Photo by Maxime on Unsplash Almost two years has passed since we wrote our first blog post about the havoc COVID-19 was causing in parenting plans ( Co-Parenting in a Crisis: COVID-19 and Beyond ).  Little did we know how long this crisis would persist and all the things that it would change.  We continue to contemplate how long we'll wear masks in public and whether we'll ever shake hands regularly again, and yet life goes on.  People get married and divorced, and they still need help figuring out how to navigate family conflict.   As we continue to help people with these major life decisions, we've noticed some of the potentially long-lasting effects of the pandemic.  Below is a list of what we've seen change about our practice, and we're interested to see the comments and if your experience has been similar or different: Video Killed the In-Person Star I spent my childhood (and 20s and 30s) wondering when we would regularly use video screens to communic...

If you have a court hearing scheduled in the next few weeks, most likely you've been told it's postponed.  While some hearings will be scheduled telephonically and by video conference, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely causing significant delays in obtaining a hearing and an order or judgment.  This is understandable as the court and the bar figure out how to adjust to this crisis.  Regardless of how understandable these delays are, though, the experience for individuals going through conflict must be frustrating, disappointing, and in some cases devastating. Now is the time to consider your alternatives to court. Mediation, conciliation, collaborative representation, and arbitration are all available options to those looking to resolve their issues without further delay.  Many of these dispute resolution professionals already have experience using videoconferencing to meet with clients and for us, our business has continued almost uninterrupted.  At my o...

Video meetings are starting to replace in-person and phone meetings. Guest Post from Julie Tolek * As more services go digital, it is necessary for legal and mediation professional to follow the trend. Clients expect an equal level of convenience and access in purchasing legal and mediation services that is provided in other online services. This means that the technological requirements on a modern law and mediation firm go well beyond having a good website. It is important for forward thinking mediators and lawyers to add online scheduling, paperless billing, cloud file access and similar options to their regular services for their clients.  Following the growing digital trend, video meetings will likely replace in-person and phone meetings. To help mediators face the changing needs of their practice we’ve thought about the most important considerations involved in adding these services and making them seamless for your clients: Five things to keep in mind when adding v...