NYSBA planning for return to the office

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The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is working with law firms on recommendations on how to bring lawyers and staff back to their offices when Gov. Andrew Cuomo eases stay-at-home restrictions.

The bar association has appointed a work group to make sure the views of its more than 70,000 members are heard, according to a news release from the Bar Association.

“This is an enormously important issue to lawyers around the state and the working group has pledged to move quickly to give law firms guidance,” NYSBA president Henry M. Greenberg said in the release.

The work group will be consulting with law firm managers, health authorities and labor experts to recommend the safest and most efficient way for law firms to reopen. The governor has determined that all businesses will need to submit reopening plans that allow employees to work at a distance from one another.

The NYSBA also is providing training on the topic. A webinar on what businesses need to know and do before reopening will be presented at noon on May 8.

The webinar will include discussions of legal exposure, privacy issues, medical screenings and cleaning protocols. For more information about the webinar, visit: https://bit.ly/3cXAnd1

The members of the work group include:

• Mark A. Berman, partner at Ganfer, Shore, Leeds & Zauderer and founding chair of NYSBA‘s Committee on Technology and the Legal Profession
• Hermes Fernandez, partner at Bond Schoeneck & King and chair of NYSBA’s Health Law Section
• Martin I. Kaminsky, chief legal officer and general counsel at Greenberg Traurig
• Devika Kewalramani, partner and general counsel at Moses & Singer
• Evan H. Krinick, managing partner, Rivkin Radler
• Domenick Napoletano, solo practitioner, is co-chair of the NYSBA Emergency Task Force for Solo and Small Firm Practitioners formed in the wake of the coronavirus crisis
• Marian C. Rice, partner at L’Abate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini
• David M. Schraver, of counsel at Nixon Peabody and past president of NYSBA