Don’t worry. Big Brother isn’t watching you. It only seems that way in Jay Nogle’s office at Miami’s Greenberg Traurig. There’s a small video camera on top of Nogle’s computer monitor, and it’s capable of capturing all of his activities. (No napping, Jay.)
Greenberg Traurig isn’t actually trying to monitor Nogle’s activities. The video camera is part of an ambitious plan for the rapidly growing firm to stay connected through videoconferencing. Some of the videoconferencing units are on the lawyers’ desktops, allowing attorneys to confer from the comfort of their offices rather than the sterile surroundings of a conference room. Nogle, a lawyer, is the director of legal systems, so he gets to play with one of the toys. Greenberg Traurig has nearly 500 lawyers in 17 offices. That’s three times as large as it was 10 years ago. Although the firm is on the move, its leaders don’t necessarily want its lawyers to be. Enter videoconferencing.
