As millions of people around the world observe stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, many attorneys have found it relatively easy to stay connected with professional colleagues through phone calls, emails, texts, videoconferencing and cloud computing technology.

At the same time, an anachronistic century-old statute, New York Judiciary Law section 470, requires attorneys based outside the state but licensed to practice within its boundaries to have a physical “bricks-and-mortar” office here.