[lizziej]

Wow! That's a long time to be working at home as a whole company! I work for a law firm and was working for another one back in March of 2020. Only essential workers worked in the office the entire time. From March to about mid-May 2020, everyone else worked from home. I had no issues whatsoever in that transition because I was already working from home two days a week, the privilege of which I earned. Some attorneys worked from home a few days a week as well. After that, people came back for a couple of days a week, with employees staggering the days they came in to avoid a full office. I believe it was June 2020 when just about everyone was back in the office. However, there were about 3 or 4 of us that needed to keep working from home at all times for health reasons. I didn't go back to the office until early May 2021, at which time I turned in my resignation. When I started at my new law firm in late May 2021, I worked full-time at the office. No one is allowed to work from home except once a week for a couple of people, and it has nothing to do with Covid. At this new firm, there was a Covid scare a few months ago, so I was allowed to work from home for about a week because I didn't know who may have been exposed to the person with Covid.

Everything seems almost normal to me. However, many court hearings, depositions and even some bench trials and jury trials were held via video teleconferencing platforms like Zoom. The one change that I THINK may be permanent for some courts is having Zoom hearings, and for attorneys Zoom depositions will probably continue, especially if there are out of town witnesses. I believe, though, that in-person jury trials will eventually come back in full force.