We setup AVL for an Adelaide law firm with a SIP Address in Webex

A local law firm and client of mine reached out to request help with the setup of an Audiovisual link (AVL) for an upcoming court case in country South Australia. Courts use AVL technology around Australia to allow lawyers, witnesses, and others to participate through a video call for a court case. For me a video call sounds much more comfortable than several hours of driving to a small town far far away. I’m all for it.

AVL technology, or better known as video conferencing, rose in popularity within Australian courts during the pandemic back in the early 2020’s but existed as far back as 2015 in SA Courts.

Not One to Rule Them All

I researched AVL and its usage in courts across Australia and found that there lacks a consist standard AVL technology. Multiple video conferencing tools exist on the market and courts use a variety of them such as Webex, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and a whole bunch of others. Therefore, the technology for the AVL depends on the court and what they accept.

Courts of recent started to limit the options and instead select a mandatory software that they expect everyone to use. In the case for my client the country court in South Australia requested them to use Webex with a SIP address. A what address? Yes, a SIP address, an older technology nearly know one knows about.

Think of a SIP address like the uniqueness of a telephone number. Everyone possesses a unique SIP address that allows another person to video call them without the need for a sharable link.

Setting it Up in Webex

To setup a SIP address for my client I signed up to a free Webex account. Once signed up I dug through the Webex documentation and found the unique SIP address. Webex provides every account, free or paid, with a unique SIP address.

The address looked similar to the following: example@meet.calls.webex.com

Note: Although free, Webex limits the duration of a call to around 40 minutes, I recommend to purchase the pro plan if you want to avoid interruptions in a call.

To test the SIP address worked as expected I opened the Webex client from the lawyers PC. I then went to another another external computer and called the SIP address with a SIP enabled conference room in Zoom. The call worked as expected and I successfully configured everything to ensure it met the requirements of the country court.

The Court Administration Authority justified their decision to use SIP instead of a sharable invite link because a SIP address allows them to dial out to an individual rather than send a link and await someone to join. As per the email they sent my client, they claimed that the process to call a SIP address as more efficient for them to commence a court case.

Help Me Sanico, SIP Ain’t Easy

Although I explained the process to setup a SIP address in Webex I know less tech savvy individuals may find it difficult to setup. It took me a lot of digging in Webex to find the address and successfully test it for my client. Feel free to reach out and we’ll be happy to contract our time to help you setup a SIP address in Webex ready for that next court hearing.