When Marcy Levine Aldrich appeared before the Florida Supreme Court, she had a sign on the door of her home office that says, "Quiet. Mom's in court."

It was a message directing her husband and children—one in high school and another in college—not to interrupt. 'It is a very different thing to have no separation from your work life … [and] your home life," Aldrich said.

On May 6, Aldrich, a partner at Akerman in Miami and chair of the firm's class action defense practice, appeared before the Florida Supreme Court during a historic moment when the court heard oral arguments via video for the first time.

Chief Justice Charles Canady has made a push to restore more court operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and is exploring long-term remote court concepts as part of a task force he created.

Aldrich got to participate in closely watched proceedings.

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'Will my internet work?'

The process started in April when the Florida Supreme Court sent a notice to alert Aldrich that her oral argument in the case, MRI Assocs. of Tampa v. State Farm, would take place over Zoom.

A couple of weeks later, the Florida Supreme Court helped Aldrich and the other attorneys in setting up their technology to speak before the court, which included the options of two backgrounds: a blank wall or courtroom background, which Aldrich later learned was a counsel table at the court. A drone went in the air to photograph the table.

"Instead of being seated at the counsel table, we were sort of hovering over them," Aldrich said.

Screenshot of Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady during the court's first remote oral arguments. Screenshot of Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady.

Moments before she was called before the Florida Supreme Court, a couple of "oh no" scenarios went through Aldrich's mind. The thoughts were drastically different from a typical Florida Supreme Court oral argument.

"In a normal appellant argument, if I have any concerns about preparation, it is purely substantive," Aldrich said. "But for this, I now have another area of new anxieties. Will my internet work? Will my electricity stay on? Will my neighbor decide to mow their lawn right outside my window?"

While it was not what Aldrich expected when she was initially told the proceeding would take place before the court, as a whole, the process went smoothly for both her and the Florida Supreme Court.

Since the May proceedings, the state high court has made a tentative June argument calendar with 11 cases on the docket due to the success from that first day of a virtual hearing. Aldrich says the Florida Supreme Court realized when there are scenarios like the coronavirus pandemic, the evolution of virtual court hearings can keep the "wheels of justice grinding." She also finds video preferable to telephonic hearings and welcomes the changes.

"As a litigator in Florida, not many people get that many cases that make it up to the Florida Supreme Court, and there is something very special about doing it there," Aldrich said. "Historically, people didn't want telephone hearings. There is something definitely more effective to be seen, as opposed to being a disembodied voice on the telephone."

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