Yogi Berra, the late great New York Yankee baseball player, always had a way with words and so this month’s title is done in his honor. Zoom and other video platforms such as teams have been great for the practice of law and anecdotal evidence shows it says money and time for litigants. However, it is not without its risks and the danger faced with using a video platform is the loss of formality and not treating it like being in-person in court. Videoconferencing fatigue is also a real issue and everyone has heard about the recent Zoom hearings when the cat filter popped up instead of the attorney and attorneys had to be cautioned to wear appropriate attire.
The Delaware Court of Chancery has ruled in Smash Franchise Partners, LLC v. Kanda Holdings, Inc. that a litigant in an open Zoom hearing must take precautions to incorporate security and privacy features when using Zoom. Failure to do so in the Smash Franchise case resulted in losing trade secret protections because the trade secrets allegedly misappropriated were disclosed in open Zoom calls.
I recommend practicing with your documents beforehand and learn how to use security and privacy features. Make it a practice to update your Zoom or Teams software everyday whether you have a scheduled meeting or not. Invest in good quality speakers and microphones and test them often. A link to the Zoom website for privacy and security is at https://zoom.us/docs/ent/privacy-and-security.html .
The opinions of this blog are solely the author’s, and any comments, suggestions, or comments can be sent to john@jrjoneslaw.com.
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