STATEMENT TO CLIENTS CONCERNING CORONAVIRUS AND ENSBERG LAW GROUP CONTINUING OPERATIONS TO PROSECUTE ALL EXISTING AND NEW MATTERS

 

March 17, 2020

Dear Clients, old and new,

With the unprecedented spread of the coronavirus, we wanted to take a moment to share with you what Ensberg Law Group is implementing to ensure the safety of our staff while continuing to advocate for you. As the situation around the coronavirus evolves, we are taking all necessary steps to protect our employees and their families while still diligently representing you in your current matters and prosecuting any new matters you may have, and will be taking all necessary steps in accordance with the WHO and CDC’s best practices.

In anticipation of possible quarantining, we began putting in place the infrastructure for remote operations for all attorneys, paralegals, and staff. By doing so, we are able to continue advising our clients by utilizing Skype, telephonic conferencing, and other technologies. These changes have enabled us to maintain communications with our clients no matter where they are in the world and to continue to work on their matters through any mandatory quarantine period.

Knowing that even in the worst of times continued access to justice and redress are fundamental to our way of life, we have initiated a work from home policy to allow all attorneys and staff to work from home to limit the employee footprint at our office. Because of the previous steps taken, we were prepared to exercise such a policy and will continue to represent you in your matters with little to no interruption.

As for the Courts, things are continuing to evolve very quickly. Los Angeles County Superior Court has closed for three days until March 19, 2020, and will reopen for limited emergency matters. For our eviction clients, we have already been receiving lockout cancellations from the Sheriff Department and believe that we will be receiving more. Whether or not lockouts will be cancelled indefinitely is unknown at this time. We will update our website periodically as more information comes in. We have also received notice from the Courts that trials and various other hearing are being continued. We have received notice that Los Angeles County has placed a moratorium on evictions through May 31, 2020. We are awaiting confirmation of that from the Los Angeles Superior Court. Moreover, Governor Newsom has also placed restrictions on evictions which will affect the timeline of evictions outside of Los Angeles. As you can imagine, this is a very fluid situation and the Courts are trying to determine how best to strike a balance between access to justice and public health.

Nevertheless, the Courts implemented technology advances last year and all filing of court documents is done electronically enabling us to file all necessary documents from the office and multiple staff locations. Also, CourtCall telephonic appearance technology has been in place in the Courts for many years which allows our attorneys to appear at hearings telephonically from their office or homes. As such, we do not believe there will be a complete indefinite shutdown of the Courts. But, we will have to follow the lead of the Courts as they continue to make decisions on how to proceed.

However, the transactional matters we handle are not affected by Court closures. Wills and Trusts (Estate Planning), business formation, contract preparation and review, and other non-litigation services are continuing as usual. Furthermore, if you have any questions on how your personal or professional business may be affected by the coronavirus events and governmental response please feel free to contact us.

In closing, Ensberg Law Group is continuing to work without interruption through this time while also practicing the safest business practices to help reduce the chance of community spread. Please feel free to contact us to discuss your current or new matter and we will answer all of your questions.

Be safe and be kind to your neighbors. It looks like we are all in this for the long haul and we are prepared to do so.

Ensberg Law Group