Exclusive: Launching Today Is The First Meeting Bot Specifically for Legal Professionals, for Use In Depositions, Hearings, and More

You’ll have observed of late that a lot of your video conferences have an unfamiliar attendee — a gathering bot, invited by one of many human individuals, that produces a recording or transcript when the assembly is over. However whereas there are a number of such merchandise available on the market, none have been developed to satisfy the precise wants of authorized professionals.

That adjustments right now with the beta launch of CoCounsel.ai, the primary legally nuanced assembly bot. It could possibly be a part of a authorized occasion comparable to a deposition, listening to or arbitration, and it makes use of legal-specific AI speech-to-text to offer a legally formatted, extremely correct real-time transcript, together with options comparable to bookmarking, tagging and archiving.

“CoCounsel.ai is poised to turn out to be an indispensable asset for authorized professionals, successfully changing extra pricey, conventional analog stenographic real-time companies,” the corporate says. “With AI speech-to-text expertise that delivers legally formatted and extremely correct transcripts, attorneys can now take management of their depositions extra effectively than ever earlier than.”

CoCounsel.ai was developed by DepoDirect, a authorized expertise firm that gives AI-powered options designed to assist attorneys in capturing and managing deposition supplies effectively and affordably. Earlier than right now’s launch, I used to be given an illustration of it by Todd Seligman, CEO; Michael Cantrell, head of product; Rob Cucurull, director of enterprise improvement; and John Wnek, head of engineering.

Authorized Nuances

Whereas different industries have assembly bots of their very own, the nuances of depositions and different proceedings require a bot particularly tailor-made to the authorized business, Seligman instructed me.

“CoCounsel.ai marks the primary legally based mostly assembly bot that may be a part of a authorized occasion comparable to a deposition, listening to or arbitration, and supply a legally formatted real-time transcript, bookmarking, and an archive of all transcripts and recordings in a single place to collaborate with an legal professional’s total litigation workforce in actual time,” he mentioned.

Whereas the corporate says that CoCounsel.ai’s AI-generated transcripts and recordings should not meant to be the official document of a deposition or different continuing, they will present a straightforward and lower-cost different to analog stenographic actual time companies comparable to LiveNote, with the added advantages of a digital collaboration platform and archive.

Here’s a video:

That signifies that, in a deposition, CoCounsel.ai is most helpful for the attorneys representing the deponent, relatively than for the attorneys taking the deposition. By eradicating the necessity for a human stenographer to offer real-time transcription in a authorized setting, it affords price financial savings from decrease real-time web page charges, no setup charges, and no hidden prices for extra connections or stenographic companies.

“Usually, the opposing counsel doesn’t have a say by which court docket reporting company is used, so they can not know if there will likely be an actual time stenographer accessible that may present a stay transcription,” Cantrell mentioned. “With CoCounsel.ai, an opposing counsel can seize the recording for themselves and get the advantages of a legally formatted tough transcript for his or her agency.”

Two states permit non-noticing attorneys to convey their very own recording tools to a deposition and one other 33 states permit it with prior discover, the corporate says. The opposite 15 states permit it with a stipulation.

How It Works

The legal professional utilizing CoCounsel.ai can schedule it prematurely to attend a Zoom assembly or invite it on the fly. For attorneys, that signifies that they don’t have to undergo a court-reporting company to arrange the real-time transcription however can set it up straight on their very own.

As soon as lively within the assembly, CoCounsel.ai generates a stay transcription, delineating the audio system, recognizing when the individuals are in colloquy or participating in query and reply, and formatting appropriately.

At any level, the legal professional can add a bookmark and remark to avoid wasting together with the transcription. A speaker tab permits the legal professional to edit details about every of the audio system and their roles (comparable to witness, legal professional or reporter). The transcript can be absolutely searchable.

Add a bookmark or remark at any level.

As they demonstrated the product for me, I used to be capable of see the real-time transcription of our name, and it gave the impression to be extremely correct. The corporate is correct 90% or extra of the time, at as much as half the price of conventional stenographic actual time companies.

After the occasion is concluded, the platform supplies a same-day post-event viewer of the legally formatted tough transcript, synchronized to the video and audio, so it may be utilized by attorneys in making ready their circumstances or for different depositions.

Within the post-event viewer, the textual content and audio are synced.

Future plans for the product embrace including the flexibility for others on the lawyer’s workforce to remotely watch the real-time transcription and in addition to observe and hearken to video and audio of the continuing.

The corporate additionally plans to launch generative AI options that may mix the stay transcript with displays and different paperwork associated to the litigation, all to offer a foundational base for querying and looking and, down the street, presumably even for sentiment evaluation.

Though CoCounsel.ai has been developed by the distant deposition firm DepoDirect, it’s supplied as a standalone product, with no requirement that clients be customers of different DepoDirect merchandise.

The product is at present being supplied in a closed beta. Anybody enthusiastic about collaborating within the beta can join the waitlist on the corporate’s web site.

Whereas the corporate has not set ultimate pricing, Seligman mentioned it will likely be priced on a SaaS mannequin and in a method that’s interesting to smaller corporations and that enables pass-through billing of prices to shoppers. There aren’t any set-up charges or per-hookup prices.