Q&A: Reporter Finds Out the Effect That the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Had on the Legal Practices of Fort Collins
Justie Nichol is a lawyer for the Nicol Gersch Petterson law firm and specializes in the legal area of criminal defense. The firm itself handles everything except murder cases and has a brick and mortar location in Fort Collins. Lawyers at the firm worked on their cases at home and were forced to adapt to the virtual challanges that were forced upon the legal system due to COVID-19. The interview took place over a zoom call and revolved around the effect the global pandemic of COVID-19 has had on her firm as well as herself.
Dustin Pokorny: Can you describe the timeline in which your firm first responded to the global pandemic?
Justie Nichol: Mid March I went to court in person and had already heard rumblings regarding COVID-19. I am immune compromised so I went in a mask and gloves. My client showed up knowing he had a fever because he was afraid he was going to get an arrest warrent if he did not come to court. My immediate response was to tell him to not touch anything and leave. I then assumed I had been exposed and shut everything down.
Dustin Pokorny: When did more of a normalcy finally begin after this initial shutdown?
Justie Nichol: Two months after I shut everything down, the judges were trying to figure out if they could do docket. Around the first of June is when I was able to start appearing on cases once again. This is when some normalcy came back as I was going to court and doing pre-trials through Zoom and Webex.
Dustin Pokorny: What is frustrating about giving legal advice during these times?
Justie Nichol: The way the jails have dealt with it. If we have in-custody clients we do not have access to them like we used to before. For example, I have a client who is in custody in the Larimer County Jail. Public defenders and private defense attorneys are not allowed in person to visit their clients, making my life difficult.
Dustin Pokorny: The inability to see your client makes sense considering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regulations, but what is stopping you from simply calling the jail and asking to speak to your client?
Justie Nichol: The Larimer County Jail does not accept appointments so you have to just call and catch them. I have called probably 15 times trying to get ahold of my client and either the front desk phone keeps ringing, the pod phone is busy, the jail is on lockdown, or they are serving lunch and you are told to call back later.
Dustin Pokorny: How have the court systems handled the COVID-19 outbreak?
Justie Nichol: The courts have suddenly figured out that they can do Webex. Court, in general by definition, is open to the public, so privacy concerns do not impact the same way that they would for a doctor’s visit during Zoom.
Dustin Pokorny: How has this transition to Webex been for your firm?
Justie Nichol: It has been fantastic for practitioners because 90% of what we do, unless it is a plea, does not require us to be there in person. Different judges have decided to interpret the state rules differently about virtual appearances where some judges will not accept a plea on a video unless they can see my client.
Dustin Pokorny: In what other ways do these state rules get interpreted differently for each judge?
Justie Nichol: Other judges ask me to identify my client and I am like “sure that sounds like the right person.” We have done everything through phone up until this point and obviously I am not checking their identifciation. I think if they are coming to court and going through this unpleasantness, they are the person that is being charged.
