What does social distancing mean, and how does it impact whistleblower cases? The bulk of our practice is actually done remotely. An initial meeting with a client can occur via telephone or using video conferencing, and clients can provide documents through email and dropbox. We work up our complaints through these methods as well, so that won’t really change. If we limit our interface for the time being to these methods then not much will change from our practice standpoint. What may change are the government’s ability to interview our clients as well as the government’s ability to investigate matters. This will likely happen on a case-by-case basis in areas where the courthouse and government offices remain open. Where these offices are closed, it will obviously have a greater impact on the cases moving forward in the short-term and because we have to file in person, we may see an impact in our ability to file as well.
Here is a useful article explaining social distancing, isolation and “flattening the curve” – concepts that have been at the forefront the last several days.
History tells us that if we exercise these options, that should greatly impact the course of the crisis. Hopefully history is correct.