Zoom has now entered the lexicon of English language words, as a noun, verb and adjective. Just as lawyers and mediators were starting to get comfortable with this technology as a suitable medium to conduct business, The New York Times came out with an article questioning its security, causing lawyers to second guess the wisdom of using Zoom due to fears about security and confidentiality. These fears can and are being allayed with proactive management by the host of the settings, password protected meetings, waiting rooms, breakout rooms and common sense which lawyers and mediators are now adopting in the same way that they adopted the removal of metadata from documents and embraced encryption.

For ADR, there has been a switch from in-person meetings to virtual mediations and arbitration hearings. Mediation centers are pushing out great content on how to use Zoom and best practices for mediating virtually, however questions surround when in-person ADR will resume and whether clients will embrace virtual ADR for the resolution of their cases in the meantime. Many are pushing off the decision whether to use ADR and plaintiff lawyers have raised concerns that insurance companies may leverage comparative financial strength to force through settlements at levels below current trends and expectations.

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