The conveniences of virtual Continuing Legal Education (CLE) sessions, such as the lack of commute and control over environmental conditions, is no longer news to many practicing lawyers in a post-COVID world. However, an odd factor contributing to the ‘comfort’ is the decrease in the need to adhere to strict dress codes, as several professionals apparently choose to attend these virtual sessions in attires they wouldn’t ordinarily wear to a physical meeting. But just how far can the relaxed dress code go before it profoundly crosses a line?
Certainly, a recent incident at a virtual CLE session organized by LexisNexis threw all expectations out the window. An attendee, who chose to remain in her negligee, thought her camera was off. That wasn’t the case and this error led to an awkward situation, a classic case of virtual presenting gone wrong detailed in an Above the Law article.
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The attendee apparently disrobed, unknowingly exposing herself to all the attendees present at the session. While attendees alerted the presenter in the chat about the situation, the presenter didn’t act immediately, leaving the camera on for about five minutes after the incident.
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The attendee was not removed from the meeting and remained a part of it. As quoted in the above article, an attendee expressed dissatisfaction at LexisNexis’s handling of the situation and the lack of immediate response, “I cannot unsee this and I blame LexisNexis.”
In response, LexisNexis purportedly acknowledged the situation, apologized for any discomfort caused, and assured that they have discussed the procedures for controlling cameras and the protocol for discontinuing an attendee’s presence in a session going forward with their presenters.
While LexisNexis endeavors to avoid such an awkward situation in the future, it’s a timely reminder for attendees of virtual environments that although the dress code might be relaxed, keeping the camera ‘off’ while in less-than-professional attire should become the new norm. And should one forget, it is advisable to opt for a T-shirt instead of a negligee for such sessions, lest one’s legal colleagues get an unwanted peep show.