Because of COVID-19 related shutdowns, practicing family law has become difficult for many family law firms including Shemtob Draganosky Taylor, P.C, writes Sophie Panzer for The Jewish Exponent.

By order of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, most courts were closed to the public in March, excluding domestic abuse courts which operated remotely at the time. When a court would open back up, however, was left to the county to decide.

“The logistics are very different county to county because of the physical aspects of the courthouse. So, I mean, for example, Philadelphia Family Court is basically like a high-rise city building. And so elevators present a real challenge,” said Cynthia Weiss Stein, partner at Shemtob Draganosky Taylor, P.C.

Courts in Chester County and Bucks County are open and have been for over a month, whereas courts in other counties remain closed to the public and operate on a remote basis.

Couples who were in the middle of a divorce before the pandemic closures continue to have court meetings now on virtual platforms.

“We’re having a lot of pretrial conferences that used to be done in person often being done by appointment on the telephone,” said Weiss.

Attorneys at Shemtob Draganosky Taylor, P.C concentrate on providing legal counsel to clients facing divorce and other family law issues.

Read more about the challenges family law firms face because of the COVID-19 shutdowns here.

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