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Trial lawyers are bracing for changes to their work lives as courts across Texas suspended jury trials and in-person hearings, following a COVID-19 emergency order by the state's two high courts.

Court cancellations are in already place in Texas' largest metro areas: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, and many other suburban and rural courts are following suit. It begs the question: What are trial lawyers supposed to do with the sudden free time that opened when their hearings and trials got canceled?

To answer the question, Texas Lawyer distributed an online survey to trial lawyers to ask how court cancellations have impacted their cases so far, how they changed their firms' operations because of the virus, and how the situation has impacted their day-to-day work lives. Some litigators are looking at the bright side, while others have acknowledged that major changes are on the horizon.

Houston trial lawyer John Kim of Houston, which has the most coronavirus cases in Texas so far, wrote that he's expecting delays in trials and a financial burden on attorneys. Kim added that he and his colleagues and staff are working remotely, and they've restricted clients from visiting their office.

"The social distance recommendation will delay hearings, discovery, and efficient movement forward absent a uniform video conferencing program," wrote Kim, of The Kim Law Firm. "The expense associated with such will be an additional financial burden on the solo or small practitioners."

Bailey Brauer associate Adam Bell of Dallas wrote that if proceedings get delayed indefinitely, there will be an issue once the courts open up to rescheduling matters.

"There will be a rush of attorneys trying to schedule all of the proceedings at one time," said Bell.

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Because personal injury trial attorney Robert House of Austin didn't have any matters scheduled in the next three weeks, it means he hasn't felt the complications of Travis County's COVID-19 response yet. He acknowledged that the pandemic has created an obvious reduction in productivity for his firm, and he knows that potential kinks may come later.

"I anticipate hearings to be pushed forward to accommodate those that will be moved to limit person-to-person contact and are unable to be conducted remotely," House wrote. "I'm hopeful that this does have a positive impact on the successful use of distance technologies for hearings and other court appearance activities."

Houston trial lawyer Ashish Mahendru wrote about a good experience with Harris County courts' use of telephone and video conferencing, to replace in-person appearances.

"We had to obtain a TRO today and were able to fully prepare our documents, obtain client signatures, and get the final pleadings to Harris County Ancillary Court Clerk for processing,"  Mahendru said. "We are cognizant of the national emergency, and we will do our best to comport with social distancing and containment to flatten the corona curve while still effectively representing our client's interests."

Fernelius Simon Mace Robertson Perdue in Houston has been planning for staff to work remotely, wrote firm member Joel Simon. It's already been challenging to his daily routine. The full ramifications have only just started to materialize, he added.

"I believe that, as a general matter, civil litigation matters will move at a slower pace as courts, clients, and attorneys grapple with COVID-19," he wrote.

Real estate and business litigator Shelly Hopkins of Austin wrote that she isn't expecting a big impact on her small husband-and-wife law firm's operations.

"We will have plenty of work to do during this time while matters are on hold," Hopkins said. "We will likely have a very busy summer and fall."