Virtual courts and law firms

Ontario Bar Association backs proposed guidelines for remote court hearings [Eñano]

On 04/06/2022, in Canada, game-changing environment, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

Ontario Bar Association backs proposed guidelines for remote court hearings — from lawtimesnews.com by Katrina Eñano

Excerpt:

According to the OBA, resorting to remote hearings can promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness and ensure the appropriate allocation of judicial resources.
…

In addition, the OBA provided a list of matters that should presumptively proceed remotely. These matters include:

- Procedural matters, chambers appointments, and scheduling appearances;
- Pre-trials;
- Short motions or applications;
- Motions that do not require witness attendance and are comprised of argument by counsel only;
- Summary trials.

Also relevant/see:

Lawyers increasingly concerned about interplay between virtual and in-person court operations — from lawtimesnews.com by Annabel Oromoni

Excerpt:

As civil proceedings prepare to return to in-person hearings for discoveries, mandatory mediations, and trials, litigation lawyer Eric Sherkin says lawyers are wondering about the interplay of online and in-person arguments.

Certain hearings like pre-trials and case conferences will remain remote but how it works in practice beyond that is still unknown, Sherkin says.

All parties can agree to a virtual hearing, but “how often will all counsel say, ‘let’s agree to do this on Zoom,’ or will there be fights where five lawyers want to proceed on Zoom, and one insists on doing it in person?”

What is Legal Tech, and How Is It Changing the Legal Industry? — from startup.info

Excerpt:

Legal technology is a branch of technological innovation that targets and affects the legal sector specifically. The considerable pace of new invention in tech sectors – bolstered by government investment in UK-based innovation and growth – has highlighted some avenues of innovation that could change the face of the legal profession, streamlining judicial processes and helping firms during discovery.

However, in concert with the rapid pace of new technology that benefits legal practise, the technology’s legal implications are also being raised. With a technological landscape that has far outstripped the remit of conventional law, demand for technology lawyers has increased to enable businesses and lawmakers to navigate new tech possibilities.

Four Important Technology Trends for Law Firms in 2022 — from jdsupra.com

Excerpt:

It is easy to say (two years now into the pandemic) that COVID-19 changed the legal profession forever. After a massive shift in 2020 and 2021 to working and conducting court proceedings remotely, with the help of many remote technologies, many legal professionals may wonder what lies ahead from a technology standpoint. After such a dramatic shift, are there even more disruptions to embrace?

The answer is yes! The world turns, technology keeps evolving, and so too will the legal services industry. Below are predictions of technology trends that will continue to be important in 2022 and help shape the industry in the years ahead.

With RemoteDepo™ by U.S. Legal Support, everyone can participate in a remote deposition and interact as if they were in the same conference room. With an internet connection and webcam-equipped device, you can communicate in realtime, observe witness body language and seamlessly facilitate questioning.

How Legal AI Technology Adoption Leads to Real-World Results — from jdsupra.com

Excerpt:

Contracting is just one area where in-house lawyers and legal ops professionals are seeing real-world results by implementing AI. As innovation continues to disrupt the legal tech world, AI is being introduced into nearly every aspect of practice and business. But now, AI has evolved beyond a buzzword to provide meaningful – and impactful – results.

Ironclad’s New Connect Tool ‘Cuts Contracting Time By 40% — from artificiallawyer.com

Excerpt:

CLM Ironclad has launched a new tool called Connect, which creates a centralised view of the contracting process for all parties and, they claim, can reduce contract completion times by over 40% – which is a lot whether you are a busy inhouser, or a law firmer on the billable hour.

The new capability allows you to store all communications about a deal in one place, ‘even attachments and months-long email threads’ and allows you to keep everyone involved in negotiating a contract ‘in the loop’.

ABA TECHSHOW 2022: Modernizing Court Technology with Judge Scott Schlegel [legaltalknetwork.com]

On 03/09/2022, in Access to Justice (A2J), innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, podcasting, society, telelegal, United States, user experience (UX), Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

ABA TECHSHOW 2022: Modernizing Court Technology with Judge Scott Schlegel — from legaltalknetwork.com
Judge Scott Schlegel shares essential technology tips for facilitating virtual court.

Description of podcast:

As the pandemic necessitated major tech innovations in the legal system, courts had to work hard to facilitate the continuance of justice. Host Joe Patrice chats with Judge Scott Schlegel about the process of moving to virtual proceedings, how they’re doing now, and what tech was most helpful along the way.

The best lighting for video conferencing, according to experts [Webex]

On 03/02/2022, in A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, business, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital video, distance education, education technology, higher education, ideas, instructional design, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, legislatures / government / legal, library / librarians, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, tools, United States, universities, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual K-12 schools, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The best lighting for video conferencing, according to experts— from blog.webex.com

Contents:

What is the best lighting for video conferencing?
Where should the light be for a video call?
What kind of lighting is best for video meetings?
What are the best lighting products for a video conference?
What is the best lighting for video conferencing on-the-go?
Good lighting means good communication:

Holograms? Check! Now what? [Bieniek @ Webex]

On 02/17/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, Holographic comms, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), immersion, innovation, instructional design, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, Legal operations, library / librarians, Metaverse, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, smart/connected TV, society, teaching online, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, tools, training / L&D, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, vocational / trades, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, Web3, by Daniel Christian

Holograms? Check! Now what? — from blog.webex.com by Elizabeth Bieniek

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Two years ago, I wrote about the Future of Meetings in 2030 and hinted at an effort my team was building to make this a reality. Now, we have publicly unveiled Webex Hologram and brought the reality of a real-time, end-to-end holographic meeting solution to life.

With Webex Hologram, you can feel co-located with a colleague who is thousands of miles away. You can share real objects in incredible multi-dimensional detail and collaborate on 3D content to show perspective, share, and approve design changes in real-time, all from the comfort of your home workspace.

As the hype dies down, the focus on entirely virtual experiences in fanciful environments will abate and a resurgence in focus on augmented experiences—interjecting virtual content into the physical world around you for an enhanced experience that blends the best of physical and virtual—will emerge.

The ability to have curated information at one’s fingertips, still holds an incredible value prop that has yet to be realized. Applying AI to predict, find, and present this type of augmented information in both 2D and 3D formats will become incredibly useful.

From DSC:
As I think of some of the categories that this posting about establishing a new kind of co-presence relates to, there are many relevant ones:

21st century
24x7x365
3D
Audio/Visual (A/V)
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Cloud-based
Collaboration/web-based collaboration
Intelligent tutoring
Law schools, legal, government
Learning, learning agents, learning ecosystems, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces/hubs/pods
Libraries/librarians
K-12, higher education, corporate training
Metaverse
Online learning
Telelegal, telemedicine
Videoconferencing
Virtual courts, virtual tutoring, virtual field trips
Web3

RTO – Will That Drive Partners (yes, partners) to Parachute Into Virtual Firms? [lawandmore.typepad.com]

On 02/12/2022, in 21st century, change, ideas, law schools, Legal operations, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, telelegal, Virtual courts and law firms, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

RTO [Return To Office] – Will That Drive Partners (yes, partners) to Parachute Into Virtual Firms? — from lawandmore.typepad.com

There are options. One is joining a virtual firm. Another is launching one. To that startup, they can take both fellow partners as well as associates.

From DSC:
Along the lines of change within the legal realm, also see:

Goodbye Big Law, Hello Fixed Fees + Legal Tech — from artificiallawyer.com

Those differences can be broadly grouped into three main areas: dumping the billable hour; more use and better use of technology when possible; and operating with far lower overheads.

Reuters Legal News – No Paywall! No Onepass! Customizable Legal News — from legaltechmonitor.com by Jean O’Grady
What Does The Metaverse Look Like For Law Firms? — from abovethelaw.com by Jared Correia

Why Wall Street thinks the metaverse will be worth trillions [Warner]

On 01/28/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, 5G, A/V -- audio/visual, Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), business, change, changing business models, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, cryptocurrencies, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, innovation, Metaverse, Microsoft, platforms, society, streams of content, technologies for your home, telecommunications, United States, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, wearables, web-based collaboration, Web3, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Why Wall Street thinks the metaverse will be worth trillions — from fortune.com by Bernhard Warner; resource from Ori Inbar on Twitter

Also from Ori Inbar:

China’s Big Tech leads in VR and AR patent applications. But China’s metaverse may look different from everyone else’s — from fortune.com by Yvonne Lau

The Future of Digital Court Reporting [Sirna, Calloway, & Nelson]

On 12/29/2021, in 21st century, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, society, telelegal, trends, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

The Future of Digital Court Reporting — from legaltalknetwork.com by Tony Sirna, Jim Calloway and Sharon Nelson
Tony Sirna gives an overview of the evolution of digital court reporting and the improvement it has brought about in court proceedings.

Also see:

Webinar: What NOT to do in 2022. Legal Tech trends to ignore! — from onit.com

Excerpt:

How can you sort the helpful trends from the hype?

Three experts from Buying Legal, Consilio and Onit recently gathered to discuss just that. Together, they explored the current state of legal tech and AI, how corporate legal departments should function as we enter the new year and which current legal trends are better to avoid.

Read on to learn which legal tech trends you might want to pass on as we enter 2022.

Virtual law firms see 38% jump in recruitment [McCulloch]

On 12/15/2021, in game-changing environment, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, telelegal, UK, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

Virtual law firms see 38% jump in recruitment — from personneltoday.com by Adam McCulloch

Excerpt:

In late 2020, 1,355 lawyers worked for such virtual firms, a number that has risen to 1,875 by autumn of 2021. In 2019, 1,272 worked for such firms.

Also see:

8 Ways Lawyers Are Getting Together Online This Year — from jdsupra.com

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment [Penn Law]

On 12/09/2021, in Access to Justice (A2J), Canada, game-changing environment, ideas, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Michigan, podcasting, society, strategy, technology (general), United States, Virtual courts and law firms, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment — from law.upenn.edu with Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack

Excerpt:

Bridget Mary McCormack is Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and is a leading voice on modernizing court systems to expand access to justice and deepen public confidence in legal systems.

On this episode, she joins us to share her thoughts on how courts can learn from the experiences COVID-19 has created to better serve the public in a post-pandemic world. She also shares her views on how regulatory reform can transform legal services and why improving legal systems matters for the entire American experiment.

Addendum on 12/13/21:
Ontario Court Lays Down the Law on Technology Competence and Video Proceedings — from legaltechmonitor.com by Bob Ambrogi

An Ontario judge has laid down the law on technology competence, ruling in no uncertain terms that every lawyer has a duty to keep pace with changing technology, and that a lawyer’s discomfort with new technologies — in this case, video depositions — is no excuse for reverting to pre-pandemic methods.

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work [Ganta]

On 12/09/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, assistive technologies, Augmented Reality (AR), corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, digital audio, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engineering, experimentation, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, interface design, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, ubiquitous learning, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, vocational / trades, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work — from blog.webex.com by Kedar Ganta

Excerpts:

Webex [on 12/7/21] announced the public preview of its native meeting experience for Glass Enterprise Edition 2 (Glass), a lightweight eye wearable device with a transparent display developed by Google. Webex Expert on Demand on Glass provides an immersive collaboration experience that supports natural voice commands, gestures on touchpad, and head movements to accomplish routine tasks.

Why Do My Webcam And Microphone Not Work? — from techlearning.com by Luke Edwards
Webcam and microphone not work? This is how you can get up and running.

Excerpt:

Webcam and microphone not work? That can be a frustrating situation to be in, especially when you need to teach a class over Zoom or attend a school meeting using Meet. Whatever your video chat platform, without a microphone or webcam working, you’re stuck.

Thankfully, it can often be the case that it’s not a hardware fault with your device but rather a setting issue, which can be relatively easily fixed. So even if you’re in a chat right this minute, frantically scouring the web for a fix and finding yourself here, you may yet join that meeting.

This guide aims to clarify a few areas that should be checked before going into panic mode and heading to your hardware store with the credit card at the ready.

TechReport 2021: Cloud Computing [Kennedy]

On 11/18/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Microsoft, pace of change, trends, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

TechReport 2021: Cloud Computing — from lawtechnologytoday.org by Dennis Kennedy; with thanks to Cat Moon for this resource

Excerpt:

The 2021 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report will be important historically because it gives us the first look at how lawyers responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Spoiler alert: we did not see anything like the movement to the cloud we expected in 2020. In fact, the 2021 results might be interpreted as another example of lawyers being late arrivals to technologies widely in use in other professions and businesses.

Nonetheless, we still expect the practice of law to be much more cloud-intensive in the near future than it is now, with courts and clients driving many of the changes. Do you think Zoom meetings, online court hearings, and other forms of online collaboration tools will really go away after what we’ve seen in the pandemic?

In the legal profession, it’s still a much different story. Legal is a lagging industry in cloud use. That said, it is still surprising that even in 2021 the reported use of cloud computing in law practice stayed flat or even declined—despite the pandemic and all the news coverage about Zoom meetings and working from home. This result is difficult to comprehend, let alone explain.

IAALS: “…the importance of retaining some of the virtual proceeding processes put in place during the pandemic.”

On 11/15/2021, in change, ideas, innovation, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Michigan, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

IAALS’ Comment to the Michigan Supreme Court on Virtual Proceedings and Lessons Learned from the Pandemic — from legaltechmonitor.com by Broke Meyer and Natalie Anne Knowlton

Excerpt:

IAALS, a nonpartisan, non-profit research organization, looks at ways to improve the legal system, specifically in the areas of civil justice, family justice, the judiciary, legal education, and the legal profession. IAALS has been monitoring court practices around the country as it relates to policies around virtual proceedings. As part of our Paths to Justice Summit Series, IAALS has held several virtual convenings with a diverse group of experts and stakeholders across the justice systems. From those convenings, IAALS published two issue papers, “Learning from this Nationwide Pilot Project—Reducing the Costs and Delays of Civil Litigation” and “Learning from this Nationwide Pilot Project—Ensuring Access to Justice in High-Volume Cases.” Both papers focus on lessons learned, upcoming challenges, and areas for further research. In this spirit, we hope to provide a broad perspective on the importance of retaining some of the virtual proceeding processes put in place during the pandemic.

After many years of urging reform in these cases, we have witnessed incredible innovation and adaptability in the Michigan court system during a crisis. IAALS and other leaders in civil justice reform have urged many of these reforms—such as remote hearings—for years, and we have now seen these innovations happen on the ground. Michigan should capitalize on the unique opportunity to evaluate and learn from these changes to improve access to justice.

Excerpt from “Use of digital technologies in judicial reform and access to justice cooperation — from HiiL (The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law)

Learning Ecosystems

Ontario Bar Association backs proposed guidelines for remote court hearings [Eñano]

ABA TECHSHOW 2022: Modernizing Court Technology with Judge Scott Schlegel [legaltalknetwork.com]

RTO – Will That Drive Partners (yes, partners) to Parachute Into Virtual Firms? [lawandmore.typepad.com]

Why Wall Street thinks the metaverse will be worth trillions [Warner]

The Future of Digital Court Reporting [Sirna, Calloway, & Nelson]

Virtual law firms see 38% jump in recruitment [McCulloch]

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment [Penn Law]

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work [Ganta]

TechReport 2021: Cloud Computing [Kennedy]

IAALS: “…the importance of retaining some of the virtual proceeding processes put in place during the pandemic.”

Excerpt from “Use of digital technologies in judicial reform and access to justice cooperation — from HiiL

Categories

Tags