Queens litigators prepare for a change in scenery as courts reopen

Lawyers are excited to get back to work in-person, though still some reservations remain days before the courts reopen. Eagle file photo by Clarissa Sosin

By Jacob Kaye and Rachel Vick

Lawyers in Queens are only days away from returning to the buildings they once made their livings inside of. 

After a year of locked doors and virtual proceedings, they say they're ready for some face-to-face time, albeit with slight reservations. 

“Personally, I welcome going back to court,” said Frank Bruno, the president-elect of the Queens County Bar Association. “My sense of things is that it's a long time coming.”

But Bruno, who was recently elected to the bar association’s top spot, also worries that the opening may be happening a little too quickly. 

Though many proceedings will remain virtual, full courthouse staff, including judges, non-judicial employees and court officers, will be welcomed back into court buildings throughout the state, beginning Monday. Limits on who will be allowed into courthouses will remain, but Bruno worries that the jump from a closed door to an open one may cause some issues. 

“The more people they bring in at once, the less likely it is to be smooth,” he said. “That's a truism for everything, right? With volume, there's going to be concerns.”

“I am in favor of going back to court. I just wish they wouldn't do it so abruptly,” he added. “We could integrate slowly.” 

For the family, guardianship and divorce lawyer, the pandemic, while a challenge, has highlighted the value of his colleagues.

One of the difficulties of the pandemic for attorneys was the inability to discuss future cases with their colleagues, who they’d see regularly around the courthouse pre-pandemic. For Bruno, it’s also made it difficult to take the temperature of his colleagues and see how they feel about the reopening processes. 

“I'm not in the hallway speaking to six or eight of my colleagues today, and four or five of them tomorrow. By the end of the week, I would have had 20 different opinions,” he said. “So I'm not getting that sense.”

But despite his desire to be back in the courts, Bruno hopes that some pandemic practices remain as the courts reopen. He said that conducting conferences online this past year has saved both time and money. 

Pre-pandemic, a half hour conference could take nearly two hours after travel, speaking with colleagues and waiting your turn to be called in by a judge. 

“You’re killing the bulk of the morning on one case, whereas now, I did four [virtual] cases this morning,” Bruno said. “I was able to switch gears right from the conclusion of that conference to dig into some other work. No travel time. That would be amazing if we can keep some of that going.”

Joel Serrano, vice president of the Assigned Counsel Association of Queens Family Court, also hopes that some virtual proceedings will remain a permanent fixture of the court system.

He said that the time saved in virtual proceedings is irreplaceable for clients who have had to juggle additional responsibilities due to pandemic closures. 

“Many of my clients in family court had to continue working or were responsible for caring for their families through the pandemic,” Serrano said.  “Virtual proceedings allowed them to access the Court more conveniently than ever before.”

Are you heading back to the courts next week? Reach out to managing editor Jacob Kaye at jacobk@queenspublicmedia.com to share your thoughts.