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Get ‘Wired’ for Savings by Robert Gibson and Jennifer Beauharnais The advent of computers made huge savings possible to law offices. Now the Internet is generating a new wave of savings and efficiencies by reducing travel, eliminating paperwork, cutting delivery costs, and giving firms greater control over such activities as depositions and process service. And, Internet-enabled legal services are multiplying. The latest Internet advantage to come on the scene is “eenabled” process service, which takes much of the hit-or-miss uncertainty out of inter-jurisdictional and international service of legal documents by automating key steps in the process. Other e-enabled services coming into widespread use are Internet depositions, e-procurement and electronic filing of pleadings and other court documents. Online Depositions With traveling, scheduling and rescheduling involved, traditional depositions can be very costly. Now, however, with nothing more than a personal computer, an Internet connection and an Internet deposition provider, lawyers can join, monitor, or take a deposition “live” from any location—office, home, or hotel room. While the primary attorney attends the deposition in person, others, such as co-counsel, expert witnesses, legal secretaries and paralegals, can join in from other sites via a live Web-cast beamed directly to and from their computers. By eliminating travel, this approach cuts costs and saves time. It also simplifies scheduling by reducing travel-related conflicts. During an Internet deposition, everyone involved, including clients, can see and hear the deponent through real-time streaming audio and video. They can also read the text of the court reporter’s real-time transcript and discreetly exchange messages or suggestions for lines of questioning. Two-way audio allows offsite-to-onsite questioning of the deponent. For example, co-counsel of the deposing lawyer, or an assistant, could remotely monitor the deposition and suggest lines of additional questioning with suggestions appearing at the bottom of the deposing lawyer’s screen. This private communication also enables a lawyer to enter objections and pose follow-up questions from offsite. While the firm’s lawyers are taking the deposition, support staff working in different offices can retrieve and deliver crucial case information via an electronic messaging system. This keeps the deposing lawyer fresh on the intricate details of the case and on target during questioning. The secure transmission and display supplied by the Internet deposition provider ensures that opposing counsel and their witnesses see none of this. To participate in an Internet deposition, the deposing lawyer and any other parties designated as permitted participants simply log on to the provider’s Web site, using the case’s password. No special hardware or software is required, just a personal computer and Internet connection. Participants need no special training other than simple Web navigation skills. Once logged on to the deposition Web site, a lawyer or assistant simply clicks a button to attend a deposition. A security alert ensures that no one other than the predetermined parties can see or participate in the proceeding. The unauthorized are also excluded from participating anonymously or under a pseudonym. Firewall and encryption technology prevent hackers or unwanted visitors. The onsite set-up is simple. A miniature video camera records the witness, whose testimony is displayed as it is given. The deposing lawyer and any remote participants see the image of the deponent in the top left corner of their computer screen and hear the actual testimony through a streaming audio feed. Beneath the video picture is a messaging area, where 22 FACTS & FINDINGS / AUGUST 2003
lawyers and assistants can see the names of all participants monitoring the Internet deposition. They can also read either public messages posted to the entire group or private messages sent directly to them. On one part of the screen, the court reporter’s real-time transcript scrolls along as the words are spoken. While the proceeding is in progress, associates, co-counsel or assistants can begin marking obvious testimony points in the transcript for later review as well as adding notes to any section. As the deposition progresses, lawyers can instantly object to portions of testimony by clicking a drop-down menu with several types of objections, such as relevance, asked-andanswered, etc. The lawyer then clicks the “send” button and all parties hear the objection spoken by a synthesized voice and see it appear in the transcript. Online deposition transcripts are automatically synchronized with the streaming audio and video. When lawyers or other legal professionals edit the transcript for pre-trial preparation of witnesses or to select significant portions for use at trial, they are simultaneously editing the video. This can save the firm and its client hundreds or thousands of dollars in video post-production costs. Before Internet depositions, videoconferencing was used for remote participation in legal proceedings, but it required a large video camera, bright lights and a videographer to operate the equipment. Internet depositions require less equipment and no videographer. The costs are much less, and the unobtrusive equipment is less distracting or intimidating to the witness. Process Service Automation Clearing firms are now in place to automate those segments of the process service industry that have long frustrated lawyers—namely, the service of papers in other jurisdictions. Process service is a huge industry—a $3.6 billion market handling about 100-million documents annually. But it is also a “mom and pop” kind of business with thousands of little firms scattered across America. Many service only their own locality, and this “local” mindset explains many of the industry’s limitations. It works well locally, but once a lawyer seeks to serve papers in another jurisdiction, the system falters. Generally, the responsibility for getting such inter-jurisdictional papers served falls on the legal assistant. Until now, paralegals have had two options—both bad. With one option, the legal assistant locates a process server in the area to be served, negotiates a price, sends the papers to the process server, then follows up to ensure that the papers are served properly. This involves establishing a business relationship with an unknown entity for a one-time transaction. Because there is no likelihood of repeat business, the process serving firm has no incentive to provide the same level of service that it offers its regular customers. The law firm is gambling that it has selected a reliable firm, and even when it is right, the shepherding of the papers requires an inordinate amount of time. The other option is for the law firm to assign the job to its local process-serving firm. They, in turn, subcontract the job to a firm in the other jurisdiction and follow up to make sure that it’s done right. Although interjurisdictional process service pays much higher margins, most firms regard it as a nuisance and provide it only to maintain their customer base. They call it “foreign” process and treat it accordingly. Compounding the problem is the fact that some process servers fail to comply with the requirement that papers must be served according to the rules of the original jurisdiction. Rather than check on the rules of the original jurisdiction, many find it quicker and easier to follow the more familiar rules of their own locality. As a result, about half of all interjurisdictional serves are not completed correctly, and many have to be repeated. An obvious solution is to turn the job over to a “clearing” company that can handle the work expeditiously and provide a high level of supervision. In the past few years, such “clearing” companies have begun to provide law firms with more reliable inter-jurisdictional service. However, they are still something of an innovation, and many law firms are unfamiliar with them. Here’s how they work: First, the legal assistant initiates the process by contacting the service provider by phone, fax or e-mail and telling them that papers are ready to be delivered. The lawyer’s office receives immediate confirmation automatically by fax, e-mail or online. Next, the service provider’s system automatically dispatches a courier to pick up the papers. An expediter simultaneously assigns the job to a process server in the target area. The documents are then transported to the service provider’s office, where they are scanned into the system and either e-mailed, faxed or shipped to the process server. The system then monitors the service process until it is completed successfully and provides online status reports to the law firm 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Once the paper is served, the system automatically notifies the lawyer, and a proof of service is generated, executed by the server, and shipped overnight to the law firm. End-to-End E-Procurement Law firms are already using the most basic form of e-procurement simply by buying products and services over the Internet. Many may even be using software packages that automate the Internet ordering process. Using a system such as this can save time and cut postage and paper costs, but without integration to back-office finance systems, the firm misses out on the largest opportunities for savings. Taking full advantage of e-procurement means tying the firm’s procurement system not only into its financial system but into the systems of its suppliers as well. continued on page 24 FACTS & FINDINGS / AUGUST 2003 23
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Page 4 and 5: Call for Proposals 2004 Convention
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Page 10 and 11: Resources & Opportunities Reviewed
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Page 28 and 29: CONVENTIONSNAPSHOTS July 9-12, 2003
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Page 38 and 39: TECHNOBITS Use the Technology Elect
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