On March 17, 2020, Monterey County issued the Shelter in Place Order. On that same day, the Monterey Courts suspended all non-essential functions through April 3, 2020. This means that a small minority of cases related to In-Custody matters will continue to be heard. Otherwise, the Courts are closed to the public. This same closing has happened throughout all state courts this week.
Swartz and Kennedy considered everything we could do to help protect our clients, staff, and our Central Coast community and continue to provide the full spectrum of legal services to our clients.
Swartz & Kennedy is considered an Essential Business by Monterey County because we provide professional services to assist in compliance with legally mandated activities and we also support services for other Essential Businesses. Therefore, we are permitted to remain open to business and the public as we were before the Shelter in Place Order was issued to provide those services.
Nevertheless, Swartz & Kennedy has chosen to take steps to continue to serve our clients and at the same time do everything possible to protect our clients, staff and the Central Coast community in which we practice. Therefore, we have decided that the physical location of Swartz & Kennedy at 550 Hartnell Street, Suite A-1, is closed. Swartz & Kennedy will be open for scheduled appointments where remote procedures cannot accomplish the legally required act. On those occasions we will take all precautions recommended by the Center for Disease Control, including social distancing, sanitizing all areas and instruments before and after use.
Swartz & Kennedy has all the up to date technology and instruments in place for remote work to replicate the in-office work environment, so that our attorneys and staff can continue to serve their clients at the same high level as in-office work.
Our attorneys are generally working remotely and also in the office for essential legal matters that cannot be handled remotely. Our staff are working remotely, and are able to perform legal work they performed while in the office, including communicating with clients through phone calls and emails, working with all legal counsel and adjusters through email and phone calls, preparing and filing all legal pleadings with the courts, accessing court documents and calendars, negotiating and resolving all claims, and remotely meeting with prospective new clients and accepting new clients. A skeleton staff is in the office part-time for essential legal work.