In November, 2004, Minnesota Lawyer published an interesting article on the use of videoconference for legal applications. The author, Michelle Lore pointed out many of the benefits and the technological advances of the day that made videoconference reliable, effective and more economical. http://www.joanmorrow.com/mnlawyer_article.pdf
In the nearly 10 years since that article was published, there have been many technological changes. But, the benefits stay the same.
·
“It’s like having (the mediator) in the room.”
·
“Frankly, you don’t have to be a rocket
scientist to operate it.”
·
“…they
can do it on a very cost-effective basis and not have lost anything in the
process.”
·
“…attorneys
agree that the videoconferencing process is an effective alternative to traveling.”
·
“It’s a
nice efficient way to have a mediation that might not otherwise be available.”
But, in 10 years, the
difference is that the technology is even more reliable, easier to use and more
economical. It is possible now to do
this at virtually no cost, with free services, assuming you have a webcam, a
microphone and an internet connection.
“Free" is not necessarily
free, if there are issues with the delivery.
Free services may not be as reliable or easy to access as low-cost paid
services. Some free services are limited
in the number of participants that are capable of joining the conference with
bandwidth limitations. And, if you have
documents, pictures, desktop applications or video to share, you may be out of
luck.
But, the biggest concern
with free services is security. Legal consultations
should be conducted in private. In a
legal environment, one should ask “is the videoconference encrypted?” Does it allow you to “lock” the room and not
allow any unauthorized participants to join and “listen in”? Does it allow you to set a “PIN” number and
only pass that out to individuals you want or need in the consultation? Does it allow you completely control the
meeting as a host, by giving you control to mute participants, mute their video
or speakers for a private conversation, or allow you to disconnect them if the
need arises? Does it allow you to “chat”
privately with a colleague or participant?
Does it have recording and playback capability?
In 10 years, all this is
now easy to accomplish – reliability, security, and features.
State of the art videoconference systems make it simple to
connect, stay connected and add in as many participants as you need. It is simple to share content and simple to
privately “chat” with select participants to emphasize or clarify a point, or
record the conference for future reference.
10 years ago, Michelle Lore quoted a price of $5,000 to $10,000 for the equipment to set up a videoconference facility and that limited the experience to one room and a connection to a similar codec system on the other end.
Today, we can provide the same quality, reliability and security to virtually any device, on any network. Whether, you are connecting to a pc, MAC, iPad, iPhone, Android Device or a legacy videoconference Room (and by the way, even telephone connected participants can join the audio portion), anyone, anywhere on the internet around the globe to join in with high quality and low-latency connections. It is no longer necessary to have a dedicated system unless you wish to have one.
Hosted systems with no commitment start at $24.95 per month for up to 4 participants for up to 5 hours and can be adjusted monthly to accommodate usage. Inexpensive – effective – ubiquitous and full of features, it opens up new opportunities for legal professionals to become more effective.
Dave Desmarais is President &
Founder of Perinata Inc., a firm specializing in cost-effective remote
solutions for Communications, Broadcast and Electronic Events.
Contact Dave Desmarais at:
Phone: 864-885-1918
email: info@perinata.com
Website: www.perinata.com
email: info@perinata.com
Website: www.perinata.com
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