“Remote” is the hottest word in business today — at least next to “Zoombombing”.
In the legal space, the sudden, forced shift to working remotely has led to a scramble among law firms and court reporting firms to identify technologies that enable them to continue to do business as best as possible. Makes complete sense.
But there’s a part of this that doesn’t make complete sense.
In law, as in countless other professions, we used to take in-person interactions for granted. Witnesses, attorneys, court reporters, and videographers routinely conducted depositions in person. Court proceedings required the physical presence of individuals. Paralegals, associates, and partners routinely worked together from an office. Today, all that is gone.
It makes sense that the immediate impulse is to replace these in-person interactions with virtual ones. Hence the rush towards using videoconferencing services and remote deposition services to capture these interactions as best as virtually possible.
The key element that is still missing from the race to find technology is what happens after the interaction is complete. Ok great, you have the virtual deposition. Now what?
How does each partner and associate create their own page:lines on the deposition?
How do they discuss key moments in witness testimony to shape their arguments?
How do paralegals compile all of these page:lines and key moments?
How do you deliver pleadings to courts or share with opposing counsel?
How do you do all this in a world where your daily lives (kids, pets, older household members) are tightly intertwined with your work life and it’s not feasible to just shut them off for eight hours a day like in the good old days of Early March, 2020?
You need Remote Collaboration.
You need the ability to create page:lines on your own time and not have to worry about when others on your team are working on theirs.
You need a system that automatically captures each attorney’s thoughts, updates them in real-time, and makes them instantly available to everyone — all while retaining context.
You need a platform that enables paralegals to compile everyone’s inputs in just a few clicks, instead of wading through endless email threads and accidentally missing a significant detail.
These are all tasks we took for granted when we were meeting in person, and now we have to relearn how to manage all of these efficiently — often with Buddy barking in the background, or Ashley asking for help with her homework, or Nana wanting an afternoon snack.
So while remote deposition tools are great and necessary, they’re just the starting point. You also need a reliable and secure remote collaboration platform that can enable you to power through these times and beyond. Contact Threadeo to see how we can help you do just that.