An inside look at how Toronto lawyers have moved their practices onto Zoom

Once the coronavirus pandemic forced the world into lockdown, lawyers across the city started to conduct team meetings and client consultations over Zoom. The transition was not so simple. Video calls would descend into chaos as children (or pets) screamed in the background. Technical problems caused constant delays. And the profession’s dress code was tossed aside, since it’s clearly absurd to wear a full suit in the kitchen. To capture this bizarre moment in time, we spoke to four lawyers about how they’re doing, what they’ve been wearing and how they’ve decorated their Zoom-ready “offices.”

Peter Aprile is a tax litigator, meaning he likes order. A few days into the lockdown, he started to play the Star Wars theme at 8:50 a.m. each weekday to summon his eight-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son to their homeschool lessons. Aprile did the morning shift, and his wife took the afternoon. In mid-June, help arrived. The parents brought a family friend (who’s also in teachers’ college) into their bubble, so she could watch the kids during the day.

Aprile was well prepared to take his practice onto Zoom. “Our work has always been some portion remote and Zoom-based,” says the founder of Counter Tax Lawyers. “So we’re closer to business as usual than most.” His work-at-home outfit has been consistent. “I wear the same thing every day: a black T-shirt, black sweat top and a black pair of jeans.”

His children have enjoyed appearing on video calls. His son, for instance, told one of Aprile’s colleagues a particularly embarrassing story. “In Japan, my wife and I had got ramen at this hole in the wall,” says Aprile. After leaving the restaurant, they were sick to their stomachs. “My kid finds this story hilarious! And the person on the other side is having a great time, so what do you do?”

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