By Daniel Siegal

Law360 (April 27, 2020, 7:55 PM EDT) -- Alex Spiro would rather be in court. Forced to take an unwanted timeout by the coronavirus pandemic, the attorney known for a celebrity-studded client list spoke to Law360 about the downside of remote proceedings and why depositions are overrated anyway.

Still in his 30s, the former Manhattan prosecutor is now the co-chair of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's investigations, government enforcement and white collar defense practice.

In the last year, Spiro led the team that obtained a defense verdict for Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a high-profile defamation case and represented New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft in his Florida prostitution solicitation case. He has also garnered attention for representing rap stars Jay-Z and Meek Mill.

During a 30-minute interview earlier this month, Spiro spoke to Law360 from his Brooklyn apartment about the technical issues of moving to all-remote work and what gets lost when examinations are conducted over video.

He also discussed the silver lining of having more time to think about cases headed to trial, and why he thinks lawyers and judges won't be taking their usual summer and winter breaks after the lockdown is lifted.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How are you adjusting to this new reality?

Well, I'm worried about all the people on the front lines and concerned for the world at large. But obviously, courts are not meaningfully open, and I'm restless by nature. But that pales in comparison to what everybody else is dealing with.


What does that look like for your day-to-day? How is your routine different?

It's very, very different. I was on airplanes every other day and in courtrooms every other day. And now I'm home, working out of a home office and functioning completely remotely. It's hard to imagine, at least in that way, any greater contrast between what I was doing and what I'm doing now.


Were there any stumbling blocks in getting the home office set up?

Not particularly, but I wouldn't call the home office a work of art. I've always had a home office, but it was just getting it in a position so that it was more functional, given the new realities. I'm not known for my computer skills and things like that, so I've just had to pivot in how I spend my day workwise and how I manage everything.

Did you have any scheduled trials that have been pushed off because of the court shutdown?

Absolutely.

Can you tell me a little bit about them?

I don't want to talk about trials that the world at large does not necessarily know about.

What is your reaction to having a trial delayed or put off indefinitely?

The court systems are going to have to think about prioritizing criminal trials of incarcerated individuals.

The trial calendar is unclear. The system will either simply reopen and begin with matters that are scheduled for say July or August — with the now delayed cases going to the back of the line. Or the system may elect to prioritize incarcerated defendants and urgent matters and delay all other trials.

What is this going to do to your schedule when things open back up?

I'm probably going to have back-to-back-to-back trials. You prepare for a trial every quarter, but to have a trial every other quarter is not an unusual pattern. Where here you're going to be backed into trial, trial, trial, trial.

The system can catch up because typically in August and December there aren't really trials. You know you're not picking a jury on August 15th or December 15th. If you don't take that break, and just wake things up and kind of accelerate things and back trials into each other, you could be caught up by Q1 2021.

I have to plan ahead right now. But then, yeah, it's going to be test after test after test with a week or three in between, not a month or three in between.

And so be it. That's how it was when I was starting off as a prosecutor, and I'm not worried about it.

What do you do with the extra time before trial that you have for certain cases now?

It is giving an opportunity to take a step back and think about the theory of a case, other investigative steps you can take, and that's what I've been doing with those case files of matters I know are headed to trial.

It's exploring other avenues and taking a step back thematically and thinking about what else can I do to improve my position here. That's a tricky thing to do if you're on an airplane every other day, and if you go from trial to trial, if you're in lots of courtrooms and you have a very, very busy schedule.

As I've said before, and I think I've stolen this from people, but I say it, which is: 'The person who thinks about the case hardest usually wins.' And I believe it.

Are you doing anything to keep your trial skills sharp during the court closures?

It's a great question and I do strongly believe that if you don't try cases and you're not in court, in the game in a real-live setting, that the muscles do weaken and you do lose some sharpness.

I'm not so worried quite yet, my friend, that I've dulled.

And I am constantly working, debating, on calls. We have hearings scheduled in other things. There's even remote depositions going on that I have to take, where you take the deposition via video. So I'm at least keeping myself somewhat fresh.

What is it like taking a remote deposition?

It's not ideal. Those are tech questions that are tricky for me, just like the home-office one.

It's tricky because, and I can just speak for myself, a lot of it is being in a room and having a feel for the other person that you're questioning. And this is both when you're doing investigations and trying to learn information, doing depositions that are more fact-finding, and depositions where you're really cross-examining somebody.

I can't speak to others, but it's hard for me to do it remotely, because there's a 'feel' element to it that I think is lost through technology. And also operating exhibits is pretty tricky for me. I'm sure somebody who is smoother technologically would do better.

What happens if social distancing means remote depositions become the norm?

If you have to make concessions to keep the system moving, it's at least possible. But I'm not so concerned with a system that does that, because I was trained to try cases through a criminal prosecution lens.

In criminal cases, by and large, you don't typically have depositions. So I'm used to going to trial without having the ability to depose anybody. It doesn't bother me as a trial lawyer if depositions are going to be weaker or limited because of [conducting them remotely], because I come from that school of thought.

I know that I am an outlier in this, but I don't even particularly like the deposition system as it exists. I think you end up showing more of your cards than you would want to. I'm not somebody who just because he has a question, asks it at a deposition. ... It allows people to pivot around whatever you're thinking.

Do you think we could ever see a fully remote trial?

This is more of a societal question and then a tech question. If there was a world where there was no way to wait it out ... you're almost asking a philosophical question.

I guess if there's no other option, cases would have to be adjudicated somehow. I say it's a technological question because I guess if you used 3D clear-as-day video projection, so there's no hiccups.

But a lot of trial is credibility, and I don't know how you judge credibility without having the person in the room.

I also just think arguments can't be as compelling remotely. It just can't be as compelling as if you're in a room with somebody. Which is one of many reasons I think that while, sure, Zoom and these things are allowing meetings and things to happen remotely, it doesn't mean that society isn't going to want to meet in person again as soon as possible. I don't think we as humans will just change.

What are you looking forward to most about the lockdown being lifted?

I value personal freedom. I'm restless and I like adventure, so I'm looking forward to getting back after it. I wasn't looking for a timeout, so I think and hope that everybody comes out of this hungry. I know I will, and that there's pent-up demand and things rocket back to normal.

--Editing by Jill Coffey and Kelly Duncan.

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