Deposing a Client in a Foreign Country: A Headache No Longer!
Pandai!
That means “clever” in Indonesian, and that is certainly how we felt at Casamo & Associates after last week’s successful videoconference with Jakarta. From a logistical standpoint, our team put in a ton of good work on behalf of our clients…and from a technical perspective, the deposition was seamless. The latter fact certainly speaks to the hard-working folks at Casamo, but also has quite a lot to do with the Zoom technology we use as part of Remote Counsel’s high definition product, Cameo II. The more we use Remote Counsel the more it seems we’re starting to sound like a never-ending commercial on its behalf, but it’s just that good.
The End of the Test Call
Perhaps it’s too early to call a time of death on the test call, but it’s certainly on its last legs when using the new Cameo II technology. Test calls are challenging: in the past, they’ve required that all parties test their connections to the meeting at the exact same time, a time soak for scheduling and a source of enormous inconvenience for international calls with large time differences.
Cameo II remedies this in two ways: first, the product is essentially a room with multiple doors, so instead of testing whether each IP address can connect to the other, you need only test that each party can connect to the room. This can be done at any time that is convenient to the attorney’s staff, and cuts down on scheduling so your support staff is freed up for other things. Secondly, the Zoom interface allows these new, more convenient tests to occur via smart phone.
Depose a Witness in HD via Smartphone
Yes, you are reading that correctly, you can quite literally depose a witness using nothing but your iPhone or Android phone from anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection.
At Casamo, we are always skeptical about claims of this magnitude. We’re only confident about suggesting a service when we’re sure we’ll be able to deliver to our clients. Our trust in Remote Counsel’s products has grown so consistently over the last year, however, that we’re ready to confidently offer this service. It turns out that the upside to this new technology is not simply that your support staff can make an 11 p.m. test call to Indonesia from the comfort of their own homes!
Show the Witness Paper Exhibits or Share Your Screen
In the legal world, most of us have participated in a videoconference deposition; we also may have professional experience using GoToMeeting-type software where a presenter uses tools to show us documents that are shared from his or her screen. The new Remote Counsel product allows us to combine these different activities into one service where you can connect IP addresses to computers, smartphones to IP addresses, and where all parties can share documents via their devices’ screens.
The World Really Is Getting Smaller. Costs Are, Too
In the past, anyone interested in conducting a Virginia-to-Jakarta videoconference would have to ask his support staff to conduct a test call between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. EST and travel to the office to do so; at best, this was a bit of a headache and a potential source of additional costs.
Although the time difference of the actual deposition cannot be changed, with Remote Counsel, attorneys and their staff are now immune to the test call timing challenges. Additionally, being able to conduct the procedure via smartphone keeps costs down by reducing after-hours billing rates on both sides of the call.
This is an exciting time, and being able to easily depose an international witness greatly expands the possible avenues of litigation strategy. The challenges therefore shift away from the technology and focus more on the basic legal requirements for deposing individuals in various countries across the world. At Casamo, we have a good deal of experience conducting overseas depositions and can work with you and your staff to ensure that the event runs smoothly from start to finish.
