During the course of a recent multi-day Zoom evidentiary hearing, it hit me that all of the attorneys who participated, save for the judge who sat before the state seal (as is custom), were not using virtual backgrounds. Being that the Zoom hearing proceeded for nearly a week, it provided everyone with ample time to analyze each other’s virtual meeting setups. While all at that hearing did an admirable job advocating for their clients, those who took the extra step to polish their Zoom setups, ensuring their video and audio were on point, and that their cameras were well-positioned, unquestionably had an edge.

Fortunately, now that Zoom and remote working have transitioned from being novelties to a regular part of daily practice, we are all capable of taking similar practical steps to give ourselves that advantage.