Wang proceedings “impossible” without WordWave

The decision ended a long-running saga that included a marathon 172-day hearing at the High Court back in 2002.

It’s been a long and complex process. But it could have been even longer without the help of WordWave International Asia (WWIA).

The company has provided its real-time court reporting service throughout much of the Wang proceedings. The service combines a specially trained stenography team with specialist software to provide a live, verbatim record.

A reporter transcribes everything that’s said, while an editor corrects and amends the text in real-time. The software lets those taking part, both in court and at remote locations, see and annotate the text on a laptop or PC screen, almost immediately. At the end of each session, all parties have a good quality draft of the day’s transcript to work on. WWIA then edits it, adding in readings and corrections, and delivers a final version within a couple of hours.

Over the last five years the service has developed to include a range of other document management features. But what hasn’t changed is its ability to significantly speed up proceedings, by allowing legal professionals to analyse evidence and plan more effectively.

Because of this, WWIA’s real-time service is especially useful for complex or long running cases, where there’s a lot of evidence and many people taking part. And the Nina Wang case is a great example, according to her lawyer, Brian Gilchrist.

“In my opinion, it would have been practically impossible to deal with and properly marshal the sheer volume of evidence presented throughout these proceedings without this service, particularly as much of it was technical expert evidence” he says. “This has been a high profile case, and although it was important to be thorough, it was also important to be efficient. WWIA has helped prevent a lengthy process from becoming even longer, which would have increased costs, tied up the resources of the courts and caused inconvenience to all.”

WordWave’s real-time service is used at high profile proceedings all over the world. A standard feature of court cases in Asia as well as the UK, US and Australia, it’s also routinely used at public inquiries, including the Hutton inquiry in the UK and the Circle Line inquiry in Hong Kong.

Find out more by contacting WWIA’s Managing Director Charlotte Pache on +852 2522 1608 or at: charlotte.pache@wordwave.com.hk