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Challenges the Attorneys are facing these days due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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The issues that were supposed to become eradicated and left in 2020 have already crossed the beginning of the year 2021. Relevance of the scientific work is attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic agenda which affected the law realm indiscriminately.

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The more our society procrastinates, the more problems it encounters with – that is why a principal objective is to indicate the problems that arose and continue arising in the aforementioned sphere with a particular emphasis on the functioning of the institution of the bar due to the repercussions of the coronavirus.

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Presentation of the main body of the thesis. First and foremost, the traditional conduct of the attorney’s work has transformed into a more flexible but simultaneously contingent upon the access to modern technologies format. Many trial courts have shut their doors for offline judicial proceedings and have been compelled to become adapted to the online layout of working. Undoubtedly, each court had to find the way of coping with its mission – to ensure a fair and unambiguous trial, even if the process is held outside the corridors of power.

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«The legal system is a notoriously late adopter when it comes to new technologies» – alleges the CEO and co-founder of Trellis Research, Nicole Clark [1]. It is not a big secret that in the USA, for instance, each state has provided various protocols of the basic rules in virtual courtrooms. These precedents have caused a certain dissonance in judiciary hearings. Besides, while some suppose that such alterations enhance the access to the court, others claim that such experience jeopardises the level of trust towards the law-enforcement bodies. There exists an opinion, that the coronavirus has shown attorneys the undeniable importance of a real face-to-face interaction with their clients. Moreover, according to the research held by the Brennan Center, remote video proceedings are considered to «undermine the attorney-client relationship, alter the perceived-credibility of witnesses, [and] leadparticipants to disengage with the judicial process». As the aspects of ethics are often set at risk nowadays, qualified lawyers are trying to eliminate such issues depending on the situation.

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In fact, some movements have finally emerged after more than a 10-month galvanisation due to the shock the COVID-19 pandemic provoked. An example of such a normative document taken into account could be a Formal Opinion 498 promulgated by the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility of the American Bar Association (hereinafter referred to as ABA) [2]. It has also given the permission for lawyers «to conduct practice virtually, but those doing so must fully consider and comply with their applicable ethical responsibilities, including technological competence, diligence, communication, confidentiality, and supervision». However, it doesn’t change the fact that the point still stands – the fundamental bylaws of visual courtrooms are not regulated on the level they have to stand on and such kind of a tendency can be traced around the world. That is why it would be a valuable initiative to figure some specificities of online legal proceedings in accordance with the «Rules of professional conduct» approved by the Foundation Congress of Attorneys of Ukraine out [3].

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Another crucial difficulty the global Advocacy encounters with has a strong liaison with a great necessity of attorneys’ specialisation on various medical issues in need of a proper regulation. For example, the subjects interlaced with vaccine distribution or the improvement of health equity, some insurance practices or the expansion towards the access to medications which induced opioid or drug overdose epidemic issues [4].

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And last but not least, the horrific pandemic revealed that the enhanced level of stress caused by particular novelties and changes has exacerbated some behavioural health disorders, including chronic depression or anxiety. Although attorneys have to possess stress tolerance and be quite resilient to sudden issues, the feeling of being burdened with a complex case of problems may provoke a decline and influence their demeanour and actions. New online standards advocates have to work with do not guarantee less pressure provided. That is the reason for a special advisor list compiled by ABA where it is accentuated that it is much better to limit the time attorneys spend on checking not only their profiles on social media, but their email as well [5]. No doubt, such simple verities may seem trivial from the first sight, but they really work and help the attorneys to distract for a while and return to their business course of actions.

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Summarising the issues set above, the institution of the bar is significantly altering in its functioning. The thesis, I decided to touch upon, is directly interrelated with the problems attorneys have to face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is exceedingly vital to identify such challenges in order to initiate a future discussion in the long term and provide the bar with the necessary documents to regulate their operations in the framework of law and ensure the respective stability and transparency even during the time of crucial changes.

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References

 

1. Remote Trials in the Time of Corona: Who’s Zooming Who? – URL: https://www.attorneyatwork.com/virtual-courtroom-in-the-time-of-corona/

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2. Formal Opinion 498, ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility – URL: https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/professional_responsibility/aba-formal-opinion-498.pdf

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3. «Rules of professional conduct» – URL: https://en.unba.org.ua/for-advocates

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4. American Medical Association – URL: https://www.ama-assn.org/health-care-advocacy/advocacy-update/jan-8-2021-advocacy-update-spotlight-what-s-ahead-ama-advocacy

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5. American Bar Association – URL: https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/publications/youraba/2020/youraba-may-2020/tips-to-help-stressed-lawyers/

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Officially Published in April 2021, Zaporizhzhia National University (p. 37 - 39)

http://sites.znu.edu.ua/stud-sci-soc//2021/tom_1__.pdf

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© Copyright by Polina Prianykova_all rights reserved