Emma Heggie discusses ideas for effective uses of technology for solicitors working in the current COVID-19 climate where social distancing and working from home are currently enforced by the Government. She outlines what technologies could be useful to solicitors working remotely and assisting clients to navigate the legal system in light of the new restrictions. She also provides insightful tips on making conferences, mediations and hearings run as smoothly as possible.

Practical checklists for remote working

Home office:

Have you checked that your…

1) data is regularly updated to the cloud or to an offsite location?

2) back up device is ready to go so if your primary device has an issue you can keep working?

3) software updates are under control?

4) home office has the capability to video conference, keeping in mind that many smart phones / tablets / laptops have a built in camera?

5) headphones / headset is available to keep freedom of movement while you are on a telephone or video conference?

6) home office matches the flow of your normal office as much as possible?

Electronic briefs:

Have you considered …

1) providing counsel with an electronic brief?

2) discussing the most efficient way to provide the brief with counsel to save time?

3) whether email is possible, or if the attachments are too cumbersome, using a file sharing service such as Dropbox, TA law, OneDrive, Google Docs or Sharepoint?

4) how the brief can be most easily updated, such as by using a file sharing platform as a single central location for all brief documents?

5) generating an index, such as one exported from your file management program, adapted from a court portal, or by the following file naming structure: YYYY-MM-DD [Document Title – including reference to any annexures] [Index number]?

6) bookmarking the PDF file, if all documents are provided as a single PDF file?

7) providing documents in a searchable PDF format or using OCR so they can be searched?

File based work

Have you considered whether …

1) clients would want to conduct a court event or ADR by video rather than facing delays?

2) a video conference (such as by Zoom) with the client and counsel ahead of an electronic court event or ADR would assist with building trust in the process?

3) in case of court events being unable to proceed by video, whether they would be suitable for mediation or arbitration?

4) some work can be brought forward now to avoid delays when face to face events resume?

Some technology to consider:

Videoconferencing / video calls

Zoom (zoom.us and most app stores)

Microsoft Teams (https://products.office.com/en-au/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software and most app stores)

Google Hangouts (https://hangouts.google.com/ and most app stores)

WhatsApp (most app stores)

FaceTime (iPhones and iPads)

Productivity

Scanning documents: CamScanner (most app stores)

Team communication: Slack (most app stores)

Workflows: Trello (most app stores)

Checklists: Wunderlist (most app stores)

Limiting time on non-work websites: StayFocusd (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en)

Notetaking: GoodNotes (most app stores)

Annotating PDFs: LiquidText (most app stores)

Data backup / file sharing

iCloud (https://www.icloud.com/)

Google Drive (www.google.com/drive)

Dropbox (www.dropbox.com)

Microsoft OneDrive (https://support.office.com/en-au/onedrive)

Microsoft SharePoint (https://products.office.com/en-au/sharepoint/collaboration)