Legal Profession / Legal Practice
This section includes literature on legal aid and access to justice. Ahmed, Leyla, ‘Legal Practice in Kenya: Embracing Automation and E-Judiciary’ in Suresh Nanwani and William Loxley (eds), Social Structure Adaptation to COVID-19: Impact on Humanity (Taylor & Francis, 2024) 122-131 [OPEN ACCESS E-BOOK] Abstract: The confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Kenya led to the scaling down of most government services, including service delivery in the judiciary. The focus of this chapter is the introduction of e-judiciary and how it changed the practice within the legal profession.
Al-Badou, Dr Hana and Passion University-USA, ‘The Situation of Legal Translation Post COVID-19’ (2023) 3(1) Journal of Languages & Translation 27–39 Abstract: This research focused on the situation of legal translation post COVID-19. A quantitative research design is used with a questionnaire and 50 participants of the Jordanian and Algerian legal translators. The results of the research revealed that legal translation was affected strongly during COVID-19 and that according to the comprehensive ban and there was delay in the issues and legal transactions. But, at post COVID-19, there is a strong demand for legal translation, especially at the first period of stopping the comprehensive ban. Also, most of the legal documents were about immigration transactions to European countries according to the financial situation during and after COVID-19. Also, most of the customers were afraid of COVID-19, and stopped most of their legal operations and transactions until the end of COVID-19, and this directly affected the legal translation. Furthermore, the results revealed that the situation of legal translation became better and more active post COVID-19. As well, the researcher concluded that COVID-19affected negatively on the legal translation and its effects stated to stop post COVID-19. Also, the comprehensive ban caused reduction of the work in the field of translation in general and in the field of legal translation specifically. As well, the active of legal translation backs to the normal situation post COVID-19.
Allen, Jeffrey, ‘Increasing Dependence on Technology in the Law Practice in the Time of COVID60’ (2021) 34(4) American Journal of Family Law 160–164 Abstract: The article offers information on the increase of the dependence of technology in the practice due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. It discusses that due to the pandemic technologies or inventions, it has served as an impetus for the profession to make far better use of already existing technology; The increased use of video conferencing in personal communications will continue; and mentioning that there will be substantial and continuing changes due to the pandemic.
Allman, Kate, ‘Technology: NSW Allows Witnessing Documents via Video Call - but Are There Privacy Risks?’ (2020) 67 LSJ: Law Society of NSW Journal 14 Abstract: As office spaces have been forced shut by COVID-19, many law firms have shifted the bulk of their legal work online in the space of a few weeks. Some have been left wondering whether this rapid transition could introduce previously not-contemplated privacy and security risks for lawyers and their clients.
Amuda, Yusuff Jelili, Shafiqul Hassan and Emna Chikhaoui, ‘Empirical Investigation of Perceptions of Economic, Medical and Legal Experts on the Effects of Covid-19 in Saudi Arabia’ (2022) 25(2) Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences 1–135 Abstract: The outbreak of COVID-19 or otherwise known as coronavirus disease as a global pandemic remains very challenging at the international level. China, Spain and United States have been trying to address different dimensions especially legal, socio-economic and medical impacts of COVID-19. There is insufficient academic research exploring legal, socio-economic and medical impacts of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia in spite of its richness in terms of human and material resources. The research primarily aims at investigating legal, socio-economic and medical impacts of COVID-19 in order to solve the current problem and provide a framework for curtailing its spread especially in various cities in Saudi Arabia. Indeed, quantitative method was employed in this research. On one hand, convenient sampling was used to select 113 respondents among the experts in legal, business and healthcare disciplines to respond to the instrument (questionnaire) of the study. The results demonstrated that, the respondents strongly perceived that COVID-19 have negative impact on socio-economic and medical aspects but it has positive impact on legal discipline because, it provided avenue for multi-jurisdiction legal team in using their knowledge and experience in addressing legal related issues with COVID-19 especially in employment laws in Saudi Arabia. It is therefore be recommended that, there is need for putting resources together towards addressing the challenges of legal, socio-economic and medical impacts of COVID-19 outbreak. The novelty and originality of this study manifested from exploring the triadic factors of economic, legal and medical experts as contrary to previous studies that investigated the variables independently. The research will provide policy direction to the stakeholders in addressing the challenges of COVID-19 holistically in order to provide long-lasting solutions of legal, socio-economic and medical welfares in order to cater for the citizens in country.
Anderson, Beth, ‘In-House, From Home’ (2020) 65(5) Journal of the Law Society of Scotland 36–37 Abstract: Presents the experiences of new ways of working in response to the COVID-19 lockdown described by in-house lawyers in a series of virtual round tables, which highlighted themes of collaboration, positivity and finding a way forward.
Andrews, Mark, ‘The Times Are A-Changin’ with COVID-19: And Law Firms Show They Can Adapt’ [2020] (May) Australasian Law Management Journal 1–5 Abstract: During the past few months, lawyers and their teams have been forced to make significant changes to the way they work on a day-to-day basis because of the COVID-19 crisis, but is this just a temporary hiatus in change resistance for the profession? Mark Andrews urges firms to think about change beyond the pandemic.
Angelos, Claudia et al, ‘Diploma Privilege and the Constitution’ (2020) 73 SMU Law Review Forum 168 Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shutdowns are affecting every aspect of society. The legal profession and the justice system have been profoundly disrupted at precisely the time when there is an unprecedented need for legal services to deal with a host of legal issues generated by the pandemic, including disaster relief, health law, insurance, labor law, criminal justice, domestic violence, and civil rights. The need for lawyers to address these issues is great but the prospect of licensing new lawyers is challenging due to the serious health consequences of administering the bar examination during the pandemic.State Supreme Courts are actively considering alternative paths to licensure. One such alternative is the diploma privilege, a path to licensure currently used only in Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s privilege, limited to graduates of its two in-state schools, has triggered constitutional challenges never fully resolved by the lower courts. As states consider emergency diploma privileges to address the pandemic, they will face these unresolved constitutional issues.This Article explores those constitutional challenges and concludes that a diploma privilege limited to graduates of in-state schools raises serious Dormant Commerce Clause questions that will require the state to tie the privilege to the particular competencies in-state students develop and avenues they have to demonstrate those competencies to the state’s practicing bar over three years. Meeting that standard will be particularly difficult if a state adopts an in-state privilege on an emergency basis. States should consider other options, including privileges that do not prefer in-state schools. The analysis is important both for states considering emergency measures and for those that might restructure their licensing after the pandemic.
Angelos, Claudia et al, ‘The Bar Exam and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Need for Immediate Action’ (Ohio State Public Law Working Paper No 537, 22 March 2020) Abstract: The novel coronavirus COVID-19 has profoundly disrupted life in the United States. Among other challenges, jurisdictions are unlikely to be able to administer the July 2020 bar exam in the usual manner. It is essential, however, to continue licensing new lawyers. Those lawyers are necessary to meet current needs in the legal system. Equally important, the demand for legal services will skyrocket during and after this pandemic. We cannot close doors to the profession at a time when client demand will reach an all-time high. In this brief policy paper, we outline six licensing options for jurisdictions to consider for the Class of 2020. Circumstances will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but we hope that these options will help courts and regulators make this complex decision. These are unprecedented times: We must work together to ensure we do not leave the talented members of Class of 2020 on the sidelines when we need every qualified professional on the field to keep our justice system moving.
Antoniou, Nicola et al, ‘Royal Holloway, University of London and the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association: New Partnerships and Challenges During COVID-19 in the Clinical Legal World’ (2020) 27(4) International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 155–178 Abstract: In January 2020, Royal Holloway, University of London set up a new Legal Advice Centre offering free legal advice to the local community, including building upon key partnerships to address unmet legal needs. This practice-paper discusses Royal Holloway’s Legal Advice Centre (LAC) and the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association’s (ACCA) collaborative approach and response to the global pandemic since March 2020. It will highlight the unprecedented challenges that they have faced, and their efforts to overcome them. In addition, the paper will discuss their research project, which provides Royal Holloway’s student volunteers with the opportunity to gain unique multidisciplinary understandings of the effect of the pandemic in Afghanistan, and a chance to put their legal skills into practice by producing legal information to support local users of both Royal Holloway’s LAC and the Law Clinic at the ACAA.This practice-paper includes a road map to Royal Holloway’s long-term goal, namely, to work with ACAA to research the legal vulnerabilities of women in Afghanistan, with the aid of a research grant supporting international collaboration. Recent reports highlight that lockdown and quarantine measures will have a long-term impact on the basic rights and freedoms of Afghan women, who already face hardship.
Ariens, Michael S, ‘The NCBE’s Wrong-Headed Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper No ID 3587751, 28 April 2020) Abstract: The NCBE issued a White Paper in early April 2020 attacking proposals to admit 2020 graduates of law schools through a diploma privilege with some additional requirement of supervised practice hours. Its justifications are both self-serving and inconsistent. In an unprecedented time, the NCBE chose to protect its monopoly position in providing bar examination products rather than the 2020 bar applicants upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its claim to protect the public from the licensing of ‘incompetent’ bar applicants rings hollow. Because the legal profession is wedded to the status quo in licensing of new lawyers, the NCBE will likely survive the threat to its existence delivered by the pandemic. But its claims should not go unanswered.
Ash, Olivia and Peter Huang, ‘Loneliness in COVID-19, Life, and Law’ (2022) 32(1) Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine 55–148 Abstract: This Article analyzes loneliness in the COVID-19 pandemic, life, and the legal profession, especially in legal education. This Article examines: (1) loneliness: what it is, who is lonely, how loneliness affects an individual, and recent evidence about experiences of loneliness in the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) personal, organizational, and societal costs of loneliness; (3) current research about well-being and loneliness in the legal profession and legal education; (4) results from the first loneliness survey of law students; and (5) three evidence-based interventions to mitigate loneliness: mindfulness, talk therapy (cognitive behavioral therapy), and inclusion.
Banjarani, Desia Rakhma et al, ‘Cyber Notary in Indonesia: Review During the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Urgency of Post-Pandemi Covid-19 Legal Regulations’ (2023) 8(1) Jurnal Kenotariatan 8–14 Abstract: The role of the notary is required to be able participate in the development of technology and information, because in an electronic transaction is very possible for the intervention of a notary as a trusted third party. It is very inappropriate if the notary still uses conventional methods in providing services, because speed, timeliness and efficiency are needed by the parties. So, the research problem can be formulated as follows: How is the development of cyber notary in Indonesia? Why is cyber notary regulation so urgent in Indonesia after the Covid 19 Pandemic? In this research, the authors objectively describe cyber notaries in Indonesia. This research is normative research with the authors arranged descriptively through a qualitative approach. There are no specific legal provisions that regulate cyber notaries, while the use of cyber notaries is increasingly urgent during the pandemic era, such as the Covid 19 Pandemic. However, due to the absence of regulations governing cyber notaries, there were several problems in implementing cyber notaries during the Covid 19 Pandemic era. Therefore, after the Covid 19 Pandemic there was a need for special regulations governing cyber notaries. This is because the Notary Office Law, which has been the legal basis for implementing cyber notaries, actually has several articles and provisions that hinder the implementation of cyber notaries.
Beaugh, Stephanie M and Jordan M Maier, ‘Lawyers and Libraries 2020: A Winning Combination of Virtual Services’ (2020) 68(4) Louisiana Bar Journal 260–261
Borges, Wanda, ‘The Silver Lining behind Covid-19 Comes with Warnings: (Maintain Your Legality and Ethics While Practicing Law Remotely)’ (2022) 36(2) Commercial Law World 38–42 Abstract: The article presents the discussion on greatest pandemic hitting the US since the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Topics include Executive Orders being signed by many state Governors compelling non-essential businesses for closing the physical offices and stay home in order controlling the spread of the coronavirus; and not practicing law in a jurisdiction in violation of the regulation of the legal profession in the jurisdiction.
Brescia, Raymond H, ‘Ethics in Pandemics: The Lawyer for the (Crisis) Situation’ [2020] Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics (forthcoming) Abstract: Lawyers often respond to client crises. But a client crisis is not necessarily a crisis for the lawyer when the lawyer is competent, prepared, and trained to handle that crisis. More and more, though, lawyers are asked to face novel crises that are so pervasive that they impact the ability of the lawyer to provide competent, effective, and zealous advocacy for her client. Today, lawyers are sheltering-in-place while their clients suffer immense hardship, either in prison or detention where the Coronavirus is spreading like wildfire, or homebound, forced to remain with an abuser. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provide some limited guidance to lawyers dealing with emergency situations, and there has been some tinkering along the margins of the rules in response to recent crises, particularly as the rules address the unauthorized practice of law in jurisdictions where emergencies arise. Some scholarship addresses how lawyers have dealt with crises in discrete areas, with a great deal of attention being directed toward the national security context in particular. More and more though, lawyers are asked to assist clients in novel and widespread crises that affect many areas of practice, and the Model Rules do not address the ways in which such crises can impact the practice of law more generally. The main approach this Article takes is to assess the extent to which scholarship and the current rules governing the practice of law and their underlying principles account for some of the unique aspects of practice in novel, pervasive crises. To date, legal scholarship has not considered the ways in which what I call crisis lawyering may be a mode of practice many, if not all lawyers, will face throughout the course of their careers. Moreover, one of the purposes of the Model Rules includes providing guidance to lawyers but they also serve as a means by which we can measure lawyer conduct to ensure there is some degree of lawyer accountability to clients, adversaries, the legal system, and the general public. By using the Model Rules as a starting point for the analysis, this Article explores the somewhat disjointed ways in which the rules that govern the practice of law offer guidance to the lawyer facing novel, pervasive crises. It also addresses the needs of lawyers operating in fields where they may confront crisis situations and seeks to recognize that crisis lawyering may be a form of practice that is, itself, trans-substantive, demonstrating distinct similarities across different areas of practice. This Article attempts to address the absence of scholarship addressing crisis lawyering and analyzes the extent to which the current rules governing the practice of law are or are not adequate to the task of providing guidance—and accountability—to lawyers dealing with such situations. It also offers recommendations for how we may consider amendments to those rules to better reflect the needs, interests, and obligations of lawyers dealing with crisis situations so that lawyers may serve their clients better and more effectively when faced with such crises.
Breydo, Lev, ‘Legal Sector’s Tech-Enabled Covid-19 Adaptation’ (2021) 17(2) Scitech Lawyer 4–11 Abstract: Digital adoption has taken a quantum leap" due to the pandemic, with companies transitioning to remote work ‘40 times more quickly than [executives] thought possible,’ according to an October 2020 McKin -sey report. The legal industry has been no exception, overcoming traditional equivocations with celeritous adaptation to a tech-enabled ‘world of remote everything.’ Aptly capturing the Zeitgeist, Judge David R. Jones of the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of Texas (SDTX) remarked to the Wall Street Journal: ‘We’ll all be on videoconfer-ence and I’ll have a shirt and tie on and my pajama bottoms, but you won’t see those.’ Yet, notwithstanding initial successes, stresses to certain facets of the system are starting to emerge and may compound over time, depending on the pandemic’s duration. Some challenges-like human capital management and organizational culture maintenance-mirror concerns felt across industries. Others are unique or particularly acute for the legal industry, with the complex interplay between cybersecurity, client confidentiality, and professional responsibility likely the most significant.
Bridgesmith, Larry and Dr Adel Elmessiry, ‘The Digital Transformation of Law: Are We Prepared for Artificially Intelligent Legal Practice?’ (2022) 54(4) Akron Law Review 813–826 Abstract: We live in an instant access and on-demand world of information sharing. The global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the necessity of remote working and team collaboration. Work teams are exploring and utilizing the remote work platforms required to serve in place of stand-ups common in the agile workplace. Online tools are needed to provide visibility to the status of projects and the accountability necessary to ensure that tasks are completed on time and on budget. Digital transformation of organizational data is now the target of AI projects to provide enterprise transparency and predictive insights into the process of work. In order to preserve legal frameworks without losing the high ground of principled rule making, standard setting, and practical application, prompt action is required. Legal practitioners as well as legal academics must coalesce to present a united front to persuade their constituents (clients, students, and others looking to them for guidance) that AI will serve to safeguard human legal rights, responsibilities, and remedies as this digital transformation sweeps every industry sector.
Budiana, I Nyoman and Leo Liusiana, ‘Implementing the Authority of the State’s Attorney in Legal Assistance in Handling Covid-19 in Denpasar City’ (2023) 6(1) Sociological Jurisprudence Journal 22–32 Abstract: The emergence of a disease outbreak, namely Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) in most countries in the world, has caused various problems, not only in the health sector but also in the economic, political and socio-cultural fields. This study aims to analyze the attorney’s authority in providing legal assistance and examine various factors that support and hinder the handling of Covid 19 in Denpasar City. The research design used is a normative juridical approach with a statutory law approach, an analytical and conceptual approach and several facts collected from informants as support and qualitative descriptive juridical analysis was used to obtain adequate and accurate results. The result shows that the implementation of legal assistance to policies in the framework of accelerating the handling of Covid 19 and the National Economic Recovery program by the State’s Attorney of Denpasar District Attorney was carried out well and effectively. The factors that support the implementation of the legal assistance are the clarity of the legal basis used by the prosecutor’s office in carrying out its functions and the fast and active response from the applicant, namely some agencies in Denpasar City. While the inhibiting factors include the reporting process provided by the applicant to the attorney’s office is still slow, the limited number of members of the State’s Attorney with authority as public prosecutors must continue to be carried out within the framework of law enforcement.
Budiarti, Arsa Ilmi, Dio Ashar Wicaksana and Nanda Oktaviani, ‘The Role of Technology in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era: A Lesson Learned from Indonesia in Increasing Access to Legal Aid’ (2023) 3(1) Journal of Contemporary Sociological Issues 1–22 Abstract: The COVID-19 Pandemic has increased the prevalence of legal problems, such as criminality, massive unemployment, domestic violence, and inequality in society. This condition further causes legal aid services to be progressively needed. Meanwhile, many people still do not know about free legal assistance from the Government through legal aid organizations or lawyers through pro bono legal services. Moreover, the global policy encouraging social and physical distancing makes it difficult for people to access the legal aid service provider office directly. Therefore, an accessible and comprehensive platform that provides information and free legal aid services is very much needed in this COVID-19 situation for justice seekers—as internet use is growingly massive during the pandemic. This article shows why and how technology expands access to legal Aid, explained through interviews with legal aid providers and desk review. With the Indonesian case, this study argues that optimizing technology’s role does not necessarily involve creating a massive and complicated technological system but rather ensuring the current or existing platform can fulfill justice seeker needs and be inclusively accessible to vulnerable groups. Legal needs assessment and a multistakeholder approach must be encouraged sustainably to ensure the platform can achieve those goals. Keywords: Access to Justice, Covid-19 pandemic, Free Legal Aid, Technology, Vulnerable Groups.
Burger, Ethan, ‘Professional Responsibility, Legal Malpractice, Cybersecurity, and Cyber-Insurance in the COVID-19 Era’ (2021) 11(2) St. Mary’s Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics 234–310 Abstract: In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, law firms conformed their activities to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and state health authority guidelines by immediately reducing the size of gatherings, encouraging social distancing, and mandating the use of protective gear. These changes necessitated the expansion of law firm remote operations, made possible by the increased adoption of technological tools to coordinate workflow and administrative tasks, communicate with clients, and engage with judicial and governmental bodies. Law firms’ increased use of these technological tools for carrying out legal and administrative activities has implications for their staffing needs, office space requirements, and management/supervisory procedures. Actions taken in each of these areas give rise to certain risks, which are by-products of the COVID-19 virus, albeit, not caused by it. Due to the pandemic, law firms have had to address certain secondary (i.e., not health-related) risks arising from (i) non-compliance with professional conduct norms, (ii) legal malpractice, (iii) increased cybersecurity vulnerability, and (iv) need for cyber-insurance. In the twelve months after March 2020, there was an overall drop in lawyer productivity. It is not clear how long clients will accept this situation to continue. What has been the impact of COVID-19 on law firms? It seems there has been a growing gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots,’ with the former getting a bulk of the ‘high-end’ work. In the near term, remote operations combined with personnel reductions seem to have had a negative impact on most law firms’ efficiency and, ultimately, revenue. It should not be a surprise that certain law firms have found that adopting ‘austerity measures’ can ensure profitability. Remote operations make law firms more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Most law firms tend to disregard these risks unless their clients or regulators insist on their adoption of new cybersecurity measures. While a dramatic increase in successful cyber-attacks on law firms and other private-sector organizations might change this situation, profitability will remain the top objective of law firm partners. As a result, it is unlikely that law firms will increase their investment in cybersecurity in the form of expensive equipment, software, services from outside contractors, and cyber-insurance policies with high face-values and expensive premiums. Perhaps law firms can find the needed funds by leasing less expensive office premises. A failure to find adequate funds for cybersecurity improvements not only makes law firms more vulnerable to cyber-attacks but also makes it difficult for them to comply with professional responsibility norms, thus resulting in greater legal malpractice and other risks.
Carnahan, Douglas G, ‘Access to Justice in a Time of COVID’ (2021) 51(1) Southwestern Law Review 91–106 Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a sea of changes in the methods of lawyers who represent under-served and low-income client populations. This Essay will examine how the pandemic has affected the work of legal service organizations. Generally, this Essay examines the approaches taken by any pro bono or appointed counsel representing those with traditionally limited access to justice.
Carroll, Trish, ‘Is Covid-19 the Mother of All Disruptors for the Legal Profession?’ [2020] (April) Australasian Law Management Journal 1–6 Abstract: In an effort to understand the long-term changes that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on the legal profession, Trish Carroll taps into the minds of final-year law students and also ponders what the fallout will mean for lawyers’ engagement with clients.
Chandra, Geetanjali, Ruchika Gupta and Nidhi Agarwal, ‘Role of Artificial Intelligence in Transforming the Justice Delivery System in COVID-19 Pandemic’ (2020) 11(3) International Journal on Emerging Technologies 344–350 Abstract: Artificial intelligence is programmed on computers to depict human intelligence. It has created a huge hype and has evolved to revolutionize almost every profession including legal sector. New lawful simulated AI programming software like Ross intelligence and Catalyst along with Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing give viable fight goals, better legitimate clearness, and better permission to justice and new difficulties to ordinary law firms offering legal assistance utilizing leveraged cohort correlate model. Also, AI enabled lawyer bots are performing tasks that normally requires human intellect and needs to be performed by lawyers. In such a situation, a question strikes- Will these lawyer bots replace human lawyers? This question becomes all the more important in the present scenario when the whole globe is facing challenges imposed by global pandemic ‘COVID-19’. How is COVID-19 going to change the justice delivery system, and what does it look like? Therefore, this study is conducted to evaluate the role of artificial intelligence in transforming the justice delivery system post COVID-19. The study tries to examine the various areas in which AI is affecting the legal profession, evaluate the extent of its impact on the legal employment, assess the tasks in legal sector which cannot be undertaken by AI, and discuss the legal issues in the implementation of AI. The study also suggests the way forward with regards to the future of legal sector to help practitioners and researchers
Choi, Elizabeth, ‘The Pandemic of Intrusion into Privileged Communications between Incarcerated Clients and Their Attorneys’ (2021) 34(4) Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 831–842 Abstract: The Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act (H.R.5546) was passed by the House of Representatives in September of 2020.5 The bill’s main objective is to protect certain electronic communications between an attorney and their incarcerated client from unreasonable governmental intrusion.’ This Note will argue that H.R.5546, while a step in the right direction, falls exceedingly short of providing the necessary protection for communications between an attorney and their incarcerated client. Part I will explore the background of the various policies and practices of federal prisons that have negatively impacted the attorney-client privilege for incarcerated clients and their resulting ethical implications. This problem is prevalent in other institutions, but the scope for this Note is limited to solely federal prison policies. Part II will analyze H.R.5546, its failures in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, and how to improve its effectiveness in protecting confidentiality without negatively impacting relevant governmental interests.
Clark, Annette, ‘Diploma Privilege and the Future of the Bar Exam’ (2020) 37(6) GPSolo 19–23 Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives and work in ways that were unimaginable only six months ago, as we’ve been faced with illness and death within our families and communities, a health care system that has be enstrained beyond capacity, the loss of jobs and increasing economic insecurity, anxiety and depression brought on by the fear of contracting the virus and the isolation imposed by our governments in trying to combat its spread, and so much more. For recent law school graduates, add to this demoralizing list the need to take and pass a bar exam in the middle of a public health crisis. At the same time, as dean of Seattle University School of Law, I followed the lead of some of my fellow deans across the country by reaching out to the body that administers the UBE in my state--the Chief Regulatory Counsel for the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) -- to request a joint meeting with the bar and the deans of the other two law schools.
Cohen, Ira, ‘Law in the Time of Corona’ (2020) 67(6) Federal Lawyer 48–52 Abstract: The article focuses on changes in legal profession during COVID-19 pandemic. It mentions lawyers must rely on some of the technology have long taken for granted in order to continue to function with even a semblance of normalcy and ramparts and into the next logical phase of legal practice. It also mentions increase in webinars and sessions of continuing legal education (CLE) and really need the aid and assistance.
Dale, Amy, ‘The Great Reset: Challenges of a Post-Covid Legal Profession’ [2022] (1) LSJ: Law Society Journal 34–45 Abstract: Tumultuous times, the new normal, the great resignation: superlatives and disruption have reigned supreme in this decade to date. From technology to talent retention, open justice to office redesigns, lawyers and leaders share their insights on the end of the pandemic pivot - and the beginning of the profession’s reset.
De Stefano, Michele Beardslee, Bjarne P Tellmann and Daniel Wu, ‘Digital Transformation and the Legal Profession: How Corporate Legal Departments Should Digitally Transform to Create New Forms of Value’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3905328, 14 August 2021) Abstract: Due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, enhancements in technology, as well as shifts in the macroeconomic and socioeconomic dynamics of globalization, Digital Transformation (DT) has become an enterprise-wide imperative for most multinational companies (MNCs). As such, legal departments are being challenged to embrace enterprise DT and start their own department’s DT journeys. Despite these trends, there is little scholarship and research about how MNC legal departments attempt to meet the DT challenge: What are GCs doing to support enterprise level DT, and how are they digitally transforming their own departments? And importantly, is what they are doing effective and value-accretive? How should they approach their DT journeys?Based on interviews of 23 General Counsels and Chief Digital Officers of S&P 500 MNCs along with the authors’ professional experience, we investigate in-house legal departments’ response and approach to DT and recommend a new model approach. Standard depictions of MNC legal departments suggest that they are viewed as cost centers. And much of the literature focuses on how GCs can add value by improving efficiency and lowering cost. The literature also appears to assume law firms provide more creative, strategic, value-additive advice than in-house legal departments. Contrary to such depictions, we contend that DT can enable legal departments to add value that external providers cannot, and that goes far beyond efficiency generation, cost reduction, and increased speed-to-market. We identify a Legal DT Maturity Framework that maps corporate legal departments’ DT trajectory into three common phases. We argue that the current three-phased approach to DT that many GCs utilize generates some added value but does not enable the full potential of DT to be harnessed. Drawing upon lessons from our interviewees’ experiences and our own, we articulate a best-practices model for how legal departments should approach DT to generate new forms of value and shift from being a cost center to a revenue generator and value creator. Our model demonstrates that the GC, as internal to the MNC, has an advantage (as compared to external providers) in understanding the MNC’s strategic priorities and risk preferences and, therefore, is better at identifying the right and best opportunities to leverage and exploit to the MNC’s advantage.In addition to filling some of the gaps in the literature, this article provides a vision that has broad applicability beyond the MNC legal department context and can be used as a model for law firms and other legal services providers to harness DT in their own contexts, so as to stay at pace with—and better serve—clients with the never-ending DT challenges emerging on their horizons.
Desriva, Desriva, Zainul Daulay and Muhammad Hasbi, ‘Online Legal Counseling about Authentic Deeds by Notaries (Practices and Challenges in the Pandemic ERA)’ (2022) 9(7) International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding 276–280Jurisdiction: Indonesia
Abstract: A Notary is a public official who is authorized to make an authentic deed and has other authorities as referred to in the Notary position law or based on other laws. One of the other powers granted directly by the law on the position of a Notary is the authority in terms of providing legal counseling in connection with the making of the deed, this is explicitly stated in Article 15 paragraph (2) letter e UUJN-P. The arrangement of legal counseling by a Notary is not regulated in detail. This can be seen from whether the legal counseling must be done in writing to provide certainty or whether the legal counseling is given orally to be more efficient and whether legal counseling carried out by a Notary must be done directly or can be done indirectly (online). The purpose of this study was to analyze online legal counseling conducted by a Notary based on Article 15 paragraph (2) letter e of the UUJN-P, to examine the practice of online legal counseling in connection with the making of an authentic deed by a Notary, as well as to analyze the obstacles faced by a Notary. Notaries related to online legal counseling. This research method is empirical juridical. The results of the research obtained are online legal counseling can be carried out by a Notary based on Article 15 paragraph (2) letter e UUJN. Because Article 15 paragraph (2) letter e UUJN does not limit the form of legal counseling conducted by a Notary, whether directly or indirectly. Some of the media used by Notaries in providing legal counseling online are Facebook, Instagram, websites, blogs, email, WhatsApp, and YouTube. The obstacles experienced by Notaries in providing legal counseling online are that the UUJN/UUJN-P itself still stipulates that facing still has to be done physically, has the potential to violate the area of office, can spread personal date of the parties, potentially violate the principle of secrecy of office.
Dowell, Katy, ‘A 20 per Cent Cut to Salaries Is Now the Covid Norm.’ [2020] (June 8) Lawyer (Online Edition) 1 Abstract: The article talks about a deduction in salaries of law firm personnel due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dowell, Katy, ‘Three-Quarters of the UK’s Biggest Firms Are Furloughing Staff.’ [2020] (May 20) Lawyer (Online Edition) 1 Abstract: The article several law firms in Great Britain are furloughing staff due to the Covid-19.
Farrell, Brian et al, ‘International Law Online: How Will the Pandemic Change the Practice of Law?’ (2021) 115 Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting 289–294 Abstract: This panel was convened at 1:45 p.m., Friday, March 26, 2021, by the ASIL-Midwest Interest Group. Through a roundtable discussion, the panel explored the changes that the pandemic has had on the practice and teaching of international law.
Fortnam, Jonathan and Stuart Weinstein, Legal Practice Transformation Post-COVID-19 (Law Firm Management Insights, Globe Law and Business, 2021)£75.00 available to purchase from publisher – see book details on publisher’s website
Book Summary: For most legal teams operating in the COVID-19 age, the focus on near-term survival has passed, and attention has turned to what the ‘new normal’ might be. With the pandemic overhauling the traditional way in which lawyers practise and serve their clients, the profession turning remote overnight and increasing their use of collaboration platforms and other legal tech, it is likely that legal practice has changed for good, and those prepared to embrace and seize opportunities from this change will be best placed to flourish in the years ahead. Legal Practice Transformation Post-COVID-19 imagines the post-COVID world for legal services and asks what has changed, what will stay the same and what values are critical to ensure the successful operation of legal teams in the post-pandemic age. It considers a variety of aspects crucial to the future of the legal profession, including: The impact of technology; Remote working; Health and safety; and Culture and community. This Special Report will be invaluable reading for lawyers in private practice, in-house counsel, professional support staff and all those involved in the delivery of legal services, to understand what the future of the profession will look like, and how to thrive within it.
Frankenberg, Günter, ‘The Pandemic of Authoritarianism’ (2021) 10(1) Comparative Law Review 9–18 Abstract: Law does not tolerate doubt. Rulings have to convince so as to be accepted as authoritative. Interpretations are meant to provide determinate, at least plausible, results. Legal education and practice are geared toward certainty. And later, the opinions of legal experts – merchants of certitude – often cloak the interests of the client behind a screen of definite assumptions and conclusions. Uncertainty, so much seems certain, is not a matter for the legal profession. The Corona crisis teaches lawyers neither to comfortably issue coercive decrees nor to make gutsy judgments, but to learn what the pandemic is all about. Legal consultants need to find their place in the dispute of the faculties – virology, epidemiology, medicine, etc. They have yet to define their role as advisors while all the time operating in a ‘floating’ terrain that offers little factual positiveness, leaves open many questions, requires from experts to constantly check and revise their tentative prognoses, to process new data and changing criteria. Throughout all societies, the pandemic is spreading and with it the uncertainty of how and with which legal means and legal measures to contain and control it. So far, lawyers have been assiduously following the diverse and unstable assessments delivered from the intellectual laboratories of virology, epidemiology and medicine. They find comfort in their lagging legal contributions to ‘flattening the curve’, reducing the ‘rate of the reproduction of infections’, limiting hot spots, and more. And, generally, they are satisfied with contributing to prevent the intensive care capacities from being overburdened. But what exactly do they contribute?
Frere, Kelly G and Matthew B Frere, ‘When Seniors Are Forced to Leave a Facility: Options for Care Can Be Limited’ (2020) 56(9) Tennessee Bar Journal 42–43 Abstract: An issue that is increasingly affecting seniors is being discharged or evicted — against their will and when they have nowhere else to go — from a hospital, long-term care facility or in-home care services. Unfortunately, this problem exists with little in the way of solutions. As the family’s lawyer, you need to know what resources are available — and be aware that there are not many.
Frere, Kelly G and Matthew B Frere, ‘Why Seniors as Clients Are Different During a State of Emergency.’ (2020) 56(6) Tennessee Bar Journal 30–31
Furlong, Jordan, ‘Law Firm Essentials for Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic’ (Aug 2020) Australasian Law Management Journal 1–7 Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, resource-poor small law firm practitioners have to take care of themselves, their clients and their cashflow if they hope to survive, while at the same time catering to the whims of all their stakeholders. Jordan Furlong offers some tips on how to do it.
Gageler, Stephen, ‘Law in a Time of COVID’ (2022) (171) Victorian Bar News 28–30 Abstract: The Title of this presentation - ‘Law in a Time of COVID’ - is with apology to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The subtitle could well be ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ The aphorism is often attributed to Churchill. We who work in Australian courts and at the Australian bar have experienced the longest interruption of, and greatest disruption to, our institutional and professional practices that has occurred in our professional lifetimes.
Gealy, Stephen, Jean Sternlight and Amy Van Horne, ‘Panel Discussion: Mediation in the Age of Covid and Beyond’ (2021) 54(4) Creighton Law Review 519–536 Abstract: The following is a lightly edited transcript of a panel discussion from the 2021 Creighton Law Review Symposium: Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Business Setting, on February 26, 2021. This Symposium combined the latest academic research, practitioner expertise, and legal updates on the use of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration in business and the workplace. In addition, the program celebrated the Werner Institute’s 15th Anniversary at Creighton University. This panel discussion was during session 2: ‘Mediation in the Age of COVID and Beyond.’ Panelists Stephen Gealy, Jean Sternlight, and Amy Van Horne discussed the recent move to online mediation and the psychological impacts of online lawyering, commenting on which approaches enhance effective advocacy and how technology might influence psychological factors such as fatigue, empathy, perception, and credibility.
Geczy, Isabelle M, ‘Captive Without Counsel: The Erosion of Attorney-Client Privilege for Incarcerated Individuals’ (2023) 70(4) UCLA Law Review 1084–1118 Abstract: To be incarcerated is to be deprived of the choices available to those in the free world. In the absence of those choices, carceral facilities dictate the ways that individuals may engage. If an incarcerated person wants to communicate with someone who is not in their facility, they have very limited options. Because of the extended erosion of attorney-client privilege, for years attorneys have identified in-person visitation as the only way to ensure attorney-client privilege is protected while they communicate with their incarcerated clients. When in-person visitation was eliminated due to COVID-19 lockdowns, every communication method that incarcerated individuals were able to access carried with it the likelihood or certainty of surveillance, destroying their access to communication with attorneys that preserved the privileged nature of such communication. Herein lies the essential attorney-client privilege issue laid bare by COVID-19: the state has incarcerated people, deprived them of communications protected by attorney-client privilege, and placed specific surveillance on every other meaningful and effective method people have to communicate with their attorney. These actions are even more damning in light of the multitude of individuals held in pretrial detention, many unable to pay bail, who then are restricted access to their own defense counsel, stealing their ability to participate in their own defense. Such deprivation runs contrary to the Sixth Amendment and is a direct illustration of why meaningful protections must be placed on communications between incarcerated individuals and their attorneys. What follows is a study of the four main alternative communication methods offered during COVID-19 lockdowns to incarcerated individuals: mail, phone, email, and video calls, and the ways in which each fail to afford communications actually protected by attorney-client privilege. This Comment then identifies how holistic and overarching reforms of communication systems for incarcerated individuals and their attorneys must be implemented in order to uphold attorney-client privilege and the criminal defendant’s Sixth Amendment constitutional right to counsel.
Graves, Tiffany M, ‘Remote Legal Services in the Age of COVID: How Legal Services Organizations Adapted to the Pandemic to Serve Pro Bono Clients’ (2022) 19 Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD 143–153 Abstract: This essay will discuss what I learned from the legal services organizations and highlight how organizations in my firm’s footprint adapted in the face of unprecedented challenges to assure the needs of the most vulnerable in our country would still be met. In addition to discussing how the legal services organizations adapted to the pandemic, I will also highlight the ways in which legal services organizations will—and should— continue to draw on the lessons of the pandemic experience to maximize access to justice.
Griffiths, Catrin, ‘The First Covid Collapse of a Law Firm, and Not the Last.’ [2020] (May 22) Lawyer (Online Edition) 1
Guri, Susma, ‘The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Legal Profession of Nepal’ (2021) 1(1) University of Asia Pacific (UAP) Law Review 18–29 Abstract: The outbreak of coronavirus has impacted the world since November 2019 and Nepal is not an exception. Though it was weakened for a few months, it is alarmingly increasing at present. People had just started their business after the end of a three-month-long nationwide lockdown and several prohibitory orders, but the mushrooming case of the new variant of coronavirus compelled the government to break the chain of the spread of coronavirus. For that purpose, the Government of Nepal has declared prohibitory orders in Kathmandu Valley for 15 days starting from 29 April 2021 and it has already been more than a month since the order. Similarly, other districts are also in lockdown/prohibitory orders depending upon the number of COVID-19 cases. This pandemic has posed a challenge to the health sector directly, however, the curtailment of movement and services due to lockdown has not left any area, including the legal profession, unharmed. Firstly, this article has discussed the scope of the legal profession, ‘what does it include’ and ‘what not’ with a special focus in the context of Nepal. Secondly, it explores the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal profession of Nepal and the strategies adopted to overcome such impacts. It also aims to relate the effect of such an impact on the personal growth of legal professionals. While doing so, this article also highlights the need to realize the necessity of online/digital services for the proper functioning of the legal profession. As a source of data, interviews are taken with persons having engaged in various areas of the legal profession. A random sampling method is used to approach interviewees. Besides, books, published news, articles, reports, documentaries are also taken as a reference for the study.
Haines, Anjana, ‘MNEs to Shift Burden of COVID-19 Litigation to Law Firms’ [2020] (28 May) International Tax Review 1–4 Abstract: Law firms globally must prepare for a wave of COVID-created litigation work over the next three months as more than 400 senior counsel and business executives say they are outsourcing the burden. A comprehensive survey conducted by Euromoney’s Legal Media Group (LMG), which includes ITR, IFLR, MIP and Euromoney Thought Leadership Consulting, found that in-house legal and tax departments will ask their advisors to tackle the problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hansen, Lee, ‘Effective Mobilisation of Social Welfare Law Advice in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic’ in Carla Ferstman and Andrew Fagan (eds), Covid-19, Law and Human Rights: Essex Dialogues (School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, 2020) 217–227 Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic has the potential to spell the demise of access to justice for all but a select few. Prior to the crisis, the infrastructure for free and low-cost legal advice had been severely weakened by UK government policy and austerity-era budget cuts. Now, as solicitors are on furlough, law centres are on the brink of collapse and lockdowns have led to widespread service closures and restrictions, the legal needs of many members of society are set to multiply and may remain unmet. In the face of other crises (9/11, Bushfires, Grenfell), members of the legal support sector (legal aid providers, law centres, pro bono practitioners) worked together. This resulted in much needed help in the form of free legal advice to the affected communities. This paper surveys the lessons learned from such interventions. It explores the extent to which these experiences may serve as guidance to address the legal needs arising from the current crisis posed by the pandemic. It also highlights the unique features of the Covid-19 crisis. This suggests the need to look beyond ad hoc and technologically based measures (which worked in the past) to assert a more prominent role for the state in the legal advice sector.
Harrison, Jessica A, ‘How the Pandemic Altered the Criminal Defense Landscape’ (2023) 66(3/4) Advocate 16–17 Abstract: Our post-COVID-19 world is undoubtedly a different world than the one we were accustomed to before 2020. We can self-administer nasal swabs just as naturally as we brush our teeth, our plant collections are robust and thriving, and our favorite restaurants now feature impressive patio dining year-round. But on a much larger scale, the post-COVID world witnessed a significant disruption to the American workforce – especially within the government. The criminal justice system has particularly borne the brunt of the labor shortage.
Heeren, Geoffrey J, ‘Building on the Legacy of the University of Idaho’s Immigration Clinic During the Pandemic’ (2021) 64(9) Advocate 32–34 Introduction: The growing presence of immigrants in Idaho is one of the reasons why the University of Idaho College of Law has had an immigration clinic since the early 2000s. Immigrants make up 6% of Idaho’s population and 8% of its labor force. Moreover, Idaho’s growing immigrant population is a driving force for its economy. Immigrants—both those with lawful and undocumented status—pay tens of millions of dollars of taxes in the state. In some strategic sectors of the Idaho economy, like the enormously lucrative dairy industry in Southern and Eastern Idaho, immigrants overwhelmingly make up the work force. The increasing presence of immigrants in the state—and in neighboring regions like Eastern Washington—means there is a need for attorneys to help non-citizens with an area of law that one federal court called a ‘labyrinth that only a lawyer could navigate’. This pressing need equates to the availability of jobs for University of Idaho law graduates trained in immigration law. The Immigration Litigation and Appellate Clinic at the University of Idaho College of law offers these opportunities. This year, the clinic adapted to the pandemic in order to continue its legacy of excellent immigrant representation. This article will provide an overview of the clinic, its recent work, and its scope.
Henry, LA, ‘Community Legal Clinics and Clinical Education in the COVID Era: Resilience, Innovation, and Gaps’ (2021) 72 University of New Brunswick Law Journal 114–131 Abstract: In Canada and throughout the commonwealth countries, access to justice depends upon free legal clinics to fill gaps. While provinces vary in the amount they invest in Legal Aid Services for lower income citizens, it is generally recognized that the majority of lower-middle-class people simply cannot afford to pay the retainer fee for a private lawyer. Legal clinics provide, at bare minimum, summary advice to self-represented litigants, and in some cases full carriage of the file including representation in court. In Canada, almost all university law faculties have legal clinics as part of their curriculum, or are partnered with independent legal clinics that offer students clinical experience. This creates a win-win situation: students receive an invaluable opportunity to do hands-on work under the supervision of clinic lawyers, and clients who cannot afford to hire a lawyer receive legal support.
Imoisi, Simon Ejokema, ‘Effect of Covid-19 on the Legal Profession in Nigeria: Historical and Conceptual Perspectives’ (2023) 10(3) Journal of Commercial and Property Law 61–85 Abstract: In the past years, the world has experienced varied kinds of contagious diseases like SARS, Lassa fever, Ebola but none has been contributed so much to global recession as the as 2019- novel corona virus(2019-nCoV) presently known as COVID – 19 which originated from China and spread across the world. The presence of COVID – 19 in Nigeria came as a surprise to everyone and the magnitude of damage it would cause was unpredictable and one the nation did not definitely prepare for and so its sudden presence caused serious economic- social meltdown. The Federal Government began to source for better ways to curb the deadly virus and maintain stability in Nigeria, however, the damage had already been done, the nation fell into a level of economic recession, one it has never experienced in history and up till this moment is still recovering from. All sectors of the economy where badly affected by this pandemic but it has created the largest disruption of the legal profession in human history.
Jacobowitz, Jan L, ‘Chaos or Continuity? The Evolution of the Role of the Lawyer and the Impact of Technology on the Legal Profession From Its Nascent Use to the Digital Age, in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Beyond’ (2020) 23 Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law (forthcoming) Abstract: What does it mean to be an advocate? In its broadest sense, advocacy means ‘any public action to support and recommend a cause, policy or practice…’Advocacy is a communicative act. Advocacy is also a persuasive act... John Capecci and Timothy Lawyers advocate more so than state their own positions. Arlen SpecterThroughout much of history advocacy has been recognized as a necessary component of our society; a component that has been both respected and ridiculed. Advocacy on behalf of another developed as a cultural adaptation and a societal innovation to facilitate both dispute resolution and business transaction. In fact, third party advocacy birthed the legal profession which in turn evolved over time to adapt to cultural changes in society. Today the legal profession is fully entrenched in society and far from being thought about as an innovation. Instead, the legal profession finds itself confronted by the innovations of the digital age. Technology is challenging both the legal profession’s adaptability and the nature of the attorney-client relationship. The attorney-client relationship likely originated in Ancient Greece and Rome. While scholars have documented much earlier findings of various societies establishing and imposing laws on their citizens, the concept of employing an advocate and the rise of a legal profession did not take root until much later. In fact,[t]here is not the slightest trace in ancient times of a distinct legal profession in the modern sense.” The enactment of law much before the establishment of a legal profession is consistent with the concept that ‘almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.’ Moreover, the literature suggests that in preclassical times, there was no need for the role of a lawyer because the law was ‘divinely sanctioned and revealed.’ The answers to legal issues could be provided by a king, oracle or priest who possessed ‘the divine stamp of approval’ and served in a judicial function. In fact, ancient civilizations relied on the divine connection between kings, oracles, and priests to various recognized gods and goddesses who channeled messages of acceptable conduct. Court proceedings involved a review of documents and testimony from witnesses who took an oath to the gods. Ancient Greece’s evolution of its legal system eventually provided for informal representatives and laid the foundation for a new profession. Ancient Rome elevated the status of legal representatives to paid professionals. From Ancient Rome through today, both the law and the legal profession continued to evolve to incorporate historical, cultural, and technological changes throughout the world. Contemporary lawyers practice in diverse environments and differing legal systems throughout the world. Yet, the attorney-client relationship—an interpersonal relationship that demands competence, confidentiality, and loyalty—remains remarkably the same in its essential components. What continues to change is the expression and facilitation of the relationship, especially as technology continues to impact our lives. This article will briefly explore the development of the legal profession from its origin in Ancient Greece and Rome to its emergence from the Dark Ages in England, and then will fast forward to the beginnings of the legal profession in the United States. Next, the article will explore the historical impact of technology on the legal profession and its ongoing challenge to adapt to the digital age. Finally, the article will conclude with some observations about technology, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the future of the legal profession.
Johnson, Lance G1, ‘My Top 12 Growth Predictions for the Post-COVID Days’ [2020] (July/August) Law Practice Today 7
Kaufman, Eileen R, ‘The Lawyers Justice Corps: A Licensing Pathway to Enhance Access to Justice’ (2021) University of St. Thomas Law Journal (forthcoming) Jurisdiction: USA
Abstract: The idea for establishing a Lawyers Justice Corps (LJC) emerged out of efforts to solve a problem: how to license lawyers at a time when COVID-19 had expanded the need for new lawyers while also making an in-person bar exam dangerous, if not impossible. We—the Collaboratory on Legal Education and Licensing for Practice --proposed the Lawyers Justice Corps to provide a different--and better--way of certifying minimum competence for new attorneys while at the same time helping to create a new generation of lawyers equipped to address a wide range of social justice, racial justice, and criminal justice issues. When implemented, the Lawyers Justice Corps will accomplish two critical and related goals: enhancing access to justice and creating an effective and equitable method of licensing lawyers. This essay begins by outlining the general contours of the Lawyers Justice Corps. It then explains how the Corps will enhance access to justice for the many underserved clients in our society. In a third section, the essay describes the racial injustice perpetuated by the traditional bar exam, as well as the exam’s failure to adequately measure lawyer competence. A final section shows how the Lawyers Justice Corps would provide a licensing path that both trains for and better assesses competencies required for law practice. The essay concludes that the time is ripe for multiple alternative licensing paths, including the Lawyers Justice Corps.
Kiršienė, Julija, Darius Amilevičius and Dovilė Stankevičiūtė, ‘Digital Transformation of Legal Services and Access to Justice: Challenges and Possibilities’ (2022) 15(1) Baltic Journal of Law & Politics 141–172 Abstract: The pandemic affected the access to justice situation in terms of the never rapid shift to digitalisation of legal services, and in this article, we evaluate whether artificial intelligence (AI) and its state-of-the-art technologies like machine learning and human language technologies have the potential to improve access to legal services. For this purpose, we not only examine and identify problematic areas, but also share the empirical data and insights of the practical application of AI technologies, especially human language technologies. In the first part of the article, we explore how the internet has created the foundations for a new paradigm of society including institution law. The second part of the article is devoted for analysis of challenges for access to justice in post pandemic world. In the third part, we elaborate on questions about technical feasibility, legal and moral acceptability of the digitalisation of legal services. Then follows the case analysis of the practical application of human language technologies in legal domain.
Kriegler, Yun, ‘Wuhan: The Chinese City Few Had Heard of Has More Lawyers than You Think.’ [2020] Lawyer (Online Edition) 1 Abstract: The article reports on growth of legal services market in Wuhan, China. Topics include considered that the firm lawyers are not required to return to the office until 16 February 2020 in line with the local regulation on extended spring festival holiday; and demonstrate the increasing number of enquiries from corporate clients on the potential issues and disputes related to labor law and contracts due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Krishna, Gowri, Kelly Pfeifer and Dana Thompson, ‘Caring for the Souls of Our Students: The Evolution of a Community Economic Development Clinic During Turbulent Times’ (2021) 28(Fall) Clinical Law Review 243–279 [pre-print available on SSRN] Abstract: Community Economic Development (CED) clinicians regularly address issues surrounding economic, racial, and social justice, as those are the core principles motivating their work to promote vibrant, diverse, and sustainable communities. When COVID-19 arrived, and heightened attention to police brutality and racial injustice ensued, CED clinicians focused not only on how to begin to address these issues in their clinics, but on how to discuss these issues more deeply and effectively with their students. This essay highlights the ways in which the pandemic school year influenced significant rethinking of one CED clinic’s operations: first, the pandemic sharpened the clinic’s mission to provide transactional legal services to nonprofit and community-based organizations, social enterprises, and neighborhood-based small businesses in Detroit and in other disinvested urban areas in the region; and second, it prompted the clinic to attempt to foster a culture of care within the virtual classroom. As an epicenter of pandemic, racial, and political turmoil over eighteen months (and counting), Detroit offered a unique setting to engage students in thinking critically about the role of lawyers in assisting communities in their efforts toward economic, racial, and social justice during the pandemic year and beyond.
Kunc, Francois, ‘Law in the Time of Coronavirus’ (2020) 94(5) Australian Law Journal 315–319 Abstract: What follows are some vignettes of law in the time of coronavirus, written perhaps more with an eye to the interested readers of the future than for those of you reading it today, for whom this crisis is a pressing reality - the parliament, the courts, solicitors, barristers, law schools, and the future.
Kushwaha, Anurag, ‘Effects of Economic Distress on Legal Aid Services Amid Covid-19 Pandemic in India’ (2020) 1(6) LexForti Legal Journal_ _Abstract: The paper aims to analyse the adverse effects of poor economic condition amid COVID-19 pandemic on the legal aid services in India. The concept of access to justice and the disparity within social classes is a highlighting feature. The paper contends that the legal aid provided in India is not in a promising condition while the people who seek justice have to compromise due to the limited resources and generalised approach of the government and courts. The author recommends that there is a need to conjoin the efforts by the legal services institutions with educational institutions, government and non profit organisations to prioritise the vulnerable sections of our society and work on remodelling of legal aid facilities in accordance with the available resources.
Law Society of NSW, A Fair Post-Covid Justice System: Canvassing Member Views (January 2022) Abstract: Almost two years since the pandemic slammed courtroom doors and law firm offices shut, migrating most legal work to online systems, the Law Society of NSW has released exclusive research into how solicitors of NSW feel about the changes. Most have been well received; but there are also challenges.
Legg, Michael, ‘FLIP: OK Zoomer - the Impacts and Future of Working from Home’ (2020) 73 LSJ: Law Society of NSW Journal 77–79 Abstract: Business shut downs, border closures and social distancing in response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic have given rise to the widespread practice of working from home or the text-based shorthand ‘WFH’. Prior to the pandemic, the idea of lawyers working from the dining room table or a spare room, including appearing in online courts, would have been absurd. In fact, it would probably have prompted the other texting acronym, ’WTF’! Yet the absurd has become the ordinary, indeed, the rational response to the pandemic.
Levin, Leslie C, ‘The Politics of Bar Admission: Lessons from the Pandemic’ (2021) 50(1) Hofstra Law Review 81–143 Abstract: The controversy over how and whether to administer the July 2020 bar examination during the COVID-19 pandemic upended the usual process of lawyer regulation. New actors—including bar applicants—very publicly challenged regulators’ decisions and questioned the safety and fairness of plans for the bar exam. Some advocated for emergency admission without the need to satisfy the bar examination requirement. Joined by law school deans and faculty, the advocacy occurred against the backdrop of the politicization of COVID-19, street protests over police misconduct and racial inequality, and long-standing skepticism about the value and fairness of the bar exam. Regulators throughout the United States reached very different decisions about how to proceed. This article uses eight case studies of states’ responses to explore why these differences occurred. They reveal how a state’s political culture and political attitudes toward the pandemic seemingly informed some regulators’ responses. Institutional relationships among the courts, the bar examiners, and sometimes, the organized bar also affected the decisionmakers. In addition, the courts’ attitudes toward innovation and its desire to maintain the reputation of the bar seemingly played a role. The article sheds new light on the politics of bar admission and the state supreme courts’ role in lawyer regulation.
Lozanovska, Ivona Shushak and Vesna Shapkoski, ‘Access to Justice in the Time of Pandemic: Functioning of Legal Aid Forms in North Macedonia’ (2021) 7(1) Journal of Liberty and International Affairs 70–78 Abstract: The international community has significantly increased its focus on the improvement of justice systems around the world, in recent years. With the increase in effort and interventions in the sector, there has been a need to create tools to assess justice systems, to identify the main elements affecting the workings of the justice machinery. In a context of increasing interest and engagement in justice systems reform, the ability of citizens to access justice institutions to address their needs has come to be seen as an essential element of development, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. The Republic of North Macedonia has been dedicated in a certain amount to improving the access to justice following these global trends. However, the pandemic has brought to the surface many obstacles in the realization of these efforts and imposed serious issues that need to be further solved. In this paper, we will elaborate on the present situation in North Macedonia from the personal experience of law clinics and civil society organizations that work and contribute closely on this issue. Furthermore, we will identify particular points that need to be advanced and relevant stakeholders to be engaged, to improve the situation, and bring justice closer to everyone. :
Lwanga, Kabazzi Maurice, ‘Legal Aid in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Which Way for Public Interest Advocacy?’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3942553, 14 June 2021) Abstract: More people than ever need legal aid services. But the corona pandemic has hit legal aid funding severely. On 11th March, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease outbreak a global pandemic.The government measures to the COVID-19 such as the travel bans and suspension of court and legal activities will potentially result in decline of access to justice for the indigent and worsen the Rule of Law in Uganda. Uganda’s ranking on Rule of Law is declining with the minimal nongovernmental checks and the low access to justice for the indigent. Therefore, Legal aid in the COVID-19 pandemic needs to be revisited. Belatedly, lawyers were classified as ‘essential services’ during the pandemic. There is concern that legal aid may die out and access to justice for the indigent will become problematic during the acute lockdowns among other Government control measures. This article provides insights into other nongovernmental checks for public interest advocacy to promote Rule of Law during pandemics in the face of declining legal aid.
Mamo, Andrew, ‘Object Lessons: The Materiality of Legal Practices’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3982730, 10 December 2021) Abstract: Good laws applied by skilled legal practitioners abiding by robust ethics rules—the usual concerns of legal scholarship—are necessary for an effective legal system but they are not sufficient; we must also pay close attention to the objects with which practitioners work. The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how legal work is done (such as by moving hearings and mediations online) and these transformations in legal practices offer a fleeting opportunity to analyze how working with things generates legal effects.Objects produce action—they cause people to behave in certain ways. This is true of the guns that create the fear of harm that triggers laws of self-defense, and it is equally true of the everyday objects—tables, whiteboards, doors—that populate mediation rooms and that help make mediation work. Mediation theory’s traditional emphasis on the relationships among the mediator and the parties has blinded it to the importance of objects, though the shift to virtual mediations and the use of online dispute resolution tools underscores how communication is mediated by objects and spaces—and that it always has been. The core ethical principles of mediation—self-determination and impartiality—cannot be understood without looking beyond the human participants to trace the myriad forces at play. Mediators and dispute resolution professionals must take objects into account when designing effective dispute resolution processes.Understanding the impact of novel legal technologies—whether online dispute resolution platforms, or the blockchain, or AI-enabled systems—matters not only for identifying how the law might develop in the years to come, but also to gain new insights into fundamental legal principles by focusing attention on the existing material practices that escape notice by dint of their familiarity. Studying the production of legal effects as necessarily involving the use of objects provides a new direction for legal scholarship.
Mant, Jessica, Daniel Newman and Danielle O’Shea, ‘Advising in a Pandemic: The New Era of “Blended Advice” in Social Welfare Law’ [2024] (January) Public Law 86–106 Abstract: This article provides original empirical insight into how publicly funded social welfare advice has been transformed by the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws upon original data generated through focus groups and interviews with frontline legal advisors and clients who sought advice relating to social welfare law during the pandemic. It argues that the pandemic has ushered in a new era of ‘blended advice’, in which the advice sector has forged new frontiers by blending face-to-face and remote methods of communication to provide bespoke advice services to different client groups that seek their support in relation to social welfare and appeals to government decisions regarding benefits and housing entitlements. The article situates the new era of blended advice within the context of the gradual shift towards digitised justice processes that was already taking place before the pandemic, which rapidly accelerated following the first lockdown in England and Wales in March 2020. Moving forward into a post-pandemic world, the article advocates the importance of assessing and developing blended advice models that are, first, grounded in frontline expertise of this advice sector and, secondly, remain mindful of the hazards of simplistic assumptions about digitisation as a cure-all solution for access to justice, especially given the necessary role of this sector in holding the government accountable for administrative decisions relating to social welfare.
Marcus, Kate, ‘Risk Watch: Social Distancing: Not Just for COVID: Contact between the Bench and the Legal Profession’ (2022) 44(2) Bulletin (Law Society of South Australia) 36–37 Abstract: The South Australian legal fraternity is fortunate to maintain close-knit professional relationships. However, how those relationships are perceived by clients must always be considered. Even more important is the relationship between members of the independent Bar and the judiciary, particularly as it is quite common for the judiciary to be appointed from senior counsel. All judicial officers, including many registrars, tribunal members, senior judges etc were all once part of the profession at large with many having professional ties spanning decades. Bias, whether apprehended or actual, has the potential to lead to client dissatisfaction at best and costs orders or disciplinary redress at worst. Accordingly, professional relationships should remain as such or be disclosed either with consent or the parties recusing themselves.
Mauk, William L, ‘Pro Bono Legal Services in the Time of Pandemic’ (2021) 64(9) Advocate 40–42 Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on low-income Idahoans during 2020 and, in turn, on the demand for and delivery of pro bono legal services extending into the current year. Cases of senior neglect, domestic violence, and stalking increased. Seniors and disabled residents in assisted living facilities became isolated from families and health care providers, many threatened with facility closures and evictions. Special education students thrust into virtual learning required considerable attention and accommodations. With rampant unemployment and huge rent hikes, thousands of tenants lacking legal representation were threatened with becoming homeless. As courts, school boards, regulatory agencies, and hospitals fashioned and implemented safety mandates and protocols, legal advocacy took on a broader focus.
McDuffie, Lynee, ‘Recognizing Another Black Barrier: The LSAT Contributes to the Diversity Gap in the Legal Profession’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3823292, 9 April 2021) Abstract: Imagine working your entire life with the purpose of building the house of your dreams. The ability to pursue this ‘calling’ has been granted through your tremendous hard-work and dedication to your craft. In fact, building this dream home has been the final culmination of all that you have worked towards over the past several years. Now imagine, you have successfully built the foundation of the house, and began to lay the pipeline for the plumbing. Just as the plumbing was coming together, there was one exact piece that was missing, a coupling, which would be required to connect the pipes. Since pipelines are the heartbeat of all functionality within a house, without the coupling, the incomplete plumbing may diminish the potential of all that your dream house was meant to become. Thus, hindering the dream. Similarly to a person that has a dream of becoming a lawyer. The ability to pursue this calling would be directed through the education pipeline. After obtaining an Undergraduate degree through tremendous amount of hard-work and dedication, the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), a coupling to the next education pipeline, is required for applicants to take when applying to law school. But, what if the LSAT is a faulty coupling that presents a major leak in the education pipeline? This standardize test has revealed years of racial bias from the disturbing score gaps between white and minority applicants. The LSAT has shown to have test biases within the questions that appear in the form of language interpretation, which contains culturally stereotypic language, situations, and structural components. As a result of these biases, there has been a disproportionate amount of lower scores by minorities, which hinders the chances of being accepted into law school. Thus, presenting a leak in the education pipeline that disconnects minorities from achieving their dreams of practicing law. Because of COVID-19, the Law School Admission Council is offering the LSAT online, remotely proctored in place of being in-person. This unexpected change should bring discussion in today’s society about the overreliance on LSAT performance. Institutions should develop new and equitable means to evaluate an applicant’s ability to do well in law school, without disproportionately excluding minorities. Without admission modifications, minorities will continue to remain at a disadvantage when applying to law school.
McNab, Paul, ‘ATO Wins Legal Professional Privilege Dispute and Sets New COVID-19 PE Risk Guidance’ International Tax Review (24 February 2021) Abstract: On February 2 2021, Moshinski J of the Federal Court of Australia handed down judgment in CUB Australia Holding Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2021] FCA 43. This was a dispute involving a formal statutory notice from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) demanding certain information, and the application of legal professional privilege.
Melaku, Tsedale, ‘The Awakening: The Impact of COVID-19, Racial Upheaval, and Political Polarization on Black Women Lawyers’ (2021) 89(6) Fordham Law Review 2519–2540 Extract from Introduction: Concrete barriers have always played a significant role in preventing Black lawyers from reaching the coveted position of partner in law firms. These barriers include an inability to gain initial access of entry into firms, the lack of professional development and training, and being shut out of networking opportunities and sponsorship.1 Compounded by the pandemic brought on by COVID-192 and racial upheaval, Black women lawyers now face even tougher challenges breaking through these barriers.
Menhennet, Katerina (ed), Knowledge Management in Law Firms: Challenges and Opportunities Post-Pandemic (Globe Law and Business, 2023) Link to book page on publisher website
Book summary: Strategies for gathering and harnessing knowledge have existed in law firms for decades. However, knowledge management suddenly found itself in the spotlight as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Enforced remote working reduced opportunities for knowledge sharing between colleagues and this gap was filled with knowledge databases and experienced knowledge lawyers. Now that hybrid and virtual workforces are here to stay, these new working practices have combined with technological developments, enhanced demand, and the transformation of how to access knowledge to drive the advancement of knowledge management into a new era.Knowledge Management in Law Firms: Challenges and Opportunities Post-Pandemic is the essential guide to the evolution of law firm knowledge management. It covers how to revisit your strategy in light of recent and future changes, the expansion of knowledge management to encompass legal tech and innovation, the rise of the importance of data, strategies for overcoming the challenges hybrid and virtual working pose to knowledge management, managing knowledge teams, and much more. Chapters are written by an international group of KM experts from a range of organisations and leading law firms, including DLA Piper, Linklaters, and Dentons. Pandemic experiences and lessons learnt are shared as well as ways to approach the future. Knowledge is at the heart of the legal profession, and this book provides guidance on how to prepare for and thrive in the knowledge management practices of the future, overcoming the obstacles and embracing the opportunities that have arisen from or been accelerated by the pandemic. Through demonstrating how effective knowledge management can help firms exceed client expectations, differentiate themselves in the competitive market, and, ultimately, improve their bottom line, this title will be of interest to knowledge management professionals including professional support lawyers, law firm leaders, partners and fee earners, and, outside of law firms, in-house lawyers and consultants.
Moppett, Samantha A, ‘Channel Your Inner Kindergartner: Fostering a Culture Conducive to Creativity in Legal Practice’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3689164, 2020) Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic requires lawyers to address a myriad of unique problems—and highlights the need for lawyers to engage as creative problem solvers. Lawyers are faced with determining how best to deliver legal services while contending with travel restrictions, social distancing, stay-in-place measures, and business and court closures. Furthermore, questions arise as to how to tackle the access to justice gap in the midst of the largest global recession since the Great Depression.Although lawyers need to work collaboratively to come up with creative solutions to these unprecedented problems, a challenge administered to groups of business students, lawyers, CEOs, engineers, and kindergartners revealed that lawyers do not work efficiently and effectively to creatively solve problems. In dozens of challenges, kindergartners outperformed all of the other groups. Instead of collaborating and focusing on completing the task, the lawyers were engaged in status management—trying to determine how they fit into the group and who was in charge. While not smarter than the lawyers, the kindergarteners solved the problem best because they were smarter in the way that they worked with each other. The rigid hierarchy that tends to exist in the practice of law lends itself to increased status management. Moreover, the legal profession in the United States frequently discourages collaboration and suppresses creativity. To combat the barriers to collaboration and creativity in practice, lawyers need to ‘work together in a smarter way’ to generate creative solutions to problems. They need to learn to behave like kindergartners. This article argues that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unprecedented rate of change, and the growing access to justice gap, lawyers need to develop high performing groups where creativity and innovation flourish. To that end, the article introduces three skill sets of highly performing groups that lawyers can use to create a group that can perform far beyond the sum of the team members where they are working collaboratively to creatively solve problems.
Moyer, Rachel A et al, ‘Advocacy Services for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: Pivots and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Quarantine in Tacoma, Washington’ (2022) Family Court Review (advance article, published 6 March 2022) Abstract: The Crystal Judson Family Justice Center (CJFJC), like many advocacy programs for survivors of intimate partner violence, transformed its structure and operating procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States was in Washington State, where CJFJC is located, and Governor Jay Inslee acted quickly with a strict stay-at-home order. This paper describes the pre-pandemic, in-person service model used at CJFJC and then the transition to a fully online service model utilizing phone, email and online procedures and platforms. The rapid transition posed many opportunities to learn how to provide services during public pandemics, and how to provide services virtually. We conclude with detailed lessons learned from the experiences of filing domestic violence protection orders online, Zoom court hearings, innovation surrounding community partnerships, and information technology development.
Muigua, Ph D, ‘Embracing Technology for Enhanced Efficiency and Access to Justice in the Legal Profession’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper No 4415588, 3 April 2023) Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has destabilized the traditional ways through which many professions operated and ushered in a new era of technology. One of the sectors that has been caught by the wind of change is the legal profession. The use of technology as a tool of access to justice has been embraced by the legal profession as a matter of necessity. Such technology includes the use of virtual court sessions, digital filing through the e-filing platform, electronic case management systems and digitization of land services. This has arguably marked the beginning of a worldwide trend that is likely to proceed post COVID-19. Technology is revolutionizing the way businesses and various sectors operate. However, technology comes with its advantages and disadvantages. The use of technology in the legal profession has been hailed for promoting efficiency, cost effective and expeditious management of disputes. However, it has also come with its share of concerns such as data privacy and loss of employment due to automation of legal services. The paper seeks to critically discuss the impact of technology on modern legal practice in Kenya. It seeks to reconcile the two opposing views by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of technology in modern legal practice. The paper argues that the legal profession has more to gain than lose if it embraces technology as a tool of access to justice. The paper explores the various ways through which the legal profession can utilise legal technology to not only enhance access to justice but also improve the efficiency of law firms, the Judiciary and even law schools. It suggests practical ways through which the legal profession can embrace technology as a tool of trade in commerce and dispute resolution while also noting to address the concerns associated with the use of technology in the legal profession.
Negi, Chitranjali, ‘COVID-19 Epidemic: Indian Lawyers in Financial Crisis, Ignored, Depressed: In Pursuit of Financial And Moral Support’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper No ID 3646300, 8 July 2020) < https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3646300 > Abstract: This research paper aims to discuss about the background, role of lawyers in administration of justice, pre post conditions, economic crisis of Indian Lawyers during COVID-19 Epidemic. An advocate’s duty is as important as that of a Judge. Advocates have a large responsibility towards the society. India ranks 68 out of 126 countries, down 3 places from last year in 2019 in ‘Rule of Law Index’ which measures how the rule of law is experienced and perceived by the general public. The Indian Law profession is one of the largest in the world, with more than 2 million enrolled advocates Nationwide. The Nationwide lock down has brought to the fore the great disparity in the legal profession & lock down has financially damages lawyers. Lawyers in India are the most neglected and overlooked during COVID19 comparative of other professional. 70% Lawyers are almost daily wage workers who earn per appearance hearing. COVID-19 has impacted deep and triggered many social, mental and psychological issues as well. In past four months many State Bar Councils came up with circular for Conditional Financial Assistance to Advocates. On 28-05-2020 I have drafted the petition [‘Seeking Financial & Moral Support of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India’: ‘Save the dignity of Advocates’] campaign on change.org platform and sent the petition along with more than six hundred (600) Advocate signatories, on 15-06-2020 to Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Home Minister, Hon’ble Law Minister, Hon’ble Chief Justice of India & Companion Judges, Hon’ble Chairman, Law Commission of India, Hon’ble Chairman Bar Council of India with three key demand & payers namely: 1 - Implementation of Advocates welfare fund act, 2001 in COVID-19 pandemic is crisis:2 - Amendment of Advocates Act 1961, Bar Council of India Rules 1975 [Rules 47 to 52 of Section VII of the Rules deals with restrictions on other employments]:3 - Monthly Financial support, not Loan.The fundamental principle which determines the privileges and responsibilities of lawyer in relation to the court is that he is an officer to justice and a friend of the court. Lawyers status as an officer of justice does not mean he is subordinate to the judge. It only means that he is an integral part of the machinery for the administration of justice.
Netzel, Natalie et al, ‘Mitchell Hamline School of Law Summer 2020 COVID-19 Legal Response Clinic’ (2021) 28(1) Clinical Law Review 301-328 Abstract: This essay is a reflection on lawyering in a time of crisis. It details the Mitchell Hamline School of Law Clinical Faculty's response to the community needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic by creating the COVID-19 Legal Response Clinic. It also recounts the impact of the murder of George Floyd and the long overdue national reckoning with systemic racism, sparked in our city. Additionally, against this backdrop, it examines the trauma-informed approach taken in clinical work and the classroom to help students process their own trauma and apply this approach in their work with clients. Amid these concurrent crises in our city and country, five clinicians and eleven law students came together through the COVID-19 Legal Response Clinic to serve the community, working on a variety of issues including domestic violence, unemployment, workplace safety, and conditional medical release from prison. With the passage of time, this essay reflects, one year later, on the experience of renewed purpose and optimism through caring for our community, our students, and each other in an otherwise dark and challenging time.
Neukom, William H and Elizabeth Andersen, ‘Covid-19 and the Access-to-Justice Crisis’ (2020) 37(6) GPSolo 36–39 Abstract: The disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on minority and poor communities reflects the justice problems they have disproportionately suffered. The pandemic strikes the United States during an ongoing access-to-justice crisis and, in many ways, makes it much worse. The pandemic makes clear that simply adding more lawyers will not meet the vastneed for justice-related services,nor is it a solution that is well matched to the problem.
Newton, Jack, ‘How Are Law Firms Really Doing in the Pandemic?’ (2020) 37(6) GPSolo 10–13 Abstract: Still, not knowing what’s coming next in the pandemic is unsettling and has left many lawyers andlaw firms wondering what to do and how to best help their clients. For example, empathy will help law firms get laser-focused on what clients actually wantout of their legal experiences so that they’re not wasting precioustime or money on anything else.Clients still have legal needs-in fact, they have more legal needsthan ever.
Ng, Patricia, ‘Delivering a Pro Bono Clinic during the Pandemic’ (2021) 3(1) Amicus Curiae, Series 2, 76–102 Abstract: This article provides a snapshot of the modified pro bono clinic that the Mary Ward Legal Centre has been delivering since the start of the pandemic and contextualizes the work that the pro bono clinic delivers within a discussion on access to justice, everyday problems and the current legal landscape.
Nicolson, Donald and Elizabeth Fisher-Frank, ‘Legal Advice in the Covid-19 Lockdown: Making Do or Brave New World?’ in Carla Ferstman and Andrew FAgan (eds), Covid-19, Law and Human Rights: Essex Dialogues (School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, 2020) 229–236 Abstract: Extract from Introduction: For some time now, university law clinics have played an important role in filling the gap between those who qualify for legal aid and those who can afford to pay for legal services. This is a need which continues to grow as legal aid is inexorably cut back in terms of both those who qualify and those issues it covers. More recently there have been calls for lawyers and more latterly law clinics and other not for profit organisations to use the rapidly evolving capacity of the internet and digital computing facilities to expand the ability of service providers to both assist their clients and to develop ways, through technology, to help clients help themselves. … as we show in this paper, law clinics which had slowly begun to embrace new digital technologies, have been forced by Covid-19 to bring this means of delivering services to the fore. However, it is important to examine whether such forms of services are merely a necessary response to the Covid-19 crisis or whether they herald a ‘brave new world’ for law clinics.
Ojelabi, Lola Akin et al, ‘Dispute Resolution Practitioners, Online Technologies and COVID-19: Findings from Empirical Research on Use of Technology’ (2023) 49(2) Monash University Law Review 225–248 Abstract: This article presents findings from empirical research on the use of online technologies by dispute resolution practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores their experiences on types and use of technology, challenges encountered in using technology, security and privacy issues and the implications on their practice and personal wellbeing. In doing so, it identifies useful elements of the technology acceptance model, including perceived usefulness, ease of use, choice and voluntariness. The article concludes by canvassing additional research, training and regulation to enhance the quality of dispute resolution conducted using online technologies.
Okongwu, Chi Johnny, Simon Ejokema Imoisi and Ezinwanne Anastasia Nwaobi, ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on the Legal Profession in Nigeria’ (2023) 14(1) Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of International Law and Jurisprudence 63–75 Abstract: The aim of this paper is to critically examine the impact of COVID - 19 on lawyers in Nigeria, positive or negative, identify the general implications and possibly proffer solutions. This paper exists to reveal the vulnerability of lawyers in Nigeria and the legal profession in the face of the COVID -19 Pandemic lockdown and unless something apt and drastic is done and seen to be done, the challenges will remain the same. The digitalization of lawyers and the legal profession is very much needed and should by greatly encouraged to enhance speedy improvement and progress in the legal system and justice delivery.
Olson, Ashley, ‘Advising Clients in Times of Crisis: How Servant Leadership Can Deepen Client Relationships and Add Value During the Pandemic and Beyond’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper No ID 3609971, 10 May 2020) Abstract: This paper analyzes servant leadership demonstrated by the Twin Cities hospitality industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what lessons this industry can teach attorneys who are advising clients during this public health crisis. In response to government-mandated shut-downs, many local businesses are pivoting their business models to serve community needs. Despite being one of the hardest-hit industries by the pandemic, they are demonstrating servant leadership by prioritizing service to others and being good stewards of resources. Lawyers can learn from the leadership modeled by this business community by engaging their clients on issues that go beyond the law. Lawyers continue to limit their advising to just the legal issues their clients face, and this approach to the lawyer-client relationship deprives the client of the full value the lawyer can provide. By adopting the servant leadership model, attorneys can focus their efforts on helping the client grow and succeed during the pandemic and beyond. Lawyers should pay attention to the servant leadership being demonstrated by the hospitality industry because it shows that clients are concerned about more than just the bottom line and complying with the law. Attorneys should be engaging with clients to learn about their values and objectives to help the client make the most informed decision that best protects their interests. This article explores the ways in which local businesses are demonstrating servant leadership and how attorneys can use servant leadership to strengthen client relationships and provide added value to clients.
Organ, James et al, ‘Responding to COVID-19 in the Liverpool City Region - Access to Legal Advice for All: Essential to Reduce Social and Economic Impacts of COVID-19’ (Heseltine Institute Policy Briefing No 028, October 2020) Key takeaways:
1. The need for legal advice will increase sharply as the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to grow, but the ability to access the necessary advice will be restricted in many cases just to those that can afford it.
2. Increased collaboration and innovative service delivery have helped to mitigate some of the worst immediate impacts felt by people unable to resolve issues, but demand for free legal advice continues to far outstrip supply.
3. Much-needed funding for new advice services needs to consider the exclusionary impact of the shift to digital services forced by COVID-19. “Digital by default” will lead to the exclusion of a large group of people without digital connectivity and also other vulnerable groups, such as those with English as a second language and those with mental health problems.
Osborne, Sarah, ‘Smart Contracts, the Legal Profession and COVID-19: Highlighting the Need to Embrace Technology’ [2024] Accounting & Finance (advance article, published online 4 April 2024)1. The need for legal advice will increase sharply as the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to grow, but the ability to access the necessary advice will be restricted in many cases just to those that can afford it.
2. Increased collaboration and innovative service delivery have helped to mitigate some of the worst immediate impacts felt by people unable to resolve issues, but demand for free legal advice continues to far outstrip supply.
3. Much-needed funding for new advice services needs to consider the exclusionary impact of the shift to digital services forced by COVID-19. “Digital by default” will lead to the exclusion of a large group of people without digital connectivity and also other vulnerable groups, such as those with English as a second language and those with mental health problems.
Abstract: It has been claimed that technology would replace the legal profession with artificial intelligence and codification of documents replacing the twenty-first century lawyer. With this premise in mind, this paper discusses smart legal contract formation in the context of Australian contract law, the perceived replacement of lawyers through blockchain technology and how the COVID-19 pandemic has set the trajectory for smart legal contract convention. We consider whether the legal profession can ever truly be replaced by technological advances and whether COVID-19 has pivoted the way the legal profession performs business transactions towards modernisation. Although prior literature has considered how the legal profession may benefit from increased technology use, the expected timeframe for occurrence was dependant on a strong reluctance by the profession to change the status quo. Analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the legal profession including the execution of legal documents, provides insight into areas for improvement going forward and whether a regulatory overhaul is required. This research shows that, although there are a number of advantages to the implementation of smart legal contracts using blockchain technology, there still remains numerous implementation and regulatory concerns that need resolution if smart legal contracts are to be widely used.
Osipov, Vladimir S and Iurii D Elanskii, ‘Judicial Institutions and Legal Services in the Post-COVID Period’ in Vladimir S Osipov (ed), Post-COVID Economic Revival, Volume II: Sectors, Institutions, and Policy (Springer, 2022) 385–395 Abstract: This chapter, ‘Judicial Institutions and Legal Services in the Post-COVID Period’, proclaims opinion of the authors that human and civil rights are not subject to revision under any circumstances, even a pandemic, and can’t be the basis for violation of human and civil rights. As well known, the judiciary is one of the branches of government in any democratic state. The independence and efficiency of the judicial system is a guarantee of the possibility of protecting one’s rights and suppressing violations of rights through the use of legal violence against the offender. No grounds can be offered to belittle the judiciary and its role in law enforcement. The provision of legal services contributes to the development of justice and high-quality law enforcement, therefore legal services—notarial, lawyer’s consulting, advocacy, are accompanying the processes of law enforcement and the establishment, change, and termination of legal relations. With this chapter, we conclude our large two-volume project looking at the prospects for post-COVID economic revival, and with the theme of this chapter emphasize the role of the court and legal services in the new environment of post-COVID development.
Otey, Brittany Stringfellow, ‘The Disconnect: Reflections on the Virtual Connection Between Lawyers and Clients’ (2023) 62(3) Washburn Law Journal 617–633 Abstract: The 2020 pandemic turned the provision of legal services upside down, as it did across every sector. In a matter of days, Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic, which provides civil legal services to a wide range of clients, including those experiencing homelessness, went from business as usual to a complete shutdown. This Essay reflects on the rise of technology use in the provision of legal services over the past few years, both at the Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic and across the country, exploring both the benefits and the drawbacks. Section II introduces the challenges of providing legal services during the 2020 pandemic, as well as the many benefits afforded by the increased use of technological tools. Section III offers an invitation for reflection on the expanded use of technology, particularly as it affects unrepresented litigants, lawyer-client relationships, and lawyer mental health. Section IV provides suggested best practices as well as a call to proceed thoughtfully and intentionally as we continue to incorporate technological tools in legal practice.
Palace, Patrick and Jordan L Couch, ‘Ten Predictions: How COVID-19 Will Change the Legal Industry Forever’ (2020) 37(6) GPSolo 6–9 Abstract: The law firm business model has always been an interesting one.With outside investment prohibitedby law (a prohibition thatmight be increasingly challengedduring the ongoing pandemic),most law firms live and die bythe individual financial practicesof the partners who share ownership. Whenyou combine that with the factthat law firms are now adjustingto handling all client communicationremotely (by phone, text,or video), the law firm of thefuture will be substantially lessof a brick-and-mortar affair. The COVID-19 pandemichas been the new force that hascaused bars, law school deans,and law students to rethink howwe can improve the bar exam.
Perkins, James J, ‘The Role of the Chief Operating Officer in a Law Firm: Post-Pandemic’ in Chris Bull et al (ed), Rise of the Legal COO (Globe Law and Business, 2nd ed, 2023) 39–50
Peruginelli, Ginevra, Sara Conti and Chiara Fioravanti, ‘COVID-19 and Digital Library Services: An Overview on Legal Information’ (2021) Digital Library Perspectives (advance article, published 11 February 2021) Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the initiatives providing legal information during the COVID-19 emergency, focusing on the fundamental role of digital libraries in creating, managing and sharing services to support and ensure access to legal information in times of emergency.
Phillips, J Mark, ‘Pandemic as Panacea: The Positive Long-Term Impact of Forced Innovation in the Legal Industry’ 14(1) The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law 278–294 Abstract: Despite the untold disruption the COVID-19 pandemic continues to inflict upon the legal industry, several positive outcomes may ultimately emerge. These unexpected gains may not only improve the practice of law but also address long-standing weaknesses in the industry. In this article, I utilize Roger’s Innovation Diffusion model to shed preliminary light on the unprecedented phenomenon of forced, comprehensive, and immediate adoption of new technology throughout the legal industry. While doing so, I highlight the way this sudden adoption will likely change perceptions regarding perennial areas of tension, such as mental health and work-life balance. Finally, I argue that the sheer scale of change within the industry will ultimately lead to improvements in work-life balance, increased access to legal services, and a stronger appetite and capacity for adopting future technological innovations in law.
Platt, Ellen, ‘Zooming into a Malpractice Suit: Updating the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in Response to Socially Distanced Lawyering’ (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3780249, Social Science Research Network, 29 January 2021) Abstract: There has been a significant increase in the use of videoconferencing platforms in the practice of law during the COVID-19 pandemic. These platforms have raised numerous ethical concerns based on shortcomings in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. This Comment will argue that more meaningful guidance is needed under both Model Rule 1.1 and Model Rule 1.6 in order to effectively govern the ethical obligations of a lawyer who uses videoconferencing platforms or other electronic means of communication for virtual practice. Assistive guidance will help lawyers differentiate between ethical and unethical conduct in an area that potentially has serious ethical consequences if not adequately addressed. This Article will propose that the ABA is in the best position to provide meaningful guidance by adopting new comments elaborating on technology competence and reasonable efforts to safeguard client confidentiality.
Prabhat, Devyani, ‘Online Learning and Work during the Pandemic: Update on the Legal Sector’ (2022) The Law Teacher (advance article, published online 22 February 2022) Abstract: Drawing on recent literature and a series of conversations with law firm associates, members of barristers chambers, in-house counsel, and law school staff, on how the pandemic has changed their roles or affected their work conditions, this Policy and Education Developments comment piece provides an update on the state of the legal sector during the pandemic focusing on online learning and work during Covid. The primary impression is of both loss because of loosening of the traditional connections that bind the sectors as well as gain through the use of innovative approaches and thinking on core values and practices.
Queensland Law Society Ethics and Practice Centre, ‘COVID-19 Has Not Altered the Law of Capacity or a Practitioner’s Obligation to Assess Client Capacity’ (2020) 40(4) Proctor 32 Abstract: It is recommended that you abandon a video conference if you are unable to clearly see and confirm your client’s identity, the documents being signed, or if you are unable to hear your client (or your client is unable to hear you clearly) due to technical difficulties.
Rashid, Md Harunur, ‘Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Legal Professionals in Bangladesh: A Study Findings in Dhaka City’ (2024) 3(1) American Journal of Society and Law 34–39 Abstract: This article is focused on the various consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on legal professionals in Bangladesh. It is a primary data-based study findings. It strives to explore the socio-economic and psychological conditions of legal professionals, especially in Dhaka City, the capital of Bangladesh. Like many other countries, Bangladesh has also faced severe critical factors due to this global pandemic. Because of COVID-19 nationwide lockdown was imposed from 26th March to 30th May 2020, extending several times. The upshots of the nationwide lockdown impacted the daily life of all people in different categories not only in Bangladesh but all over the world. During emergencies, all professionals have to maintain the code of conduct while serving the client, managing appointments, and working with a limited workforce due to illness and isolation of the needed force were not accessible by the legal profession in the COVID-19 era. In that situation, those who are engaged with faced many challenges as gathering on court premises, lack of social distance, and carelessness about themselves. It hampers their professional worth and falls them into a stressed situation.
Rychert, Marta, Kate Diesfeld and Ian Freckelton, ‘Professional Discipline for Vaccine Misinformation Posts on Social Media: Issues and Controversies for the Legal Profession’ (2022) 29(3) Journal of Law and Medicine 895–903 Abstract: Misinformation has challenged the rollout of COVID-19 vaccination around the world. In 2021, professional bodies for several regulated occupations (including doctors and lawyers) initiated investigations into the conduct of members who engaged in vaccine misinformation, including on social media. This commentary discusses key controversies surrounding this novel disciplinary issue, with the focus on the legal profession in New Zealand and Australia. We consider the difficulties of defining ‘vaccine misinformation’, differentiating between public and private social media use, giving proper scope to rights of free speech, and challenges in identifying financial conflicts of interest and unethical client solicitation practices (eg, profiting from spreading vaccine misinformation). The chilling effect upon freedom of expression when lawyers are disciplined for their social media posts that are deemed unscientific is discussed.
Schmidt, Molly, ‘Liberating Legal Aid: Reducing COVID-19’s Justice Gap and Promoting Health by Removing the Legal Services Corporation’s Class Action and Advocacy Restrictions’ (2023) 71(2) Cleveland State Law Review 509–544 Abstract: The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the single-largest funder of civil legal services, or legal aid, in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored a longstanding and growing problem faced by ow-income Americans served by LSC-funded legal aid organizations: the growing ‘justice gap.’ The justice gap represents the unmet civil legal needs of low-income Americans. The justice gap perpetuates poverty, conceals health-harming legal problems, and furthers racial disparities. Despite the LSC’s essential role in reducing the justice gap and promoting ‘equal access to justice,’ Congress consistently underfunded the LSC before and during COVID-19. Congress has also prohibited the LSC-funded legal aid organizations from participating in class action lawsuits and advocacy activities for the past twenty-five years. Throughout COVID-19, the justice gap has grown alongside the increase of health harming legal needs, such as access to safe and affordable housing and food insecurity. Consequently, there are more legal needs than legal aid attorneys in the United States. The justice gap demonstrates the need for systemic, high-impact remedies, such as class-action lawsuits and advocacy activities. This Note argues that to support the LSC and empower legal aid attorneys to reduce the justice gap considering COVID-19, Congress must remove funding restrictions on class-action lawsuits and advocacy activities. In doing so, this Note examines the history of the justice gap and legal aid, the relationship between the justice gap and health disparities, COVID-19’s impact on the justice gap and health inequity, and the harmful effects of the LSC funding restrictions. Ultimately, this Note proposes draft legislation that removes class action and advocacy restrictions on LSC-funded legal aid organizations.
Schmit, Jude and Rachel Albertson, ‘Witnessed From the Justice Bus: Covid Drove Equal Justice Off the Road, But Technology Grabbed the Wheel and Is Steering Us Into the Future’ (2022) 48(4) Mitchell Hamline Law Review 1173–1187 Abstract: This Article spotlights Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota’s (‘LASNEM’) response to the access-to-justice crisis in the age of COVID19. The first part briefly summarizes the civil justice gap, focusing on potholes littering LASNEM’s roads. The second part discusses the initiatives adopted by LASNEM since the pandemic struck, including the Justice Bus, Legal Kiosks, and the partnerships made with the courts and community partners to participate in eviction-diversion pilots. In short, this Article argues that bridging the access-to-justice gap in rural Minnesota requires a multidimensional approach utilizing technology as the vehicle.
Shindler, Geoffrey, ‘Witnessing History’ 217(October) Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal 1–3 Abstract: Considers whether the coronavirus pandemic will have a permanent effect on the working practices of private client practitioners. Considers trends towards working at home, video conferencing, the change in occupation of office premises and use of digital technology.
Sia, Chin Chin, ‘Pro-Bono Virtual Legal Clinics for Enhancement of Social Impact by Communities Affected by COVID-19’ in PC Lai (ed), Handbook of Research on Social Impacts of E-Payment and Blockchain Technology (IGI Global, 2022) 280–308 Abstract: The right to legal advice is an essential entitlement and an imperative step toward effective enjoyment of other fundamental rights, especially to the communities which have limited access to legal opinions due to scarce financial means. Global communities are adversely affected, particularly in relation to employment, domestic violence, and financial hardships during this pandemic. This pro-bono virtual legal clinics project is instrumental in enhancing social impact by ensuring that communities continuously have better access to quality legal advice and information during the COVID-19 Movement Control Order through multiple social networking tools and meaningful collaborations with NGOs.
Simmons, Richard, ‘Coronavirus: Full Details of the Law Firms Affected so Far’ [2020] (April 9) Lawyer (Online Edition) 1 Abstract: The article provides an overview of the impact of coronavirus on law firms. Topics discussed include Simmons & Simmons delays partner distributions; the Inns of Court announce an emergency hardship fund to assist barristers who need urgent help amid the coronavirus crisis; and Mayer Brown launches an emergency service in order to support staff with problems working from home.
Sinha, Rupanjana and Asmita Bhattacharyya, ‘Home and Work: Struggles of Indian Women Legal Professionals Before and During Pandemic’ [2023] Sociological Bulletin (advance article, published online 6 December 2023) Abstract: Grappling with work–life challenges often hinder the growth of women lawyers within their profession. As women struggle with the dual problems of working long hours and managing the family they are bound in a precarious situation which marginalises them as revealed in literature. The Pandemic 2020 has made the ‘work from home’ the new normal phenomenon. The present study makes a comparative narrative analysis between pre and during pandemics work–life contexts of the women lawyers by interviewing fifty of them based in Kolkata (India). The already existing work–life challenges have been amplified exposing their vulnerabilities. The crisis is about their existence as professionals, due to prioritising home over work during the pandemic. As the women lawyers strive to create a space within the legal profession, the pandemic proved jeopardising pulling them towards their conventional roles. Their professional and private spaces are brought under the same roof, increasing the struggle of their multiple roles and sacrificing their ‘me time’.
Smith, Steven R, ‘COVID and Bar Admissions’ (2022) 75(3) Arkansas Law Review 527–605 Abstract: COVID significantly disrupted the bar admissions process, particularly the 2020 Summer bar examination. The question during the pandemic was not whether to change the bar admissions requirements permanently. Instead, the question was what would protect the public while accommodating students dealing with the unique COVID challenges. Because the purpose of licensing is to protect and assure the public, the public should be the primary focus of bar admissions and exceptions to the regular admission process. The pandemic accommodations included a delay of the test, special health precautions for in-person tests, remote (online) testing, and temporary supervised practice. In addition, five states offered one-time (summer/fall 2020) diploma privileges (licensing without examination). However, the vast majority of states rejected requests for diploma privileges. Law schools focused primarily on applicants’ interests and often sought diploma privileges. The public, however, was decidedly unenthusiastic about law licensing without a bar examination. In a public opinion survey, only 5% of participants preferred a diploma privilege for licensing attorneys. Even as an accommodation for COVID problems, that increased only to 6%. Other, narrower accommodations were more protective of the public interest, and most states used those successfully. Every state (except Delaware), including the diploma-privilege states, held winter and summer/fall examinations in 2020 and 2021. For the 2020 summer/fall tests, it appears that, except for state-developed remote and cheating detection software, difficulties were not out of the range of the usual number of issues during an examination or were handled with dispatch. That there were as few problems as there were was a great tribute to NCBE, bar examiners, and the flexibility and patience of applicants. There were no reported cases of COVID transmission during the examinations. In most states, passing rates increased in 2020 compared with 2019.Applicants who took the examinations under challenging and changing circumstances were heroes. So were the bar examiners and courts that worked under similarly difficult circumstances and those law schools that provided extraordinary resources and support services. There are now promising discussions about improving future bar admissions. Those efforts will be a positive development if the public interest is the foundation of reform. In the immediate future, law schools and bar examiners should discuss why there is such a ‘disconnect.’ That is, there is an apparent disagreement between some law schools and bar examiners regarding the minimum competency required to begin law practice. The public will benefit when law schools and bar admissions authorities are partners in bringing well-educated and prepared members into the legal profession.
Spohr, Thomas, ‘Criminal Practice during a Pandemic: A Defence Lawyer’s Experience’ 32(8) Judicial Officers Bulletin 85–86 Abstract: For one criminal lawyer, the experience of remote working had immediate advantages such as reducing delays in waiting for court mentions. However, the author cautions that the lure of efficiency should not outweigh a loss to the perception of justice.
Stevenson, Rob, ‘COVID-19 : Creating Your New Normal: Employment during the COVID-19 Crisis - the “new Normal” for Law Firms’ (2020) 40(4) Proctor 20–25 Abstract: Just like that our world changed. And while we weren’t ready for it, we do need to be ready for the new normal by refining and adapting our practice and procedures. This month ‘Proctor’ provides some perspectives, guidance and information to assist you personally and professionally in this pandemic world we find ourselves in. The immediate crisis and panic of those last weeks in March may have passed, but the ‘new normal’ is likely to be here for some months to come.
Stewart, John M, ‘Just How Interconnected We Are’ (2020) 94(3) Florida Bar Journal 4–9 Abstract: In the article, the author discusses the interconnectedness of people around the world and the susceptibility of the economic and legal systems from uncontrolled interruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include the need by the legal system to adopt technologies like telecommuting to ensure life, business, and work continuity and the request by the Florida Supreme Court to reform the rules of procedure and those governing The Florida Bar to prevent work interruption.
Suarez, Christopher A, 'Disruptive Legal Technology, COVID-19, and Resilience in the Profession' (2020) 72(2) South Carolina Law Review 393-444 Extract from Introduction: The legal profession is in the throes of two major disruptive events-the rapid emergence of new legal practice technologies and a global pandemic unlike any seen in over a century. These significant disruptions are delivering a one-two punch to the profession that will inevitably transform and reshape it in ways that would not have been thought possible years ago.
Swanson, Joshua A, ‘Do Not Boast About Tomorrow: Lessons We Can Learn from Today’s Covid-19 Court Cases to Prepare for Future Disasters’ (2021) 96(2) North Dakota Law Review 207–235 Abstract: Over the course of the last year, lawyers across America, including in North Dakota, have been forced to appear in courtrooms remotely through teleconference or video conferencing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only that, attorneys used to that comfortable and familiar practice of sitting across tables from one another at depositions, or engaged in the shuttle diplomacy of a mediation, are now staring at computer screens hitting the Share Screen button in Zoom to ask a witness about an important exhibit, or responding to a too low, or too high, counteroffer delivered by the mediator. More important, though, than any new norms of practice that attorneys have adjusted to, is the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our current, or potential, clients. Whether it’s an insurance company disputing coverage for losses that a restaurant or pub suffered when a government order mandated they shut their doors, putting them on the brink of financial ruin, or a force majeure clause leading one party to a contract to pull out of that big business deal, courts across the country are seeing lawsuits dealing with the impacts left in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article discusses several important cases that have addressed some of the emerging issues and questions involving the law and the COVID-19 pandemic. It is incumbent on us as lawyers to be aware of these cases, and advise our clients accordingly, in order that we, and they, not only learn from these decisions, but plan for and navigate the minefields of future disasters. Because in a post-pandemic world. the question is not if the next disaster will come, but when.
Swift, Leigh, Peter Gardiakos and Tessa Cartledge, ‘Access to Justice: Closing or Widening the Gap?: The Impact of COVID-19 on Access to Legal Services’ (2020) 42(7) Bulletin (Law Society of South Australia) 18 Abstract: The authors, who have been providing free legal advice to the community at the Magistrates Court Legal Advice Service, explore the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wider community legal sector, and the particular challenges on access to justice for those in need within the community.
Tabchouri, Elias, ‘What COVID-19 Could Mean for the Legal Industry’ (2020) 42(3) Bulletin (Law Society of South Australia) 29 Abstract: As a lawyer accustomed to spending every working day in court I sit contemplating what the future holds for the legal industry. What is not in dispute is that the legal industry is an essential service and therefore must continue. The way it will proceed is the real question that many of us are still coming to terms with.
Teremetskyi, V et al, ‘Access to Justice And Legal Aid For Vulnerable Groups: New Challenges Caused By The Сovid-19 Pandemic’ (2021) 24(Special Issue 1) Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues 1–11 Abstract: The unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the realization of human rights has disproportionately affected vulnerable groups and created a global gap injustice, a gap in human rights from discrimination and poverty in access to social protection and basic services, insufficient or no access to justice, lack of access to justice. Legal aid. This article deals with current issues of access to justice and legal aid for the vulnerable during thepandemic of COVID-19. It is concluded that no country will be able to ensure the implementation of goal 16.3 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on 2030 on equal access to justice for all until has not focused on closing the global justice gap, increasing access to justice, providing legal aid to the most vulnerable groups. For the implementation of the policy of access to justice for vulnerable states must have a different approach to justice – a people-centered approach to justice that puts consideration of the individual at the heart of justice responses by providing access to information, programs and policies. Ensuring equal access to justice, access to legal aid, an increased level of legal awareness among vulnerable groups, and a vibrant strong civil society, that contribute to access to justice, are key criteria for ensuring access to justice for vulnerable people. Providing equal access to justice through access to legal aid is key to ensuring access to justice in any state. Today it is important to overcome barriers to access to justice, such as the digital barrier, barriers related to financial costs, complexity, lack of information and access to services, and lack of access to legal aid or representation. States should be effective, must guarantee credible commitment, support coordination, and promote cooperation. States, justice systems must collaborate with public organizations and civil society to address the root causes of disputes and avert violence, conflict, and human rights abuses.
Thornton, Margaret, ‘Legal Professionalism in a Context of Uberisation’ (2021) 28(3) International Journal of the Legal Profession 243–263 Abstract: From around the millennial turn, Australia was to the fore among common law countries in the liberalisation of legal practice with a range of radical reforms, such as the ownership of firms by non-lawyers and listing on the stock exchange. Albeit not peculiar to Australia, technological innovations, including remote working, digitalised platforms and artificial intelligence (AI), are also dramatically changing the way law is practised. Invariably motivated by profit maximisation, the impact of these reforms poses discomfiting questions for the underlying values of legal professionalism. This article will overview the reforms that have occurred, drawing on a small study of NewLaw firms in Australia and the UK, to illustrate how the ‘Uberisation’ of contemporary legal practice is contributing to a new incarnation of postprofessionalism. The article will also show how the injunction to work at home in response to COVID-19 has given ‘Uberisation’ an adrenalin shot in the arm.
Timoshanko, Aaron et al, ‘An Empirical Study of Lawyers’ Capability to Adapt to Disruption in Queensland, Australia’ (2024) 31(1) International Journal of the Legal Profession 83–110 Abstract: An online survey of 261 Queensland legal practitioners working in sole, micro, small or medium-sized law firms provides valuable insights into their capability to successfully navigate disruption like that experienced during COVID-19. Our results indicated that respondent lawyers demonstrated progressiveness, openness and willingness to engage with innovative approaches, including technology, to build greater capacity within their firms. However, the results from the research identified several overlapping challenges faced by respondents that reduced their capability to adapt to disruption, including being time-poor and difficulty obtaining impartial and trustworthy information and training about emerging forms of disruption.
Todaro, Elizabeth, ‘Access to Justice in the Time of COVID-19’ (2021) 57(2) Tennessee Bar Journal 20–25 Abstract: Many in the legal community are seeking solutions to ordeals we did not face a year ago. We are working in different settings, forming new collaborations and recognizing the need for an unprecedented level of flexibility. Effectively serving clients during COVID-19 has required nearly all attorneys to make shifts in how they work, and legal services organizations are no different. Some of the challenges the access to justice community is grappling with are consistent with what other attorneys and business in general are also dealing with. However, given the vulnerable, low-income and isolated client populations legal service organizations are serving, some of the barriers are more formidable.
Toryanto, Cheung Joan Karmel, Yunanto and Mujiono Hafidh Prasetyo, ‘The Need for Online Jobs in Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Cyber Regulatory Arrangement for a Legal Job’ (2021) 18(Special Issue 04) Webology 980–992 Abstract: The world is now facing a novel pandemic caused by Covid-19, prompting countries, including Indonesia to take steps to contain gushing numbers of Covid-19 cases. The pillar of Indonesia’s response is enforcing a Large-Scale Social Restriction (LSSR) to minimize physical contacts in society, one of them through closing down schools and workplaces. Notary, as a member of society, is also obliged to maintain this social distancing policy and minimize meetings with clients physicaly. Such means is possible through Cyber Notary Concept, a concept where notaries do their jobs using various high technologies, including internet. Indonesian Regulation has mentioned this concept once in the Indoensian Notary Codes, but no further regulation follows to execute this concept. Author will be using the normative legal research method for this paper. This reasearch is aiming is to study the urgenciesof forming regulations regarding the practice of Cyber Notary to prop up the government in the attempt of surpressing the escalating numbers of those who are infected by the virus. Cyber Notary is one effective way to decrease physical contacts between notaries and their clients, because this kind of activities could be done with the technology of ellectronics, therefore following regulation is desperately needed.
Trevelyan, Lucy, ‘Covid-19: How Should In-House Lawyers Respond?’ June(1–8) In-House Perspective 2020
Weston, Maureen A, ‘Lawyering and Representing Organizational Clients in a Public Health Crisis’ (Pepperdine University Legal Studies Research Paper No 2020/22, 22 July 2020) Abstract: The unprecedented public health and financial crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic calls upon the legal profession to go beyond traditional, adversarial, ‘rights’-based representation and disputing force majeure liability, towards working with clients and collaborating with counterparts as partners in joint problem-solving, innovative thinking, and developing viable options to help meet the parties’ mutual interests in safety, surviving, and perhaps even thriving, during and after, the pandemic. A lawyer’s professional conduct duties extend to ensure fairness to others and to find ways to preserve and nourish the relationships, partnerships, goals, and enterprise that brought the parties together. A crisis requires immediate attention, careful management, and methodical strategic planning. Yet, as it has also been said, ‘crisis’ can mean both danger and opportunity. The danger of the COVID-19 pandemic is tangible and certain; the opportunity to adapt, learn, create, plan and nourish partnerships, in light and despite thereof, is likewise possible. This essay explores those responsibilities and opportunities.
Wiley, Luke, Kristen Jennings Black and David Ross, ‘Too Stressed to De-Stress? The Experience of Work Stress and Recovery among Attorneys during the COVID-19 Pandemic’ (2024) 31(3) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 440–465 Abstract: It is well-established that legal professionals experience high stress and often high rates of associated health problems. Much less is known about attitudes and behaviours around stress prevention in this occupation. Our study examined views of stress and recovery among 131 U.S. attorneys. In open-ended data, attorneys commonly expressed that their job is very demanding, and it impacts their health. Many respondents felt it was important to manage their stress but had difficulty doing so. Quantitative analyses showed that attitudes about stress (stress-related comparisons, viewing stress as achievement, stress-related impression management, and stigma around stress concerns) demonstrated several significant relationships with perceived stress, recovery experiences, remorse for relaxation, and work–family conflict. Our findings suggest that practical interventions to support the health and well-being of legal professionals may need to target the workload norms, as well as attitudes and beliefs about the normalness of high stress and insufficient recovery.
Wyman, Noelle and Sam Heavenrich, ‘Vaccine Hesitancy and Legal Ethics’ [2021] Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics (forthcoming) Abstract: While the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been underway since 2020, vaccine hesitancy remains a critical impediment to America’s successful emergence from the pandemic. This Article analyzes the role that legal ethics can play in countering hesitancy. Though the Rules of Professional Conduct do not obligate lawyers to be vaccinated, several prohibit lawyers from spreading disinformation about the importance, safety, and effectiveness of vaccines. As the recent fallout from the 2020 post-election litigation shows, however, professional discipline for spreading disinformation is possible but rare. Accordingly, we propose alternative avenues for aligning legal ethics with public health: requiring vaccine passports for court appearances, incorporating public-health concerns into the Comments accompanying the Rules, countering vaccine disinformation through continuing legal education, and encouraging third-party advocacy.
Yang, Suhong et al, ‘The Road Ahead and Beyond: Future Challenges and Opportunities in the Legal Profession’ (2021) 115 Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting 53 Abstract: This panel touched upon the challenges that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic brought to the international legal profession and explored opportunities for new professionals. The focus lay on practical suggestions for topics to look out for in the near future.
Yip, Michael et al, ‘The “Two Faces” of Cross-Border, Transactional Legal Practice during Covid-19: How and from Where Have Lawyers Mobilised China’s Capital Flows under Lockdown?’ (2023) Asian Journal of Comparative Law (advance article, published online 27 February 2023) Abstract: The narrative that banks, government departments and state-owned enterprises are the foremost protagonists in shaping China’s outbound capital flows has been a commonplace view. This article seeks to expand the focus to include other under-scrutinised players: lawyers. With reference to exporting industries (such as shipping and natural gas), this article explains how lawyers – in tandem with China’s governmental and judicial organs – have shifted from enabling outflows to postponing them, as a result of China’s Covid-19 force majeure regime. Even with capital on pause, Covid-19 has also kept lawyers busy, prompting them to think about how to maximise their firm’s proximity to the clients they have and to new clients that they want to win. Accordingly, this article also provides an overview of the techniques used by predominantly Anglo-American law firms to gain access to new legal markets during Covid-19, with a view to winning more work from Chinese capital-exporters and their foreign counterparties.
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