Real Time Transcripts, Collaboration and More

Adobe® Connect™ is Adobe’s web conferencing platform for web meetings, eLearning, and webinars. My guess is that most legal professionals have taken part in a web conference which allows for computer screen sharing and collaboration. Most large law firms have access to webinar services hosted by one of the major web conferencing platforms such as Adobe Connect, WebEx, Go to Meeting, etc.

One thing that distinguishes Adobe Connect from other web conferencing tools is that Adobe positions it as a development platform. This allows our partners to create some really interesting tools that run on top of the platform to meet the needs of vertical markets.

In fact, when I saw StreamText Legal’s new add-ins for Adobe Connect, I was blown away.

Live Transcripts during your Webinar

I was invited to see a demonstration of a new Adobe Connect add-in from StreamText Legal. This addition to Adobe Connect was specifically built for the legal market.

With StreamText Legal, your webinar includes a live video and audio feed, recorded meetings, court-approved transcripts (in real-time),and the ability to collaborate on PDF documents on the fly. Best of all, it is all very easy to use.

You might wish to check out this interesting case study (PDF) which describes how the court reporting firm Veritext rolled out a new, collaborative court reporting platform using Adobe Connect.

Multi-participant PDF Annotation

Many legal professionals know that Acrobat and Reader offer numerous PDF annotation tools. The developers have created a really robust live, collaborative annotation tool which runs within the web conference. Multiple participants can select live text on the PDF simultaneously and add other annotations such as boxes, highlights, etc.

You can see a demonstration of the annotation tool here:
http://esynctraining.com/demos/pdfAnnotationTool/

Future Features

In my chat with the StreamText staff, I asked about the ability to actually transact business within the web conference.

As it turns out, the developers are working on integration with Adobe EchoSign, which will allow for the live signing of agreements.

This will offer law firms to ability to draft documents, get agreement on the terms, and sign them live, completing a transaction in real time.

Benefits of Adobe Connect for the Legal Industry

Adobe Connect paired with

• Reduce cost, time and stress associated with travel
• Enables for more frequent meetings improving quality and client retention
• Allows attorneys to manage larger case loads
• Take depositions from anywhere you are with only one requirement, an internet connection
• Attorneys can meet “face-to-face” with clients or opposing council while reviewing and marking up documents together, all in a highly secure environment
• Attend continuous legal education (CLE) sessions

Use-Cases for Law Firms

• Collaboration on PDF documents allowing you to upload a PDF at a moment’s notice. Ability to mark the exhibit with text, annotations, highlights and custom legal stamps and save the modified version locally.
• Civil cases: expedite the process if a client is located in another city.
• Record and archive meetings for playback as necessary
• State and local courts use video conferencing as a cost effective method for communicating with prisoners; it is also safer than busing inmates to court for hearings that can be held remotely.
• Access to expert witnesses regardless of location. International reach via video conferencing to get expert testimony without travel.
• Meet with people in multiple locations whether it is for a deposition or an internal associate meeting.
• Conduct training sessions to entire firm with a single trainer with access to recordings for any who were unable to attend.

For additional information, please reach out to Sean Eddington via their website http://www.streamtextlegal.net/.