Page 14 - Delaware Lawyer - Fall 2020

FEATURE
Denise Nordheimer
How COVID has transformed client meetings in ways that may be here to stay
Like most endeavors since March, practicing law has been like trying to fly the plane while building it. When the pandemic was nascent, my clients were concerned with their immediate plans. Talk of a far-off virus in Italy and Washington State was beginning to cast a shadow, but we were all still so naive. Those first conversations were mostly about vacation plans: “Should I cancel my trip?” “What happens if I get sick while I am away?” “What if I can’t get back?”
12 DELAWARE LAWYER FALL 2020
A Sea Change
Shortly thereafter, Governor Carney issued the stay-at-home order and the phones went quiet while we all
scurried for hand sanitizer and a play- book for a pandemic, both impossible to find.
When the phones began to ring again, it was the anxious calling. These callers were more than willing to meet remotely. Many clients who had sched- uled appointments canceled, prefer- ring to wait “until this all blows over.” Given the choice, my employees decid- ed to continue to come into the office. I think the decision was mostly rooted in
a desire for a sense of normalcy amidst the chaos of the outside world. In the meantime, we installed Plexiglas bar- riers, temperature monitoring stations, and strategized about best practices for limiting exposure in the rare in-person meeting. Once there was a greater understanding that the pandemic was here to stay, clients reluctantly accept- ed that meeting remotely was a fact of life, and our challenge became prov- ing that we could be equally effective without being in the same room.
The next wave of contact had to do with access to loved ones in nursing