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.