The world, as we know it, is changed. Every profession, every educational institution, every way we deal with life’s necessities. That will remain so! There will be a new normal, whether we like it or not.
But I can only speak to the lawyers, particularly litigators. Aside from safety and health, how we practice law will remain paramount for us (and our clients). Yes, hard as it is to hear, we know that judges typically decide cases on the papers before they get on the bench. Some Supreme Court justices have actually told the bar that they have been rarely so moved by oral argument that their “tentative” and personal pre-argument vote has changed from “for” to “against,” or vice versa. For these jurists, at least, the written argument is often the ball game (although, interestingly, one appellate judge who recently participated in a class I teach on “How Judges Decide” offered that he (helpfully) gains from oral argument what his colleagues might be thinking from the questions they pose to counsel).
