If you regularly read my column you know that I’ve been encouraging lawyers to use technology for over a decade now. When I first started writing about technology, I highlighted the benefits that social media and blogging could offer lawyers. From there I shifted my focus to mobile computing and cloud-based tools, and then eventually artificial intelligence legal software. Regardless of which technology I was focused on at any given time, my primary goal has always been to motivate lawyers to familiarize themselves with — and begin to use — these emerging tools.
In the early years, my efforts often fell on deaf ears. Generally speaking, lawyers wanted nothing to do with all of the newfangled technology that I was so excited about. But over time, attitudes have changed, in part because the technologies I was evangelizing were becoming part of our day-to-day lives. This entanglement of technology with mainstream culture ultimately had the end effect of changing the practice of law, whether lawyers were on board or not. And eventually, once lawyers actually tried out any given tool, they often found that it actually had a positive impact on both their personal and professional lives.
That’s why, in 2012, the American Bar Association acknowledged the indisputable influence of technology on the practice of law when it modified comment 8 to Model Rule 1.1 to state that maintaining technology competence is part of the ethical obligations of lawyers. The first states to adopt this duty of technology competence did so in 2013, and New York followed suit in 2015. Most recently, California joined their ranks, and became the 39th state to adopt this duty when the California Supreme Court approved the new rule on Feb. 18, 2021.
It’s no coincidence that this continued emphasis on technology competence has occurred in parallel with the increased reliance by law firms on remote working technologies. The global pandemic in which we now find ourselves took most everyone by surprise and resulted in a greatly accelerated rate of technology adoption by the legal profession and the general population as a whole. Social distancing requirements necessitated remote interaction, and as a result cloud-based software, including videoconferencing tools, quickly became commonplace in most households.
Notably, the rapid technology adoption did not occur without a few hiccups. In fact, it has seemed as if not a day has gone by without a Zoom fail making the news, many of which feature lawyer gaffes during Zoom court appearances. These headlines have occurred with such frequency that I recently penned a Daily Record column wherein I urged lawyers to “stop acting like idiots online.”
It would seem that I’m not the only one who is at the end of their rope when it comes to this issue, since top administrative law judges in New York state recently issued a memorandum entitled “Virtual Proceedings — Appropriate Decorum.”
Prior to providing their recommended videoconferencing protocols for New York lawyers, the judges explained why it’s so important for lawyers to behave properly during virtual court proceedings: “The COVID-19 pandemic has required all courts across New York State to innovate and adapt in order to continue to provide the effective and efficient administration of justice and Access to Justice for all court users consistent with the highest standards … Appropriate decorum/etiquette is a necessity during all virtual court proceedings.”
Next, they provided the following guidance to New York lawyers who appear remotely in court proceedings. While the recommendations offered seem to be fairly self-evident, if recent headlines are any indication, they are a much-needed addition to the virtual toolbox of lawyers who appear in court remotely:

• Dress in appropriate attire, as if you were appearing in-person in court
• Display an appropriate and professional background
• No consumption of food or drink during the proceeding
• Remain professional and dignified
• As in ln-Person proceedings, only one person should be speaking at a time.

Now that lawyers have this videoconferencing advice readily available, I have the utmost confidence that the salacious headlines regarding lawyers’ inappropriate behavior on Zoom will decline significantly. From here on in, I fully expect New York lawyers to be fully dressed, dignified, and polite whenever they make a virtual appearance. Capisce? Capisce.
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney, author, journalist, and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase legal practice management software. She is the nationally recognized author of “Cloud Computing for Lawyers” (2012) and co-authors “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier” (2010), both published by the American Bar Association. She also co-authors “Criminal Law in New York,” a Thomson Reuters treatise. She writes regular columns for Above the Law, ABA Journal, and The Daily Record, has authored hundreds of articles for other publications, and regularly speaks at conferences regarding the intersection of law and emerging technologies. She is an ABA Legal Rebel, and is listed on the Fastcase 50 and ABA LTRC Women in Legal Tech. She can be contacted at [email protected].