Craig Lifland, partner with Halloran Sage in Hartford.

If you think videoconferencing has too many limitations or complications to effectively run an actual trial, a leading Connecticut bankruptcy attorney's satisfaction might change your mind.

Halloran Sage partner Craig Lifland, whose practice spans nearly four decades, said he was pleasantly surprised by the positive results an online exchange yielded in one of the state's first bankruptcy video bench trials recently, including exhibits, lawyers, witnesses and spectators from across the country.

"From my perspective it really worked amazingly well," Lifland said of the proceeding, which ran audio and video feeds via Cisco's Jabber software to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Tancredi of the District of Connecticut in Hartford. Lifland could see the faces of lawyers and witnesses as they spoke, as well as exhibits presented throughout the hearing. The event served as an example of the rapid changes taking place in U.S. courts across the country amid social distancing and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It took some getting used to, but the procedure worked, and everyone's rights were preserved," Lifland said. "Technology has allowed us to handle all facets of the practice much more efficiently."

Achieving that positive result involved a considerable amount of preparation, Lifland acknowledged. "It took a while to get all the parties, players and witnesses together and to get the software in place," he said. "We actually then did a rehearsal and the law clerk and an IT person walked people through any possible software problems or glitches."

Lifland, who has been ranked as one of the state's top lawyers for years, did not have to travel to appear for this trial, and he said technological hiccups were kept to a minimum. "I was working from my home office and I could see each person on the witness stand. The software identifies each person's voice and puts them up on the screen. There was a slight delay, but not enough to make it problematic."

One tip, participants learned, is the audio channels in video communications eat up significant data bandwidth, so individuals should keep microphones muted unless it is their turn to speak. Also, with trials being public, a live stream was also made available for anyone with an internet connection to watch during the proceeding.

While videoconferencing might not perform as well in a jury trial, for Lifland's purposes the technology passed an important first test, and he said he expects online communications will quickly become a bigger part of his job. "Working remotely is something businesses are seeing as something that can be done, rather than flying across the country for a meeting. There will be less of a need for office space and less travel." It's "light years" ahead of where this lawyer started, when letters and 40-page documents would be copied, signed, stamped and dropped in the mail. "This is an amazing way for the process to keep going, but certainly the courts are not going to forego jury trials."

Lifland has represented borrowers and lenders in many large and complex Chapter 11 filings, and he said there is little doubt bankruptcy practices will have more on their plates—and screens—in the coming months and beyond. "Right now there are a lot of businesses trying to get access to government funds. It's a good guess that down the road there will be fallout from this, and more businesses will be seeking relief, either in bankruptcy court or in out-of-court workouts and restructures. There are always winners and losers, and we'll probably get a lot busier."