[This post was originally written a few days before before Washington’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order. We have moved it from the home page to the blog.]

If you come to our office, you will notice that a few things have changed. First, there is the sign on the door warning you not to come in if you have had any cold or flu-like symptoms in the past two weeks. Next you will notice the bottles of hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes front and center when you first walk in. We won’t be shaking your hand when we come to greet you. In fact, we’ll be standing six feet away. You won’t be offered coffee, or tea, or water. And we won’t sit down in the conference room with you but will stay in the doorway.

All these changes are necessary to allow us to continue to serve your legal needs while balancing your safety and ours. We recognize that we could close the office completely and only work from home. But we know that many of our clients cannot wait until the coronavirus pandemic is over to get an updated estate plan in place or to apply for VA Aid and Attendance or Medicaid benefits to pay for long-term care. With the chances of contracting a serious illness at an all-time high, our clients deserve the peace of mind of knowing that their legal affairs are in order. We are here to help.

That said, safety is our top priority. Here are some of the things we are doing to protect you, our staff, families and community: 

• Strictly limiting in-person meetings to documents signings that require your physical presence.

• Reducing the number of staff in the office and encouraging everyone to work from home.

• Washing our hands. Then washing them again.

• Practicing “social distancing” at work and home.

• Disinfecting all common surfaces before and after each in-person meeting.

• Asking you to slide documents under the door if you are just there to drop something off.

Signing documents that legally require in person witnesses or notarization will be handled on a case-by-case basis and in keeping with the latest city, state, and federal guidelines and CDC recommendations.

For tech-savvy clients we have email, client portals for securely sharing documents, electronic signing of fee agreements, online payments, and multiple video conferencing options.

For those who like to keep it simple, we communicate by phone, fax, or the postal service.

If we are placed under a “shelter in place” order like California or New York, we are set up to work remotely for the duration and will still be able to receive emails and calls and access our files.