grew it affected our homes, employment, health, educational institutions, human services agencies, recreation, food supply, and technology. They each started to quarantine, restrict or reduce activities, limit travel or close altogether. The various realms of the legal profession were no different. Courthouses, law offices, law schools, legal agencies and organizations streamlined their services or shut down to the public for a period of time. Lawyers, judges, and legal staff worked remotely. Numerous layoffs, reduced work hours, furloughs, and terminations became common and governmental directives for their populations to wear mask, wash hands, social distance, and curb social activities. Many legal entities still have no face-to-face communication with clients and others.

The legal profession has been creative in using technology to continue its work. Judges, court commissioners, hearing officers, attorneys, mediators, law clerks, paralegals and support staff communicate remotely, mostly using video platforms such as Zoom. Training sessions for the legal community show legal professionals Zoom techniques, familiarized them with tools, including webcams, microphones and headphones and introduced technology language such as cloud meeting, personal meeting, meeting link, meeting ID, passcode, background settings, and breakout rooms.

Legal seminars, conferences, and events are now online. The legal community adapted to screen share materials and online exhibits and to verbally interact by microphone and emojis. Now, law firms have tech departments, enabling them to file documents online. In Wisconsin, members of the bar and their staff used this secure private technology pre-pandemic. Some forms eFiled are for family law, small claims court, restraining orders, motions, and orders. The filer receives notification of receipt or rejection due to improper information and can check on the status of the forms eFiled through the system.

For years I have said, “The only constant thing in life is change.” People adapt to change. We all remember when computers replaced typewriters and cell phones replaced

TRAVIS SPELL, BA, ATTY. SHEILA M. PARRISH-SPENCE, J.D., MSE AND DR. LAKEIA JONES-SPELL, DSW, LPC, CSAC AT THE ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA SORORITY, INC. EPSILON KAPPA OMEGA, DEBUTANTE COTILLION IN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

landlines. Now, we’re seeing self-driven vehicles revving up to replace human-navigated cars. Not surprisingly, NCCU School of Law alums are adopting, adapting and keeping up with these rapidly changing times. A few sat down with me to share their experiences.

Attorney Carmela Del Vecchio, NCCU School of Law, Class of 1974, is a real estate lawyer in New Jersey and New York. She stated, “In real estate there is more work for the attorneys and staff to perform due to COVID-19. Safety policies are by the court system regarding health, processing of paperwork, and work conditions. Electronic records indexing and online access for real estate forms and information have replaced most in person activities. (Online Acess to Public Records, 2021). Court clerks limit in person appointments with real estate lawyers to 30 minutes. They examine for processing real estate titles. Some counties require electric filing of land records, title searches, and recording of documents.”

Milwaukee County Deputy District Attorney Lovell Johnson, Jr., NCCU School of Law, Class of 1983, works remotely. He stated, “I am a deputy District Attorney for the Milwaukee County DA’s Office in Wisconsin. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on our office and court system. Fortunately, because both our office and the courts were extensively computerized and almost paperless, the effects have been far less onerous than they would had those advancements not been in place. We have approximately 80% of our attorneys and staff working very effectively from home. The big problem has been with providing jury trials. Although some have been held in specially prepared courtrooms, there is a significant backlog which will have to be addressed immediately upon lifting of COVID-19 protections.”

Attorney E. Yvonne Pugh, NCCU School of Law, Class of 1973, states, “If certain technological mechanisms had not been put into place pre-COVID, my office would have been up the creek without a paddle [so to speak] when COVID restrictions were mandated. Certain office personnel were already working remote but the assistant who scans documents for remote work could not come into the office for several months due to stay at home restrictions. This meant a lot of extra work for me. I also used to like Zoom when I first began using it because it was better than Skype for me. But now, I am almost Zoom burned out from having to use it for client meetings, seminars, socializing, etc.”

CONCLUSION

The legal system has always met and conquered challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has plagued our nation. Yet, our legal profession has ethically set new rules and policies for the order of the law to continue. Through technology, ethical standards and legal mandates, and cooperation of the legal community, outstanding services continue to be rendered. We have stood for and ethically promoted justice and will continue to adapt to change.

REFERENCES

Camden County. (2021, February 22). Retrieved from County Clerk: https://www.camdencounty.com/service/county-clerk/

Circuit Court eFiling. (2020, September 20). Retrieved from Wisconsin Court System: https://www.wicourts.gov/ecourts/efilecircuit/ index.jsp

Centers for Disease Control COVID Tracker (2021, April 22). Retrieved from http://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

Online Acess to Public Records. (2021, February 22). Retrieved from Monroecounty.gov: https://www.monroecounty.gov/clerkonlinerecords