Thanks to the pandemic, lawyers must now be wary — very wary — of sharing their computers with their children. Case in point, the latest Zoom court mishap, brought to us by Judge Roy Ferguson of the 394th Judicial District of Texas.
As you can see in the clip below, a cute little kitten made an appearance during a hearing. You need to change your filters right meow, before you’re forced to tell a judge you’re not a cat, as this poor attorney did when he said, “I’m here live. I’m not a cat.” Check it out for some pure schadenfreude this afternoon.
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Of course, Cat Lawyer Ponton blamed it on his secretary:
“Oh, that was just a mistake by my secretary,” he said. “I was using her computer and for some reason she had that filter on. I took it off and replaced it with my face. It was a case involving a man trying to exit the United States with contraband and contraband cash. All it was was a mistake. It was taken off and we had the hearing as normal.”
But as noted by Judge Ferguson, everything turned out purrrrrfectly fine in the end:
These fun moments are a by-product of the legal profession's dedication to ensuring that the justice system continues to function in these tough times. Everyone involved handled it with dignity, and the filtered lawyer showed incredible grace. True professionalism all around!
— Judge Roy Ferguson (@JudgeFergusonTX) February 9, 2021
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.