THIS POLICY HAS BEEN SUPERSEDED. SEE THE POST EXPLAINING OUR CURRENT POLICY.

We at Brandli Law feel a sense of duty to our clients and to the community as a whole to act responsibly in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, also known as the Novel Coronavirus. We are implementing the following policies. These policies are designed to prevent Brandli Law from being a source of virus transmission, and recognize the current belief that much of the virus transmission occurs among persons not yet showing symptoms.

In-person Meetings

Communication is often more effective in in-person meetings than in phone calls. In the past, we have encouraged in-person meetings where practical. We now encourage phone meetings. However, we will meet with persons in the office if desired, with the following policies:

• Please do not come to the office if you are showing symptoms of any infectious illness including colds, flu, or COVID-19, and even if you have tested negatively for COVID-19.
• Please do not bring your children and animals to the office.
• Please use the hand-sanitizer in the lobby of the office when you arrive.
• We will not be shaking hands during in-person meetings.
• The conference table in our office affords sufficient distance between us and the persons with whom we are meeting. During those rare meetings when more than one unrelated person is arriving separately, we will encourage appropriate social distancing practices. Our conference table is large enough to accommodate these practices.
• We encourage you to use the hand-sanitizer as you exit the office.
• We will disinfect all surfaces that our clients touch, including the tables and chairs, after the conclusion of the meeting.
• See the below about paper.

We will be happy to remind you of these policies. Please keep in mind that these policies are not really meant to protect us. They are meant to protect everyone in our society, especially those who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Paper

We at Brandli Law keep documents electronically as much as is possible. Nevertheless, our society still deals in paper. We ask our clients to do the following:

• If giving us paper, please put it in an envelope. This will allow us to handle the paper appropriately.
• If you wish for us to return the paper after scanning, we will place it in the same envelope. Because the scanning process will involve possible contamination from other sources, we suggest that you leave the paper in the envelope and set the envelope aside for at least a week to allow any virus to die before handling, and to wash your hands or use hand-sanitizer after setting the envelope aside.
• We encourage our clients to accept documents by email.
• For those clients who want paper copies of pleadings filed with the court, we will print new copies of those pleadings before giving them to the client to prevent transmission from the courthouse.

Payment

We always accept cash, check, or credit card payments. During this time, we encourage credit card payments to avoid passing paper. Cash is particularly worrisome as a virus transmission vector. However, we will continue to accept all forms of payment and will take steps to avoid transmission of virus that may be present.

Court

As of this writing, we have not received any word from San Juan County Superior or District Court concerning major changes in operation. However, we expect such changes shortly. We will update our policies as we receive this information.

We have encouraged clients to attend their hearings even when unnecessary to demonstrate that they care about their cases. However, CourtCall is available to allow clients to listen to the proceedings telephonically rather than attend their hearings. There is a charge for CourtCall. Speak to Brandli Law about whether it is advisable to attend a hearing in-person or by CourtCall.

Feedback

We welcome feedback on this policy, and will adjust the policy as we learn more both from experts and from our clients.

Copyright 2020 Brandli Law PLLC