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Law360 (April 24, 2020, 6:18 PM EDT) --
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| Chief Judge Cecelia Morris |
Today's perspective comes from Cecelia G. Morris, chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
What challenges has the pandemic created in your specific area of work?
Prior to COVID-19, the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court was already fully functional away from the physical space, mainly because of Hurricane Sandy.
In 2012, the largest Atlantic hurricane on record hit 24 states, including New York. Storm surge incapacitated much of lower Manhattan and left our courthouse at One Bowling Green surrounded by water and inaccessible for weeks. After we recovered, I asked Vito Genna, the clerk of the court, to make sure we were ready for the next crisis.
Through careful planning, Vito and his team were able to increase the courthouse's capacity to operate remotely with little disruption in service. The staff has been required to work remotely one day per pay period, thus acclimating us to performing our job functions from home. Importantly, telephone calls to court numbers, as well as email and electronic filings, are routed to staff in real-time.
Before the pandemic, on occasion, each of our judges had held court remotely, which brings its own unique set of challenges. One of the biggest hurdles was figuring out how to establish the record with official transcripts when parties are not physically present. Fortunately, conference-calling companies provide recording capabilities, so virtual hearings are now recorded and electronically transmitted to the court's official transcribers.
We have continued to adapt since the virus hit the United States. Moving the calendars to 100% telephonic hearings has required a new way of thinking. Deadlines have been extended. "Wet" signatures are being waived. In addition, each court has established old-fashioned, physical drop boxes for hard copies of documents to be left for filing.
How are you and your family adapting at home?
The latest information is that four of our court staff have lost immediate family members. At least three others assume, without testing but with classical symptoms, that they have had the virus. Each employee, like remote workers nationwide, has had to home-school children, grocery shop and support others within their household who must, for various work reasons, go into places of potential contamination.
All court employees, their families and colleagues have been greatly affected by COVID-19. The toll the virus has taken on our physical and emotional well-being cannot be understated. In addition, we are informed that many attorneys, debtors and creditors are severely affected, either directly or indirectly, through care of a loved one, home-schooling children, loss of income, or sickness.
What is the most creative or productive response to the crisis you've witnessed so far?
In particular, the court's internal staff has spent countless hours assisting our judges with their home offices to ensure the seamless handling of robust calendars.
For the judges, working off-site has produced some collective "outside-the-box" thinking to ensure that evidentiary hearings and trials, particularly where complicated financial issues are at stake, have not come to an halt. For example, Judge Robert Drain — through a combination of telephone conferencing (CourtSolutions) and videoconferencing (Skype for Business) — has designed a blueprint for moving forward on hearing these matters outside the physical courtroom.[1]
The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization, its clients, or Portfolio Media Inc., or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.
[1] See Windstream Holdings Inc. v. Charter Communications Inc. (In re Windstream Holdings, Inc.), 19-08246, Apr. 20, 2020.
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