Perhaps the aspect of my legal practice that has been affected the most by the coronavirus is in-person appointments. I believe that sitting down and discussing an issue in person has benefits over other forms of communication. Foremost, a personal appointment eliminates distractions and focuses the participants upon the task at hand. A personal appointment allows a more complete examination of the topic, with subtopics branching off organically during the discussion. Finally, an intangible aspect of the personal appointment is establishing trust between the participants. Trust is essential to an effective attorney-client relationship. And now, in-person appointments are impossible for the foreseeable future.
I am interested in the forms of communication that others have turned to in place of personal meetings; the first recourse seems to be email. The New Yorker ran a cartoon in which an isolated worker sitting at his laptop at home exclaimed, "All of those meetings really could have been emails!" One benefit of our collective quarantine experience might be the realization that many meetings, especially in the corporate world, are a waste of time. However, while email is a tool that is useful in particular circumstances, email has some weaknesses that cannot be ignored.
All people do not respond to written communication in the same way. Some people do not absorb written information as well as they absorb hearing the same information. In addition, some people read their emails on their phones' small screens, on the go, which does not maximize retention of that information. Over the course of representing clients, I learn which ones respond well to email, and which ones need to talk it out, and I adapt my approach to each client's individual needs.
Email is good for communicating discrete snippets of information. On the other hand, have you ever tried to address a complex issue in a detailed and comprehensive manner in an email? Or, have you ever tried to use email to try to arrive at a decision with another person about an important matter? In situations ill-suited to email, it is as useless as semaphore.
More so than email, the darling of the moment seems to be the video conference. I have seen video apps, particularly Zoom, replace classes, continuing education -- even happy hour! I have used video conferencing in the past, to interview job applicants, and I was not impressed. I do not see a video call having any more advantages than an ordinary phone call.
I may seem old-fashioned, but my tool of choice to replace personal appointments is the telephone. A phone call allows for the interactive exploration of subtopics similar to the way that a personal meeting can. Also, hearing each other's voice builds trust, although not as dramatically as a personal meeting. To bring focus to the conversation, I start phone calls with some stage-setting questions: Is now a good time to talk? Are you where you can talk privately? Setting the tone up front helps create a focused call. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the day when I can sit down with my clients in the comfort of my office.
