If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the last week, you’ll know that Texas Governor Greg Abbott is trying to “reopen” Texas today, as part of an effort to jump-start the Texas economy.
I’m not sure that either San Antonio or Texas has yet seen the worst of this current wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and I’m definitely concerned that opening up too much too quickly could cause a new jump in cases. That would be a shame, given all the hard work we’ve been doing social distancing to keep the numbers down.
The San Antonio City Council has just voted to extend the stay-at-home order, and the courts in Bexar County are still convening via Zoom rather than opening. This is under an order that went into effect two weeks ago and remains in effect until May 15. As we noted in a recent blog article, Zoom court’s just like regular court, with all of the usual rules you’d come to expect.
The bottom line is we’re not doing anything different than we have over the last month as we’ve all adjusted to this temporary new normal.
The most important thing to remember about the Law Office of Lisa A. Vance at this time is that we are open, and we are still here for your family law needs. Whether it’s starting a divorce, doing a decree modification, or representing you in a CPS case, our attorneys are working.
While we’re not doing in-person meetings, we can conference with you via Zoom or my phone, and we can definitely email once we’ve established the basics about your case. (We find email more efficient for a lot of different matters, and we bet you’ll find it to be less expensive and more effective than calling, plus you won’t have to take notes since our answers will be right there in your inbox!)
As we also explained in a recent blog article, we are allowing clients who have Zoom court dates to come into the office. We have a large enough conference room to accommodate safe distances, and yet can confer as needed during court sessions and breaks to make sure your concerns are being addressed. If you do need to check in to court from home, of course, we can adjust for that as well. We call ourselves a fierce, compassionate law firm, and bring whatever measures of that are needed no matter what the venue.
If you’re venturing out tomorrow or in the near future, we implore you to wear masks, wash hands, and do all that you can to ensure your safety and your family’s safety. If you want to wait a while, and continue to practice social distancing, that’s okay, too! Even as people are eating and shopping local in inventive new ways, we’re hopeful that we’re all able to return to normal soon in a way that leaves no one behind or having to fight a disease that we don’t know nearly enough about yet.