Safely Re-opening July 6th, 2020

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All three of our locations (HQ in Vancouver, All-Star by Reportex in New Westminster and Island Reporters in Victoria) will be reopening for in-person proceedings on Monday, July 6th, 2020

We can’t wait to welcome you back! 

Here are a few of the things we are implementing to keep everyone safe while at Reportex:

What to expect before your proceeding…

  • Clients, witnesses and onsite staff will all be screened for new symptoms before every job, through a self-questionnaire (either via email or onsite). Anyone exhibiting fever, chills, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, new muscle aches or headache will be asked to leave. 
  • Start times will be staggered to avoid congestion in our reception areas.
  • At Reportex HQ we are currently utilizing boardrooms on three floors. You will receive detailed instructions the day before your proceeding, which will direct you to your specific floor.  

Sanitization & Protection…

  • We have installed plexiglass shields in boardrooms and at reception to provide additional comfort and protection. 
  • A supply of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and disposable face masks will be readily available in our offices at all times for clients, witnesses and staff. Please consider wearing a mask while in our offices. 
  • Our extensive disinfection procedures will include cleaning all common touchpoints and surfaces every 30 minutes (outside boardrooms).
  • Once your proceeding concludes, the boardroom will be sanitized thoroughly in preparation for the next proceeding. 

During your proceeding…

  • Please comply with any signage in the boardrooms.
  • Congregating will not be permitted in common/reception areas or at food serveries, and break times will be staggered as much as possible to avoid congestion in the common areas/washrooms. 
  • Videoconferencing equipment will be available in every boardroom at each location to accommodate any remote attendees (and our remote proceedings technicians will be available to assist).
  • We will not be requiring witnesses to hold a bible when they are sworn in. Witnesses may bring their own bible, or we will disinfect a bible prior to use if required.)

Food Service…

  • We’re working on a solution to provide our mediations with Chef Nye’s extraordinary catering! Please stay tuned for further developments.
  • In the meantime, individually packaged snacks and bottled water will be available for your enjoyment. You are also welcome to bring your own beverage/food.

For a full list of our detailed protocols please click here to view our COVID-19 Protocol, which will be updated as needed.

Mandatory Zoom 5.0 Upgrade, Zoom Meeting Tips & MS Teams Reminder

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By Kiran Deol, Appeals Coordinator & E-Trial Tech

Important: Mandatory Zoom 5.0 Upgrade

Effective May 30, 2020, you must upgrade your Zoom account to version 5.0 in order to attend any meetings.  You can check your current version of Zoom by going to the main screen (before you log in).  At the bottom of the page you will see the version that you are currently using.  If you do not have the latest version of Zoom, you will be asked to upgrade by your Reportex Technician, as failing to do so will result in technical issues.

Zoom meeting Tips

These tips will help you prepare for your upcoming zoom meeting.

Please remember that a dedicated Reportex technician is always available on our remote proceedings to assist with any technical issues that might arise.

Internet Connectivity

In order to have the best possible Zoom experience, you need to start with an appropriate internet speed to avoid lagging.

  • If possible, use a hardwired connection (as opposed to wifi).
  • Zoom recommends a 25 mbps download speed and 5 mbps upload speed. You can test your connection at www.speedtest.net. If your speed does not meet these parameters, you should contact your internet service provider to discuss your options to upgrade your speed.
  • Avoid running multiple applications while attending a Zoom meeting, as this can slow down your internet speed significantly.
  • Avoid running Zoom (or any other conferencing platform) through a VPN or virtual desktop, as this can create connection and audio difficulties. Instead, join the Zoom proceedings locally on your computer.

Sharing Documents Onscreen

Zoom allows users to share documents right on your screen for everyone to see. Follow these tips to create a smooth experience for everyone:

  • Always ‘stage’ the documents you want to put to a witness. Having them open as PDFs (or in a folder on your desktop that is readily accessible)
  • Sharing documents will allow everyone in the meeting to see the specific document
  • Sharing your screen will share your entire screen, including your toolbars, desktop and whatever program/document/website you have open

Note: Reportex suggests sharing documents rather than sharing your entire screen as you may have sensitive documents open (such as your examination questions).

Video/Sound

In order to replicate as close to an in-person proceeding as possible, please do the following to facilitate clear video and sound:

  • Avoid sitting in front of a window to avoid creating a shadow. Instead, try to have a window in front of you or beside you. If you must have a window behind you, add a lamp to your work area for added light.
  • Do a test at https://zoom.us/test to ensure your webcam and mic are functioning properly
  • If you are connected via multiple devices, mute one of them to avoid echoing
  • If you do not need to speak, mute your mic so that there is no background noise

MS Teams Reminder

The Provincial Court recently announced the approval of MS Teams for trials.

A step-by-step guide to appearing in a MS Teams proceeding and surrounding etiquette can be found here.

While at Reportex we prefer to use the Zoom and WebEx platforms, we are prepared to support our clients using MS Teams. We will be offering firm training sessions on MS Teams for clients who are required to use that platform for court or any other remote proceeding. To book a MS Team training session, please contact us today and we will be happy to assist.

Kiran Deol, Appeals Coordinator & E-Trial Tech

Security, Remote & Office Services Update

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MS Teams:
The Provincial Court recently announced the approval of MS Teams for trials.

A step-by-step guide to appearing in a MS Teams proceeding and surrounding etiquette can be found here.

While at Reportex we prefer to use the Zoom and WebEx platforms, we are prepared to support our clients using MS Teams. We will be offering firm training sessions on MS Teams for clients who are required to use that platform for court or any other remote proceeding. To book a MS Team training session, please contact us today and we will be happy to assist.

Zoom:
Zoom 5.0

A friendly reminder that Zoom 5.0 (released April 27) is now available. This is a mandatory update for all Zoom users.

The Zoom 5.0 update includes support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption.

According to the Zoom website, this encryption provides added protection for meeting data and greater resistance to tampering.

More details on the Zoom 5.0 update and features (including how to report a user and the new encryption shield) can be read on the Zoom blog.

Return to the office:
Reportex, All-Star by Reportex and Island Reporters are all tentatively scheduled to reopen July 6.  In preparation for this, we are currently establishing protocols and taking all necessary steps to ensure compliance with health and safety measures to keep our staff, reporters and clients comfortable and protected.

Until then, we will continue to offer remote proceedings to all of our clients.

Let’s Connect: A warm welcome to the Reportex Community (Blog Launch)

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By Megan Ejack, Marketing & Communications Director

Life begins and ends with connection.

To connect means to share something – an experience, a moment, a wifi password, a smile…

Whether we are living during a pandemic or not, connection is everything – it is a basic human need. Without it, we can become lost.

At Reportex we are always looking for new ways to connect with our clients, with our community and with our team. From the moment you call us to book a boardroom or a proceeding, to the smiling faces who greet you when you walk through our doors, we pride ourselves on the personal connections we make every day. When you are in our office, Chef Nye and the office services team aim to provide a seamless experience from beginning to end, full of special touches, and although we aren’t there right now to physically provide you with the thoughtful extras we are known for, our entire team is still working hard behind the scenes. 

As we have taken a step back from in-office life these past weeks, our tech team has stepped up to help us stay on the leading edge of our e-services so our clients can remain connected to their work. 

The legal community as a whole has really moved into a time of vast innovation, and as we look towards the future of our industry we will continue to provide workshops and training to help navigate these new platforms and tools.

In fact, these training workshops and platforms like Zoom, WebEx and Teams have allowed for a new kind of connection!  In a strange way, it has been nice to be able to see all of your faces out of your work attire, in your homes and kitchens, with children or pets lounging in the background.  Professional has become personal.

At Reportex our leadership is striving to keep our team connected through regular check-ins, social media and platforms like Zoom and Slack that allow us to move forward with our work.  We continue to host meetings, offer teambuilding workshops and even enjoy a few virtual happy hours together. We recently conducted all of our performance reviews online, which was a totally new and highly successful experience.

We have always had team members located all over North America – from the West Coast, through the Kootenays and Midwest to the East Coast – but we are suddenly tapping into all these fun ways to get to know each other a little better. This is especially important for our newest colleagues, having recently joined forces with Island Reporters and our new division, All-Star by Reportex!

We are all finding new ways to connect.

As our social media community continues to grow through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn we have launched this blog as another means of sharing information and creating even more connection. Over the coming weeks we will be introducing you to various members of the Reportex team as they share their thoughts on connection, keeping you current with our regular ‘Security & Remote Services’ update and providing fresh, informative and entertaining content.

First up on the blog (next week) will be the face you see when you walk through the door, Nicole Riglietti, our Receptionist/Client Services ambassador!

We hope you continue to stay well during these challenging times. Please remember we are here to help, and we are only a quick call, click or email away.

Stay safe and connected. We are #inthistogether.

Security & Remote Services Update (Including MS Teams)

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MS Teams Videoconferencing Platform

Our technical team has now completed its testing of the MS Teams platform. 

While Teams does offer some of the features that both Zoom and WebEx have (such as sharing documents, unique Meeting ID and password settings and a chat feature), it has no breakout room functionality at this time, rendering it unusable for mediations.  Further, each MS Teams licence has a limit of up to 5 guests per Microsoft account.  This means that, for larger discoveries and hearings, every participant will have to create a Microsoft account in order to access the meeting.

Microsoft Teams’ greatest drawback, however, is the confusing user interface.  It is unintuitive and difficult to navigate compared to Zoom or WebEx.  We anticipate that this will lead to significant delays in proceedings due to increased technical assistance and troubleshooting for clients and counsel, who all bring varying degrees of technical know-how to remote proceedings.

Zoom Videoconferencing Platform – Security Update

Starting May 9, 2020, all meetings conducted with Free or Basic accounts (including previously scheduled meetings, new meetings and meetings started or scheduled using Personal Meeting IDs) will require a password.  Since Reportex password protects all of our meetings, there will be no change to your joining experience for those who use Reportex to facilitate their remote proceedings.

On May 30, 2020, Zoom 5.0 will launch, enabling GCM encryption across the entire Zoom platform, providing increased protection for meeting data.  As part of the Zoom 5.0 upgrade, Zoom will upgrade to Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit GCM encryption, which is a big improvement over its previous 128-bit AES encryption. After May 30, 2020, all Zoom clients using older versions will receive a forced upgrade when trying to join meetings as GCM encryption will be fully enabled across the Zoom platform; in other words, you cannot join meetings after May 30 without upgrading to 5.0.  If you or your client have discoveries or mediations scheduled for May 30, please ensure that you update your Zoom client in advance. 

 Comparing the Zoom, WebEx and MS Teams platforms

FeatureZoom ‘Pro’ LicenceWebEx ‘Free’ LicenceWebEx ‘Training’ LicenceMS Teams
Freshly generated meeting ID and password created for each unique meeting****
Apply a virtual background**
(iOS only)		*
(iOS only)		*
Touch up your appearance*   
‘Waiting Room’ feature (to prevent unauthorized access)****
Mute audio and stop video****
Participants can change their display name after logging in*  *
Host can change participants’ display name after logging in*   
Prevent participants from changing their display name after logging in*   
Lock the meeting to prevent participants from joining after a certain time****
Non-hosts can invite other participants****
Make another participant the host/presenter****
Chat feature****
Disable the chat feature*** 
Breakout rooms* * 
Ability to join a breakout room you are not assigned to    
Leave a breakout room and re-enter the main session area unannounced n/a* 
Show documents or screen within the platform without uploading to US server****
Allow remote control of a document to another participant****
Record feature****

“Having Reportex manage the technical aspects of the virtual mediation was invaluable to me as mediator. Jake, the technical representative, was great, communicated with the parties, arranged all the rooms, gave me a tutorial on moving from room to room and dealt with any and all technical questions the parties had during the day, leaving me free to focus on getting the matter resolved.”
Marina Pratchett (Mediator)

Meet Dr. Chris Watt

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Join Reportex and Integra as we co-host a free webinar on Conducting Remote IMEs on Thursday, May 14th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm.

Special guest Dr. Chris Watt.

Listen and learn from special guest Dr. Chris Watt as he shares his experiences conducting an entire assessment and physical examination via video.

Dr. Chis Watt is a Certified Sports Medicine Physician through the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine and is a Certified Independent Medical Examiner through the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners. He is the Medical Director at Integra Medical Consulting, a locally owned and clinically managed IME agency based in BC with clinics in Vancouver, Kelowna & Edmonton. Dr. Watt is a peer article reviewer for the Canadian Family Practice Journal, and has written articles and made presentations on topics related to sports medicine, occupational medicine and the management of mood disorders. He has provided evidence in BC Supreme Court on numerous occasions.

This webinar will cover a range of things, including:

  • Pros & Cons: The benefits and pitfalls inherent to the process
  • File briefs: Information that would be useful to have on hand
  • Process overview: How it may differ, depending on the circumstances
  • Prepping a client: Key information and tools to provide to your client
  • Best practices: Communication between lawyers and doctors for the most effective examination
  • Q & A following the presentation.

Space is limited. Sign up here to reserve your spot!

Security & Remote Services Update

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Reportex continues to provide secure, user-friendly facilitation of remote services utilizing the Zoom and WebEx platforms.  Next up in our extensive testing by our Systems Team at Reportex is MS Teams.  Upon initial review, Teams does not offer a breakout room feature, so it’s not a solution for mediations; however, it was recently approved for use within the provincial government, so we are testing its suitability for discoveries and hearings. 

There are literally dozens of additional videoconferencing platforms (such as GoToMeeting, Skype for Business, Google Meet, Blue Jeans, etc.), and we will investigate and test these programs for potential use.  If your firm requires you to use a specific platform, please let us know so we can try to accommodate your needs.

At this time there has been no official directive by either the courts, the Law Society or any of the various lawyer associations regarding which platforms are approved by the courts. That said, the court of appeal recently announced that they will be hearing matters via Zoom.  We understand that the BC Supreme Court is currently testing the MS Teams platform as well. 

HELPFUL COVID-19 LINKS:

Court Information

Legal Groups & Associations

General Information

Remote Proceedings: Comparing the Zoom and WebEx Platforms

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Remote discoveries and mediations have now become the new normal and as things continue to evolve, so do the tools and platforms available to you. Security, effectiveness and ease are all equally integral and at Reportex, we are continuing to monitor the rapidly changing landscape carefully to provide our clients with the best possible resources and support.

What sets us apart to ensure your security?

In addition to handling all the admin and setup for remote proceedings (including obtaining and managing email addresses for all participants), our Systems Director and qualified technicians are following each new security development in the Zoom and WebEx platforms and are implementing solutions to provide our clients with the highest level of cybersecurity and service quality.  Here are just a few things that we do for every remote proceeding we host:

  • Reportex ALWAYS uses a unique login and password protection for all remote proceedings (including discoveries, mediations and arbitrations). 
  • We ALWAYS enable the ‘waiting room’ feature so that no one can join the meeting without express approval of the Reportex technician.
  • We ALWAYS disable the ‘chat’ feature so that witnesses and other participants cannot use the platform to chat with someone outside the discovery or mediation.
  • We ALWAYS have a dedicated Reportex Technician on hand at all times who is monitoring the platform. The technician can remove non-permitted users from participating or sharing any content with the group and can prevent them from rejoining the meeting.
  • We NEVER double up on setup options, meaning there is always a freshly generated Room ID for each unique proceeding.
  • We NEVER allow people to share documents through the ‘chat’ screen but instead use the ‘share’ function, which is secure.
  • We NEVER use the recording feature, and our technicians and reporters are constantly watching to ensure that this feature is not engaged.
  • Your Reportex technician is ALWAYS available to provide training and support and to deal with any security or technical issues that may arise during your proceeding.

When working with Reportex, you can be assured that our Systems Director and qualified technicians are following each new development and are managing solutions to provide our clients with the highest level of security and quality experience.

Comparing the Zoom and WebEx platforms

We have created this comparison chart of the relevant features of both Zoom and WebEx.  Please note that since the free version of Zoom only permits a 40-minute meeting session, we have not included this platform.

FeatureZoom ‘Pro’ LicenceWebEx ‘Free’ LicenceWebEx ‘Training’ Licence
Freshly generated meeting ID and password created for each unique meeting***
Apply a virtual background**
(iOS only)		*
(iOS only)
Touch up your appearance*  
‘Waiting Room’ feature (to prevent unauthorized access)***
Mute audio and stop video***
Participants can change their display name after logging in*  
Host can change participants’ display name after logging in*  
Prevent participants from changing their display name after logging in*  
Lock the meeting to prevent participants from joining after a certain time***
Non-hosts can invite other participants***
Make another participant the host/presenter***
Chat feature***
Disable the chat feature***
Breakout rooms* *
Ability to join a breakout room you are not assigned to   
Leave a breakout room and re-enter the main session area unannounced n/a*
Show documents or screen within the platform without uploading to US server***
Allow remote control of a document to another participant***
Record feature***

Helpful Links

“I did my first Zoom mediation with Jake of your office yesterday. An excellent experience.”
John Moshonas, Whitelaw Twining