Conference calls have always been an important business tool in the legal community. The need to communicate amongst multiple parties has always been a fact of life in the legal system and the benefits of doing it over the telephone as opposed to an in person meeting have been there all along. In the early days of conference calls the participants had to be called by an operator and the participants had to be at their telephone to answer it at the time of the conference. Despite the logistical problems this poses the legal community adopted conference calls into their everyday processes early and often.
In the legal community conference calls are used for many applications
- Depositions
- Consultations with clients
- Conferences with opposing attorneys
- Communication with multiple parties around the world
One of the reasons the legal community also adopted conference calls is out of sheer necessity. Many times the schedule of attorneys does not permit them to be in multiple places at the same time and by using conference calls attorneys can be more productive. The cost of the conference calls has never been as much of an issue since attorneys bill back their clients. For this reason, the most important features of the conference call are call accounting features that allow the attorneys to keep track of their billings to their clients.
The conference call features most used by the legal community
- The ability to attach a client matter number to a conference call to track expenses
- Subconferences for sidebar conversations
- Dial out to add participants
- Security features that prevent unwanted participation
Zip Conferencing has all the features listed and more. In fact, you can even see the participants on a conference call by logging into your account on your computer during the call. The invoices have the calls broken out by Moderator and by Client Matter number. And the ability to break into a side conversation assists lawyers in being able to talk to their clients alone and return to the conference call to resolve issues. And more and more, the Legal Community is realizing the benefits of web conferencing. The ability to share documents and revise them on the fly has added another tool to help improve productivity which for an attorney is the most important thing. Since attorneys bill by the hour, the more they can get done in an hour is directly related to how much they earn. For the Legal Community conference calls are not a convenience, but a necessity.
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