UPDATED: March 16, 2020

With the rapidly changing challenges brought about by the threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus, we want you to know what steps we are taking to ensure that our clients and our team are protected.

As of today, we will continue to operate on as “normal” of a schedule as possible. All of us are impacted by the recent changes in our lives, including school closings and the prospect of working from home (or even being out of work) as a result of the safety measures that have been put in place.

Beginning last week, we started working remotely and will continue to do so until further notice. We were able to do this because we started implementing processes and procedures to create a paperless office years ago. As a result, we have remote access to your files and our phone system. We are actively looking into solutions to notarize your documents remotely as well on an as-needed basis.

As a result, we will immediately be offering video-conferencing in lieu of in-person meetings for all clients.

Here is some additional information for those of you with upcoming court dates and in-person client meetings:

Court Dates Continued:

Last week, Chief Justice Cheri Beasley entered an order implementing measures designed to curb the spread of COVID-19 and minimize the risk of exposure caused by crowded sessions of court.
Consistent with the Chief Justice’s order, effective today, all family court cases will be rescheduled for at least 30 days, with limited exceptions.
As a result, if you have a court date pending between now and the middle of April, it will be continued. We will notify you via Clio of your new court date.

Guidelines for In-Office Meetings:

Clients With Symptoms:

In the event that you or family member has symptoms related to those associated with the Coronavirus (fever, persistent cough, shortness of breath) we ask that you do not come to the office.
Please contact us so that we may schedule a video or phone conference in lieu of an in-person meeting as referenced above.
To date we have no team members or clients that have known exposure to, symptoms related to, or confirmation of the coronavirus.

Extra Family Members at Office Meetings:

For safety reasons, and as a courtesy to other people in our office, if you will be bringing children to the office, you must have another adult with you to watch them outside the office while you are meeting with the lawyer.
Due to the sensitive nature of the discussions we have with family law clients, it is not advisable to have the child in the conference room during your meeting with the lawyer.

Schedule & Upcoming Appointments:

Although we are working remotely, we will continue with normal business hours for the time being.
Normal business hours could change based on how this situation progresses within our community.
In the event you wish to reschedule an appointment for a later date, please contact us at your earliest convenience.

Measures We Are Taking:

We are staying current with the CDC guidelines and updates.
We wipe down our conference room with a disinfectant wipe after each client meeting.
We have added a disinfectant wipe down to commonly touched areas at least once daily.

In closing, the safety of our clients is of utmost importance. We are confident that we will be able to move past the Coronavirus in the very near future. For future updates, I encourage you to visit our website at https://www.jameshartlaw.com or find us on social media, including Facebook and Instagram.

Thank you for your continued patience during this difficult time.

Jim Hart

Dear Clients and Friends,

During this time of uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus, the last thing we at The Hart Law Firm want to do is make your life even more stressful than it already is.

However, we do want to keep you up-to-date on what is happening with your case and our office in general.

During the past several years, we have transitioned into a paperless office as you are already well aware. In hindsight, this decision has been a smart one as it allows us to easily work on your case from anywhere – not just in our office.

As a result, we are currently working remotely until further notice, which means that there will be nobody at the office to greet you if you stop by without telling us first.

Here is what this means for you practically:

We are still meeting with clients in the office… for now. However, you will need to have an appointment scheduled and on the calendar ahead of time so that someone will be there to greet you.
If you would rather not come into the office, we will use video conferencing software to meet with you virtually.
All initial consults will still be conducted at the office and in-person until further notice. If you are scheduled for an in-person meeting and would rather reschedule or meet virtually, please let us know and we are happy to accommodate you.
Our phone system is also virtual, meaning that we are able to place and receive phone calls on our cell phones. You may have to deal with the occasional barking dog, but we are still here for you when you need us.

Everything else is business as normal. If you have a court hearing, you should plan on attending unless or until the courthouse is closed. Click here for more information about courthouse closings.

If you have any other questions, you may reach out to us via email or to our main number at (919) 883-4861.

How We Are Handling the Coronavirus at The Hart Law Firm