Peer to Peer Magazine

20 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | SUMMER 2016 BEST PRACTICES Electronic Courtrooms in Singapore and the U.K. Inspire U.S. Collaboration in the Cloud accessed by dispersed team members at any time and from any location and functions as a single toolbox or "war room" in which key evidence, testimony and other case-related materials in a variety of media can be shared, discussed, worked on collaboratively and connected via hyperlinks in preparation for depositions, trial and/or negotiations. Teams can apply tags, categories, notes and designations to the content within the virtual workspace and then share insights and work product with the click of a mouse. This approach has proven to be an effective alternative to the miscellany of electronic and paper-based methods still used by many law firms (say good bye to sticky notes and color- coded highlighting on printed hard copies, organizing printouts in physical binders, and emailing large documents and media files). The potential of cloud-based global workspaces for legal collaboration is only beginning to be realized in the U.S. pretrial context. One California-based firm recently launched a virtual workspace as depositions began in a large international case that allowed 69 professionals from two countries, nine cities and three law firms to work together simultaneously on designations. The team used the workspace's built-in litigation-specific tools to search, tag and annotate documents, audio and video and create over 100 customized categories for organizing key materials. Within the virtual workspace, they collectively deduped, imported and standardized designations, supplemental designations, counter-designations and objections from multiple parties using a single, secure, shared interface. Inspiration To Collaborate Seeing this work occur before a trial begins rather than in the courtroom does not diminish its importance. As 21st-century legal practice becomes increasingly mobile in nature and global in scope, and as clients turn their focus to the demonstrable value of legal services, lawyers are turning to cloud technology to streamline workflows, increase efficiency and facilitate collaborative insight to provide the best possible representation for their clients. And who knows? We soon might see the U.S. follow in the footsteps of Singapore and the U.K. with electronic courtrooms. P2P Security Considerations Hosting data in the cloud eliminates the real risks presented by transporting paper copies or storing data on portable devices, which are frequently lost or stolen. The technology used in U.K. and Singapore courtrooms is also designed specifically for work that legal professionals perform every day, such as: » Sharing documents » Tagging materials by subject, name or date » Organizing evidence and research into virtual folders or binders » Marking up and annotating documents » Establishing live hyperlinks between documents and passages Pretrial and Arbitration Collaboration Fully paperless trials and hearings are still a way off for most U.S. courtrooms, though e-filing is becoming common, and electronic presentation of evidence is picking up steam in certain jurisdictions. But legal collaboration technology — which is identical to the technology underlying several fully integrated electronic courtrooms abroad — is being adopted in U.S. law firms and legal departments as a tool for a comprehensive range of pretrial activities and arbitration management. The technology can be The U.K.'s Ministry of Justice is leading ambitious initiatives designed to modernize its courtrooms and criminal justice system nationwide.

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