Last week, I needed to walk my client through some workflows that I had created for his firm. The trouble was he is based in Hull, which is around 270 miles away from me. That would have been a lot of time away from the office, which neither my client nor I would have been thrilled about paying for. Talking through the workflows on the phone might have been OK, but not ideal. We decided, therefore, to try a videoconference.

I’ve not been too impressed with this medium in the past. Quality has not been great, images drop or freeze and the technology is fiddly. Also, the generic solutions such as Skype allow for two 'talking heads', but I wanted my client to be able to see the workflows in action too.

We therefore tried a managed service called Legal Video Network, which offers software as a service and manages the whole process on a rental basis. The technology is taken out of the users’ hands, in essence. I’ve known about the service for a while, as I’ve been interested in the concept, and have been helping the company understand the legal market, but this was the first opportunity I’ve had to try it out.

The meeting went well and my client was able to see the workflows in action as well as my less-than-beautiful visage, and I could see him. More importantly, we could see each other’s body language, and it enriched the whole experience.

This set me thinking about the use that law firms could get out of this technology, particularly with increasingly web-based marketing where clients could reside a long way from a firm’s traditional catchment area. The opportunity arises for mixing ‘clicks and mortar’, as Professor Susskind describes the issues of dealing with clients at your office or online. This way, you can have your cake and eat it.

Although offerings such as Skype might be OK for some purposes, I am concerned about how secure they are and the technological headache that can occur when more than one person talking to another is involved. The advances made in the technology and the services available are now starting to make meetings such as conferences with counsel viable, where counsel, solicitor, client and expert might be spread around the country, but all can come together in one video setting, without the travel and costs that would otherwise be involved.

Video’s time might finally have arrived.

Full disclosure: Martin is not commercially involved with Legal Video Network and the company did not ask for this post, nor was it made aware prior to posting that Martin has written this blog. Rupert White