COVID-19 Litigation Changes Could Prove to be Long-lasting

Posted on April 28th, 2020 at 5:02 PM

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law LLC:

Like all aspects of life, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on courts and litigation in general.  Courts have been forced to change their procedures to adopt to the social distancing required currently.  Additionally, as has been discussed previously in the Eccleston Law blog, the pandemic has resulted in a flood of COVID-19 related lawsuits. 

As courts deal with the pandemic, deadlines and proceedings have been postponed.  Aspects of cases that were traditionally conducted in-person are now being done remotely.  However, as many are finding out, replacing in-person proceedings with remote proceedings can be difficult and lead to new problems.  

The pandemic and the changes it has forced attorneys to adopt provides a chance to consider which aspects of pre-COVID-19 litigation procedure are worth keeping and which can be updated.  A move to more remote litigation procedures, including remote discovery procedures, could streamline litigation. 

However, if some of the remote aspects of litigation are adopted permanently, they will bring with them their own issues.  Security breaches are one issue that has already arisen with the increase of videoconferencing. 

While some believe that the pandemic will spur changes to traditional litigation procedure, only time will tell if any of the temporary changes caused by the pandemic are adopted on a permanent basis.

The attorneys of Eccleston Law LLC represent investors and advisors nationwide in securities and employment matters. The securities lawyers at Eccleston Law also practice a variety of other areas of practice for financial investors and advisors including Securities FraudCompliance ProtectionBreach of Fiduciary DutyFINRA Matters, and much more. Our attorneys draw on a combined experience of nearly 65 years in delivering the highest quality legal services. If you are in need of legal services, contact us to schedule a one-on-one consultation today.

Related Attorneys: James J. Eccleston

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, james eccleston, covid-19, lawsuits

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