Governor Phil Murphy's stay-at-home order because of the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly forced the melding of domestic and professional lives, often yielding some surprising results.

Rattled cats and dueling conversations between kitchen and dining room offices

Ayesha Hamilton, a New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) trustee and a business and employment attorney in Princeton, has been riding out the order at her new home office—the kitchen table.

That wouldn't be so bad, except her husband works at the dining room table, and there's no door between the rooms.

"It's been a comedy of errors. Often we have these competing teleconferences," Hamilton said. "I looked into whether I could work upstairs, but the internet connection is not as good."

Fortunately, Hamilton's workload has been heavy since the state was ordered on lockdown. She's been getting a lot of phone calls from companies that want guidance on how to handle layoffs, unemployment eligibility and clarification on how the Families First Coronavirus Response Act will affect them.

Hamilton said she is at an advantage because she has always worked remotely with her paralegal, bookkeeper and marketing consultant. And while she recently upgraded her office computer, she regrets deciding to use an iPad as her home computer.

Overall, Hamilton said she's adjusted to working from home, even with the whole family under one roof 24/7, though the two cats seem a little rattled by the disruption to the normal household rhythm.

And since she and her husband are no longer driving their 16-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter to after-school activities, they spend more time taking walks and cooking meals together.

"It's particularly hilarious, because I've developed this reputation as being a terrible cook," she said. "Now I have time to actually follow a recipe, so there's an upside to the social distancing."

When a lawyer in suit and tie is a surprise

John C. Uyamadu, a solo practitioner in Cedar Knolls, recently wore a suit and tie when he argued a motion for a summary judgment in Essex County via video conference. That normally wouldn't be noteworthy, but these are not normal times. It was unusual enough to prompt the judge to say, "It's nice to see an attorney who dressed as though he's actually in court."

Uyamadu, like the rest of New Jersey's legal community during the pandemic, is working from home, where there's no dress code. He's been wearing business casual while at home, unless he has a court appearance.

Uyamadu said he tries to keep the experience as professional as possible, even customizing the background on his Zoom calls so that clients see a photo of a wall from his law office and his framed law license—even though he is working at the dining room table.

This illusion is largely successful, except when his two children are exuberantly exercising during their remote gym class in the living room, forcing him to seek refuge in a quieter corner of the house.

Uyamadu considers himself well positioned to work from home because he converted to a cloud-based practice two years ago, enabling him to work anywhere, "unlike other attorneys who rely on brick-and-mortar practices."

Since the pandemic emerged, he doesn't allow his paralegal to go to the office to pick up the mail. "She is considered high risk because of respiratory problems," he said. "Now I go to the office once in a while to scan the mail into my cloud case management system and she can work from home."

Life in the household is not without its stressors, however. Uyamadu's wife is a nurse assistant at a hospital. When she finishes her shift, she changes into clean clothes, throws her uniform into a special bag and promptly launders them and showers as soon as she arrives home, before interacting with the family.

More time at home means chance to appreciate hometown

For Mark R. Silber, a bankruptcy attorney with a practice in Middlesex County, the governor's stay-at-home order has meant "we're eating, baking and putting on weight," he said.

Silber lives in the small borough of Frenchtown in Hunterdon County, "home of the best food, baked goods, cheeses, ice creams, breads, restaurants and scenery," he said.

Although he's had more time to enjoy Frenchtown's offerings, Silber said as a bankruptcy attorney there are frustrations to working from home. Part of his work involves importing credit data from the three credit reporting agencies into bankruptcy petitions.

"But the contracts of adhesion to do business with the credit reporting agencies bar remote access into our servers or computers," he said.

"It's difficult and frustrating to carry data on a flash drive from your office to your home and back, because if you forget, for just a second, and begin working on a computer before you've inserted and imported data from your flash drive, you will then have two different and irreconcilable data files for the same client—requiring professional assistance," he said.

In addition, he can only take a certain number of files to work on from the office, so he's unable to answer some clients' questions.

The joy of Zoom

Meyer L. Rosenthal, a solo practitioner in Mount Freedom, said the governor's stay-at-home order hasn't had much of an impact on his work life—he's been working from a home office for the last five years.

"I think most solos, even before this, were a little more familiar with doing work from home because you're on call 24/7," he said.

"I think everybody is struggling, but I consider myself fortunate because I don't have to pay a separate lease for an office."

Rosenthal said his office is equipped with basic technology to conduct his business. He's discovered the joy of Zoom conferencing through the NJSBA's webinars, which he said "have really been a godsend."

He's also pretty satisfied with talking on the phone to conduct business. "That kind of gets lost in all this. It's a pretty effective tool," Rosenthal said.

The stay-at-home order has, however, altered how often he ventures outside, such as driving to get his mail at the post office.

"It's about a five- or 10-minute drive. I used to go every day, but now I go every other day to minimize the exposure as much as possible. I don't touch the mailbox, and when I get home I wash my hands, which normally I wouldn't bother doing. I feel my hands are going to wear out before any other part of my body," he said.