{"id":2718,"date":"2020-10-02T12:52:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T16:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2718"},"modified":"2020-10-02T12:52:24","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T16:52:24","slug":"decorum-in-a-virtual-courtroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2718","title":{"rendered":"Decorum in a virtual courtroom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As we continue to be mired in the COVID-19 pandemic, the NJ family courts continue to operate in a virtual environment.  Having conducted multiple hearings by phone and video, I can say that judges, court staff, attorneys, and litigants are all doing their best in this new environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One consequence of conducting court hearings and trials by video is that there has been a gradual loss of decorum.  During a recent meeting with the Mercer County Family Court judges the expressed their displeasure over this trend.  After listening to their observations, I offer the following suggestions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>log on when instructed (early) so that the court staff can test the connection<\/li><li>If you must participate by phone, do so in a private setting. No one in Starbucks should hear your trial.  And by all means, you should never be driving during the hearing<\/li><li>make sure you dress appropriately as if you were attending court in person<\/li><li>don&#8217;t eat or drink during the video proceeding<\/li><li>don&#8217;t smoke<\/li><li>create a comfortable, clutter free environment for you to sit and participate<\/li><li>eliminate background noise as much as possible<\/li><li>do your best to keep kids and pets from making an appearance<\/li><li>be mindful of your body language<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember that your judge can see all that is going on.  Credibility is critically important in family court.  Conduct yourself in a manner designed to promote your credibility.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we continue to be mired in the COVID-19 pandemic, the NJ family courts continue to operate in a virtual environment. Having conducted multiple hearings by phone and video, I can say that judges, court staff, attorneys, and litigants are &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2718\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[153,188,191,189,190],"class_list":["post-2718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-durstfirm-news","tag-court","tag-covid","tag-judge","tag-pandemic","tag-virtual"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6omM8-HQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2736,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2736","url_meta":{"origin":2718,"position":0},"title":"Is it over yet?","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"January 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet and here at The Durst Firm there is little we can do about that except continue to operate in a safe, client-focused manner as we have since the beginning. However, if this questions pertains to your marriage, we can certainly help. Knowing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2678,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2678","url_meta":{"origin":2718,"position":1},"title":"A quick COVID update from The Durst Firm","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"June 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This week marks a significant milestone as many business begin to reopen as NJ continues to work through the COVID-19 pandemic. Like all of you, we hope that the progress continues and that remaining restrictions can be lifted in a safe and practical manner. For the time being, the Firm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2656,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2656","url_meta":{"origin":2718,"position":2},"title":"Update on status of NJ courts (3-18-2020)","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"March 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In an effort to keep both firm clients and the general public update on the status of the courts during this ever evolving time, we provide the following notice from the judiciary: As of March 18, 2020 and until further notice, there are no in-person Superior Court proceedings (except for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2739,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2739","url_meta":{"origin":2718,"position":3},"title":"Can I homeschool my child? My ex doesn&#8217;t agree.","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"February 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of homeschooling was frequently a topic of disagreement between parents. With many children engaged in remote learning, whether or not to homeschool a child has become a common issue. Typically, parents are given a great deal of latitude when making educational decisions for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3032,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=3032","url_meta":{"origin":2718,"position":4},"title":"Important update for Mercer County Residents","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"October 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In April 2024, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued an order requiring that all new divorce cases filed in Mercer County would be transferred to alternative vicinages in an attempt to alleviate the backlog of cases in the Mercer County family court. While an understandable approach to address a problematic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2652,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2652","url_meta":{"origin":2718,"position":5},"title":"Domestic Violence is never OK","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"March 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Domestic violence remains an unfortunate and unwarranted presence in the lives of many NJ citizens. Domestic violence comes in many forms and affects not only the victim, but the extended family; possibly for years down the road. With family members possibly being confined to their homes, with the added stressors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2719,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions\/2719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}