April.23.2020
Partner Rob Shwarts and Of Counsel Diana Fassbender have published this Law.com article offering a roadmap to civil litigants navigating the court system’s changing landscape in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
In the article, Rob and Diana, members of Orrick’s IP Litigation Practice, explore the challenges and options businesses will encounter once the state and federal courts slowly begin to re-open for trials. The majority of the nation’s trial courts have closed as a result of the pandemic.
Among other things, the article notes that civil litigants will confront delays as courts prioritize criminal trials and will need to make strategic decisions about how they want to proceed in particular cases, including weighing whether to opt for bench trials or arbitration instead of jury trials.
“The COVID-19 virus has upended most aspects of the world as we know it. That holds true for our justice system,” Rob and Diana wrote. “Civil litigants especially will need to show flexibility and assess their values and motivating principles in making litigation strategy determinations with counsel for the foreseeable future.”