Technology Giving Law Firms The Edge
On March of this year, 2019, we were asked by our IR Global colleagues Herrington & Carmichael LLP in the U.K. to assist in facilitating a remote hearing for the local Tribunal Court and their client. The client had recently moved internationally cross border to Australia. This meant she was unable attend court due to her great distance from the Tribunal hearing. Using technology in law, we approached the issue from a different angle.
Koffels Solicitors and Barristers located in Sydney, Australia were able to assist in facilitating this remote connection using cutting edge remote conferencing facilities that allowed for stable and cyber secure intercontinental communications between an officiating judicial process and their witness. Over the recent months, Koffels have been fortunate to be able to utilise a large scale optic fibre backbone connection. It has capacity to deliver 100 gigabytes of bandwidth directly via one of the country’s main data suppliers. This gives Koffels the ability to push high speed and secure communications directly through the international fibre gateway to offshore sources.
Cloud Security
We utilise cutting edge Cisco Meraki cloud based security services. Additionally, this ensures that we are able to deliver content at low latency and at large distances. During the tribunal Koffels were also able to assist the court and judicial process. We did this by providing a direct video and audio link to the witness located in Australia. The distance as the crow flies, between Sydney and London is approximately 16,983 kilometres. Undoubtedly because the international backbone travels through several nodes, the point to point distance is even greater than this. Furthermore it is interesting to note that the jitter that is usually experienced over long distances was not present. This is the benefit of having a optic fibre service direct to the node.
International Video Tribunal
Before the conference began, we undertook several test case scenarios with the London Tribunal to ensure that the actual live case would be acceptable to both parties. Koffels technicians were able to remotely assist the court in configuring their technology to ensure the connection was adequate. The court noted the excellent quality of the video link and the tribunal could begin. Additionally the Magistrate ordered that we announce who was in the room and their names. This enabled the court to begin the hearing. Koffels was able to provide a secure and trouble free remote hearing that lasted approximately four (4) hours. Thereafter the magistrate released the witness from examination and we were then able to terminate the hearing. The Magistrate clearly stated her satisfaction at the success of the remote hearing before thanking us as we took our leave.
Koffels were grateful to be able to utilise the latest technology via our virtualised server infrastructure to assist in providing communication facilities in the court process and contribute to the overall judicial process.
