Over the past two decades, I have handled my fair share of telephonic depositions, mediations and hearings in state, federal and bankruptcy courts. However, if you would have told me a month ago that I would be conducting a two-day final evidentiary hearing in federal court via Zoom with the court, counsel, parties and witnesses appearing virtually from various locations in South Florida and Guatemala, I would not have believed you.

Five years ago, I represented a Nicaraguan company in a week-long final arbitration hearing in New York. We had several witnesses testify via video conference from New Zealand and Nicaragua, including some requiring translations from Tagalog and Spanish. And then, three weeks before our firm shifted to remote operations, I represented a South Korean client in both a virtual deposition and mediation again dealing with another time zone and language. My client's virtual appearance at both of those proceedings required a court order, logistical planning with the court reporter's offices in Miami and South Korea, the mediator's office, a local translator and significant cooperation with opposing counsel.

When I volunteered to take on the pro bono representation of a Guatemalan mother sued for the return of her minor son a month ago, I did not anticipate that the Hague Convention's requisite expedited adjudication would be a virtual adjudication. Ten days into the representation, we attended our first virtual pretrial conference via the Southern District of Florida's Cisco Jabber platform, and encountered an intolerably distracting echo each time counsel spoke. Opposing counsel also informed us that his client and witnesses located in Guatemala would likely only be able to appear telephonically. For a moment, I was panic-stricken contemplating how this trial would play out under these unusual and challenging circumstances. Thankfully, those internal alarm bells rung much lower the following week when we held our second pretrial conference—this time over the court's newly acquired Zoom platform.