The #1 overlooked reason Zoom has taken over virtual legal proceedings
“What do you mean we don’t have any depositions on calendar,” I said in a panicked voice to our scheduling manager. “They don’t want to do virtual depositions. They’d rather wait until things go back to in person,” she replied.
That was April of 2020. Now, according to an article posted by notarize.com, 50% of all depositions will be conducted virtually in perpetuity.
Most legal professionals know, lawyers don’t like changing the way they do things. They want to look the witness in the eye when they ask that perfectly timed question, buried between a seemingly innocuous line of questioning. That is one example of the art form of being a litigation attorney. How could that be done virtually?
I spoke to a lot of attorneys back then and there was a common theme. They said they can’t “read” the witness virtually like they can in person. That something was “lost” in the virtual ether.
Back in March 2020, attorneys waited a full 4 months before they begrudgingly began to schedule virtual depositions. Today, the vast majority of virtual legal events are conducted on Zoom. There isn’t even a close second.
But why Zoom? Video conference platforms have been around for years. Across most industries and even casual conversations between friends, in a seemingly saturated video conference market, Zoom rose above all the others. Why? It isn’t because Zoom has better features or more bells and whistles that others don’t. The answer isn’t so obvious, but should be.
Zoom is the best at the one thing video conference platforms are supposed to do extremely well. That is, to allow people to virtually communicate easily and effectively. It just works. Every. Time. Whether you’re driving in your car on your phone, using an ipad in a coffee shop or a dusty old laptop, it simply works. Video conferencing is primarily about communication, not fancy features. And there is no better example of this advantage playing out than the legal industry.
Depositions, for example, usually involve seven to ten people, in different locations, with some perhaps in the same location. The attorneys charge a lot of money for their time. In addition, the cost of the reporter and videographer is substantial and the star of the show, the witness, may be an expert with a high hourly rate or someone with a narrow scheduling window. And all these costs and ensuing (no pun intended) theatrics typically involve a lawsuit with potentially millions of dollars at stake. This is not your ordinary Zoom call with grandma. This is now ON THE RECORD.
If one out of those ten participants cannot get into the virtual meeting, or gets in but can’t hear, or can’t be heard, now you have 10 people wasting their valuable time. All it takes is one little technical difficulty and at best, thousands of dollars are being wasted trying to troubleshoot, and at worst the deposition is cancelled, causing all sorts of financial waste and conflict between the parties.
This is why DepoDirect, unlike other court reporting providers, decided not to try and replace Zoom, but to integrate with it. However, at the end of the day, Zoom is still a generic video conference tool and lacks legal specific nuance around exhibit presentation and transcript formatting and more.
This is where DepoDirect’s integration with Zoom becomes so powerful. Our legal specific technology has empowered our clients with the best in class live deposition experience to compliment our deposition management platform, which gives attorneys the legal tools they need to conduct an effective virtual deposition.
It takes 21 days to create a habit. It’s been 2 years of attorneys using Zoom in virtual litigation. Zoom is now fully entrenched in the legal landscape at this point. Virtual legal events are here to stay, and attorneys know they can be effective in preserving the record they need. They have learned to “read the virtual room” as much as they can read a physical room.
And now, with DepoDirect’s Zoom integration and partnership, legal professionals and attorneys can easily schedule, perform live virtual legal events, receive all transcripts, videos and securely manage exhibits, in one singular, purpose built platform that has something very important in common with Zoom. It simply works. Every. Time.
To check out DepoDirect’s new Zoom integration and purpose built platform, click HERE.
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