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A Miami-based attorney cited the case of a 50-year-old New York lawyer who has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in asking permission to attend a federal bond hearing by telephone next week, saying that he feared air travel to and from the court would put him at risk of contracting the spreading illness.

The filing, from Miami-based David Garvin, a criminal tax attorney, came as public health officials confirmed at least 137 cases of COVID-19 in the United States, and law firms across the globe beefed up safety measures in light of the mounting threat.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York, Garvin noted that the Manhattan lawyer had recently flown back from Miami by plane while he was sick, and said that conditions on airplanes could help facilitate the spread of the disease.

"The air conditioning system of the aircraft recirculates the cabin air. Passengers on each flight will not know for 14 days whether they were unfortunate enough to have contracted the disease. Through this motion the undersigned seeks to avoid placing himself in harm's way," Garvin wrote.

Garvin did not immediately return a call Wednesday seeking comment on his request.

Garvin is representing Mark Scott, a former Locke Lord partner who was convicted in November of conspiracy to commit money laundering and bank fraud in connection with a scheme to re-route more than $400 million in proceeds from a massive international fraud scheme known as "OneCoin."

Sentencing in the case has been postponed until late May, but Ramos had set a bond reviewing hearing for March 12 in Manhattan.

Garvin said in his letter that Scott and his co-counsel, Covington & Burling partner Arlo Devlin-Brown, both planned to attend in person.

On Tuesday, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced that the Westchester County attorney, who worked at the trust and estates law firm of Lewis and Garbuz in Manhattan, had become the state's second confirmed case of the virus. That number has since risen to six, four people who were either family members or neighbors of the lawyer.

New York Law School canceled classes to clean its building and Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan disinfected its campus Wednesday, after one student from each school reported having come in contact with the sickened attorney, whose name has not been released publicly.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in late February called for the expanded use of teleworking and teleconferences in a memo sent to all federal judges that outlined procedures to "ensure the continuation of necessary court functions" in the case of an outbreak. Courts were also also encouraged monitor all travel notices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Transportation Security Administration.

A spokesman said Wednesday that the AO was currently drafting another guidance regarding potential impacts on court operations, and individual courts could "establish a pandemic/infectious disease emergency response team to tailor activities to their particular circuit or district."

The District Executive's Office for the Southern District of New York did not return a call seeking comment on its emergency-preparedness planning.

The American Bar Association on Wednesday canceled its white-collar crime conference, scheduled for March 11-13 in San Diego, due to "travel restrictions" placed on speakers and attendees by their employers. Latham & Watkins has also canceled its global partners meeting, which was set to take place this week in New York, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe scuttled its planned partner retreat in Texas over concerns stemming from the virus.

Certain Asian offices of firms including Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and Dorsey & Whitney have had their lawyers and staff working from home, while other firms, such as Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, have limited travel to China or other countries hit particularly hard by the outbreak.

The Austrian law firm Wolf Theiss, meanwhile, recently reported that one of its partners is seriously ill and has been hospitalized with the new virus. It said it had tested hundreds of other lawyers and employees and only those who test negative are in contact with clients.

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