Welcome to the brave new world of the Zoom Courtroom! Sure, the pandemic has been staggeringly stressful, but it has provided more than a few chuckles as we wrestle with our new work-from-home tech. Here are just a few examples of law + Zoom = disaster.
The ultra-viral “lawyer cat” tops this list. Texas attorney Rod Ponton zoomed into a civil forfeiture hearing as usual, except for one tiny detail—he was unaware that his kids had set up a kitten Zoom filter. Watch in mortifying horror as Ponton-the-Cat struggles to remove the filter before a very unimpressed judge, imploring that he, indeed, is “NOT a cat.”
Next in the cavalcade of legal cringe is the Florida man (of course) who showed up to his virtual divorce hearing shirtless and in a bathing suit. In an email response to this guy’s very contrite lawyer, the judge in the case said, “I am aware that some clients, especially those under stress in family law cases, simply do not hear or register the instructions. Of course, given Mr. [deleted]’s attire (swim trunks, bare chest, and – I can’t remember which – either flip flops or bare feet) and location (beach), I’m not sure I would classify him as terribly stressed….”
But it’s not just clients who have abandoned formal attire (or any attire) in Florida. Judge Dennis Bailey of the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida issued an open letter to attorneys appearing before his bench with a simple message—dress appropriately! “One male lawyer appeared shirtless and one female attorney appeared still in bed, still under the covers,” he wrote. “And putting on a beach cover-up won’t cover up you’re poolside in a bathing suit. So, please, if you don’t mind, let’s treat court hearings as court hearings, whether Zooming or not.”
Multiple facepalms achieved.