Behind the Screens: Meet your IT Team at Reportex
Offices Reopening:
Reportex, All-Star by Reportex and Island Reporters are preparing to reopen our offices on July 6th. There is much work to be done to ensure that all PPE and safety protocols are in place. We are right in the thick of phase 2 here in British Columbia, and our leadership and IT teams are watching, planning and adjusting our approach to ensure we meet – even exceed – best practices.
Remote Services:
Please note, our IT Team is always here to ensure your safety and security during all virtual and live discoveries, trials, hearings and other proceedings
Behind the Screens: Meet our IT Team
When our offices first closed on March 23rd, Reportex’s leadership and IT team immediately shifted focus to remote proceedings. We’ve conducted dozens of webinars and private tutorials on conducting remote discoveries and mediations and we’ve researched and tested numerous videoconferencing platforms. Over the past few weeks on the Reportex blog we’ve been discussing various tips and tricks and providing security updates to help keep our clients – and their witnesses and documents – safe and secure while working remotely using Zoom, Webex and MS Teams.
We’ve all gained far more experience and confidence using these tools than we ever imagined we would need this year. With the heavy lifting mostly behind us now, we’d like to turn our attention to the faces behind the screens and introduce you to our virtual technicians.
The past few months have been challenging for all of us, both personally, and professionally. This has been particularly true for our IT Team. Within two days they had our entire office staff working from home and then they were immediately launched – catapulted, really – into training, facilitating and troubleshooting remote proceedings. Add to that the constant stream of questions and requests from hundreds of clients and the ever-changing security updates and requirements across the various platforms and you’ve got a serious hair-straight-back (or beard-straight-back, as our systems director Brandan Berry would say) situation for our technicians, day after day.
In order to keep ahead of these rapid changes, our IT Team has been sprinting a marathon. They’ve been starting early, working late and foregoing precious weekends, tirelessly ensuring that Reportex continues to be the industry leader that our clients and team can trust to keep them working securely and efficiently.
Both as a team and as individuals, they’ve hit it out of the ballpark – we aren’t going to be shy about it! We are so incredibly proud and appreciative of our extraordinary IT Team at Reportex and want to give them the special shout-out and recognition that they deserve!
And so, without further ado, please meet our amazingly talented, charming and generally awesome Reportex IT Team:
Brandan Berry, Systems & E-Trial Director
Currently watching or reading: Space Force (Netflix)
Pineapple on pizza? (yes or no): no… never… should be illegal
Favourite hot sauce: Home made Sweet/Smokey/Spicy Mayo (Real Maple Syrup, Liquid Smoke, Sriracha, Real Mayonnaise)
Top 3 phone apps: Imgur, RIF is Fun, Putting the phone on Silent (setting, not app)
Top tech tip: Just because there is an update for your software doesn’t mean it is a good idea to update. Always confirm what changes they applied as it might affect your work flow or break something unintentionally. Only time you should update is if it fixes a bug, adds a worth while feature to the application that you want to use, or for security patches.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Jake Jaffe, Trial Coordinator & E-Trial Tech
Jake joined Reportex in 2020. Prior to joining Reportex, Jake was a practising attorney in New York City, where he focused on personal injury and insurance coverage litigation. Outside of his 6-year stint in New York, Jake has lived in Vancouver since birth. In his spare time, Jake enjoys performing music, running, and crosswords.
Currently watching or reading: Insecure, Ozark, Top Chef
Pineapple on pizza? (yes or no): YES! (but only as part of a Hawaiian)
Favourite hot sauce: Heartbeat Blueberry Habanero
Top 3 phone apps: Slack, Twitter, Spotify
Top tech tip: When in doubt, Google almost always has the answer you’re looking for.
Kiran Deol, Appeals Coordinator & E-Trial Tech
New to the team! Be sure to read Kiran’s blog post on Zoom Tips & Tricks here.
Currently watching or reading: Binge watching Modern Family (Netflix)
Pineapple on pizza? (yes or no): Yes!
Favourite hot sauce: Valentina Red hot sauce
Top 3 phone apps: Instagram, Pinterest, Slack
Top tech tip: Make sure your internet connection is good enough to support Zoom. Recommended speed is 25 mbps and download speed is 5 mbps. This can be tested at www.speedtest.net
We would also like to take this time to welcome Max K, our Digital Content Director, back to work, and welcome Stuart Blackie, our new in-house IT Support Tech, to the Reportex team.
Max K, Digital Content Director
Currently watching or reading (and platform): Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness
Pineapple on pizza? (yes or no): Pineapple on pizza is a Canadian classic and as an immigrant to this country it’s one of my favourite bits of Canadiana. I tweak Sam Panopoulos’s original 1962 recipe by ordering it with pineapple and sausage. The acidity of the pineapple does a great job of cutting the fattiness of the sausage.
Favourite hot sauce or condiment: Recently I’ve been enjoying El Yucateco Black Label habanero sauce. The peppers are charred, which gives it a really smoky flavour.
Top 3 phone apps: Google Drive, Adobe Scan, Mini Motorways
Top tech tip: My top tech tip is to use the built-in Windows keyboard shortcuts to speed up how you work. The Windows key and the arrow keys snap your current window to one side (filling up exactly half the screen), maximize it, or hide it. Windows+E will open a new Explorer window, while Shift+Windows+S will let you snap a screenshot that can be pasted or marked up and saved. Check out the full list for some other handy features!
Stuart Blackie, IT Support Tech
New to the team!
Currently watching or reading (and platform): The Sopranos (DVD)
Pineapple on pizza? (yes or no): Yes, always
Favourite hot sauce or condiment: Chipotle Tabasco
Top 3 phone apps: Reverb, Podcasts, Instagram
Top tech tip: Like most things in life, Google can help you out of confusing situations.
