A virtual arraignment is conducted at Criminal Court in New York on, March 25. Court system plans to have all judicial districts outside New York City operating virtually by the end of next week. Photo: New York Unified Court System via AP

New York state's court system says it expanded virtual court operations Monday as the state remains at the epicenter of a coronavirus pandemic.

New York's Chief Judge Janet DiFiore announced the expansion in a video address posted online Monday evening, saying a significant number of judges, court officers and other workers have been infected with the virus. 

DiFiore's message came as attorneys entered the second week under Gov. Andrew Cuomo's "New York on PAUSE" executive order, which included a directive that in-office personnel functions move out of the workplace except for "essential" businesses. As Cuomo's order left legal services off the list of "essential" businesses, court officials repeatedly limited functions that had to take place in courthouses.

When it was formulated, some lawyers were unsure about the line between "essential" and "nonessential" services under the order, but many who spoke with the Law Journal said they had found a new equilibrium. The court system for its part reduced to nearly zero court appearances that had to happen in person.

DiFiore reported the court system is going virtual in Suffolk County and the fifth judicial district in central New York, along with the seventh judicial district that covers Rochester. She reported the court system plans to have all judicial districts outside New York City operating virtually by the end of next week "to handle essential and emergency matters."

The state court system has already postponed all "nonessential" services. Lawrence Marks, the state's chief administrative judge, previously issued an order listing which topics are considered "essential" matters, which includes bail applications, temporary orders of protection and applications tied to "serious code violations."

Eviction proceedings and pending eviction orders have also been suspended statewide, according to the court system.

The court system's announcement is in line with pleas from public officials, who have urged people to stay home and in general avoid close in-person interactions that can help spread the virus.

"New York state and New York City are the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak," DiFiore said in the video. "While the expert consensus is that the number of infected individuals will continue to rise, we are committed to keeping our courts open to hear essential and emergency matters."

Lawyers have acknowledged the seriousness of the coronavirus, but say the court system largely "shutdown" court operations.

New York's economy continues to be engulfed by the coronavirus. In an effort to slow the virus' spread, the state ordered all nonessential workers to stay home and issued sweeping rules that sharply curtailed gatherings of any kind. 

Some law firms have transitioned to working remotely in light of the coronavirus. 

Robert Schofield, a co-managing partner at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, said the firm did not want to put employees at risk unnecessarily by sending them into the office.

Some attorneys have expressed concerns that the economic upheaval and a slowing of the legal operations will eventually hit their law firms. 

"A lot of our firms are going to be significantly impacted by this crisis," said James O'Connor, president of the Defense Association of New York, commenting on smaller legal firms. It would be heart-wrenching, he said, to let go of outstanding employees who haven't done anything wrong.

Moving legal activities from an in-person system to a remote operation will be crucial to blunting a financial downturn for law firms, he said. That could mean things like conducting a deposition through a video conference, instead of an in-person meeting where people are gathered in a conference room, he said.

Jaimie Nawaday, chair of Kelley Drye & Warren's white-collar, investigations and compliance practice, said work with most of the firm's work continued, albeit remotely. Kelley Drye, like most firms, had switched to videoconferencing to meet with clients, and had even started hosting a "virtual happy hour" to help its attorneys keep in touch from home.

"They are making an effort to reach out and stay in touch," she said.

The firm's CLE and litigation groups remained particularly busy, and lawyers were getting regular updates from managing partners and other firm leadership, she said.

Mintz & Gold, another Manhattan firm, was also largely working from home and arranging meetings remotely using Zoom, according to Charles Ross, a partner in the firm.

Tom McParland contributed to this story.

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