By Katelyn Polantz and Zoe Tillman , From The National Law Journal

With less than a week until Pope Francis’ arrival, one of Washington’s largest industries is taking a wait-and-see approach to the downtown disruption the visit will bring.

The pope’s parade, Masses and other events stretched over three days are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of onlookers and to prompt extensive road closures in downtown and other parts of the city. The visit also could disrupt law firms, many of which employ more than 100 attorneys and staff downtown, and the city’s federal and local courts near the National Mall.

“We may call an audible the day before,” said Lewis Rose, DC-based managing partner of Kelley Drye & Warren, whose Washington office is near the Georgetown waterfront.

Several others firms, even those in Georgetown and Foggy Bottom, which are well-removed from the planned papal events, will allow a liberal leave policy for their workers and are staying flexible through next week, they said. Of 25 large firms surveyed, 10 said they either hadn’t made a decision yet or would allow flexibility to their staffs. Others will be open for business as usual.

“Fortunately, folks are busy, clients are busy, and we have a number of things scheduled in the office those days that we are preparing to go forward with,” said Paul Kiernan, executive partner for Holland & Knight’s office near Farragut Square downtown. “But we will follow the advice of the district and the federal government to be cooperative and keep everyone safe.”

Tony Pierce of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and chairman of the Greater Washington Board of Trade told companies during a papal visit briefing last week “that DC was open for business.” As for his firm’s plans, “We’ll be working as best we can as long as we get down to the office” near Dupont Circle, said Pierce, Akin’s partner in charge in Washington.

Wiley Rein, on K Street near Connecticut Avenue, is embracing the uncertainty. The firm will offer flex time, and they’ll bring in lunch for those who work in the office on Sept 23, according to a firm spokeswoman. No word yet where the lunch might be from.

Reed Smith’s closure, and cases rescheduled

Judges have made firmer decisions than law firms to clear their schedules.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the local U.S. Bankruptcy Court will be closed on Sept. 24, in anticipation of the pope’s visit to the U.S. Capitol in the morning and other events scheduled that day, a court official announced on Thursday.

The federal courthouse, located a few blocks from the National Mall and the Capitol, will still be open to the public. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is housed in the same building, has yet to decide its operating status on the 24th. In the meantime, arguments in three cases scheduled for Sept. 24 were pushed back from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Circuit Executive Betsy Paret confirmed the scheduling change was due to the pope’s visit to Congress that morning. She told the NLJ in an email that the court was informed that “things will clear up after noon.” The pope is scheduled to address Congress at about 9:30 a.m. and then make a brief appearance in front of the Capitol at 11 a.m. before heading to another event downtown.

In the days leading up to the district court’s closure announcement, judges with hearings scheduled for that day issued rescheduling orders on their own. U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, citing the “papal visit to Capitol Hill,” earlier this week rescheduled a Sept. 24 hearing in Gawker Media’s case against the U.S. Department of State over access to records related to Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan put out an order in a criminal case on his docket rescheduling a hearing set for Sept. 24. Sullivan confirmed in an email to the NLJ that the date change was due to the pope’s visit. Sullivan said: “Traffic will be challenging to say the least and many people may want to take advantage of opportunities to see the pope.”

Only one of the city’s largest firms has decided as of Thursday to close. Reed Smith, managed by partner Gary Thompson in Washington, is anticipating an “impossible” downtown for commuters who drive in. Reed Smith will close the D.C. office Sept. 23 and Sept. 24 and has encouraged employees on deadlines to work from home. The office will physically be open if firm employees want to use it as a home base to follow the Pope’s activities around town; that’s what Thompson plans to do.

“It doesn’t seem fair to put them through the paces of a commute like that,” Thompson said. “You can sort of see where this is heading, the momentum of it. I think it’s only a matter of time before the various law firms and private companies downtown come to the same realization.”

What the court is weighing

The pressure is building, however, for courts and other in the legal industry to close or reschedule business downtown.

The D.C. Superior Court announced on Thursday that the court would operate on an “emergency schedule” on the Sept. 24. Judges will only hear arraignments, new referrals in juvenile cases and preventive detention matters, according to a court spokeswoman. All other hearings will be rescheduled.

The U.S. attorney’s office had been trying to reschedule hearings in Superior Court during the days that the pope is in Washington, according to a letter Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent Cohen Jr. emailed this week to the chief judges of the city’s local and federal courts.

Cohen asked that the judges—especially in Superior Court, where there are 75 trials and more grand jury hearings scheduled while the pope is in town—consider the strains that the pope’s visit will place on local law enforcement, including his office.

The Metropolitan Police Department and other law enforcement agencies will devote significant resources to the pope’s visit, Cohen said, which means officers won’t be available to come to court during those days.

“The United States Attorney’s Office has been informed by numerous law enforcement partners that the logistical and security demands posed by this visit are likely to cause significant challenges to the normal operations of the criminal justice system in the District of Columbia,” Cohen wrote.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

The federal government’s Office of Personnel Management has already encouraged government workers to telework during the visit days next week.

IMAGE: Pope Francis during a general papal audience at St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican in Italy, on September 9, 2015.
Credit: Rex Features via AP Images

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202737461454/Law-Firms-Courts-Brace-for-Popes-DC-Visit#ixzz3m6JIn2j4

See also related iNews Cayman story published September 19 2015 “Pope Francis arrives in Cuba ahead of US tour” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/pope-francis-arrives-in-cuba-ahead-of-us-tour/