New services or products that support Missouri’s legal community: Deborah Weaver

Getting documents and exhibits to out-of-state depositions can be a costly, time-consuming affair for attorneys.

A new product, introduced in the past year by Alaris Litigation Services, seeks to solve those issues by making documents and exhibits available to attorneys in remote locations through the touch of a button. The Alaris Online Platform, a web-based platform, enables attorneys to manage documents and exhibits electronically.

Alaris CEO Deborah C. Weaver said the idea for the platform emerged from discerning a need to streamline exhibits and documents used at depositions.

“Obviously, there’s exhibits used in depositions all the time,” she said. “We saw a need in this day and age to put technology behind it and get away from paper.”

Alaris partnered with Devin Turner of FocalCast, a software startup company in St. Louis, to develop the platform. After beta-testing with attorneys, the company formally launched the platform and now is promoting it to firms.

The platform may be used firm-wide or on a case-by-case basis, Weaver said. Clients pay a subscription to access it.

“You might not look at it and think it’s for every case, but it’s very useful with those document-intensive cases and cases that travel as well,” she said.

Weaver said the product is responsible for savings in time and costs, particularly when it comes to shipping exhibits to attorneys involved in remote depositions.

Attorneys also may use the platform to add documents electronically, on the fly, she said. Attorneys who are not attending a deposition can share documents with other lawyers in real time.

Already, attorneys have found the platform helpful to their work, Weaver said.

“Recently we had a client talk to us about how helpful it was to impeach a witness,” she said, noting that the deposition was occurring in another state but all of the attorneys involved with the case were able to access the same documents. “Everybody in the room was on the same page.”

The platform is an extension of services Alaris provides for its clients in the areas of litigation, trial and mediation.

As CEO of Alaris, Weaver has overseen other innovations within the firm during the past three decades.

After attending Brown’s Business College, she began her career with Alaris’ predecessor, Taylor & Associates, as a court reporter in 1979. She purchased the firm in 1985. Through the years, Weaver oversaw several acquisitions of other firms.

The firm has evolved into Alaris Litigation Services, which has 10 regional offices and 71 employees.

Weaver said she was encouraged to join the legal field by her father, who was an attorney. A court reporter she knew also told her it was a good career.

“The rest is history,” she said.

For her, seeing the company grow and continue to serve the legal community has been a rewarding experience.

“Both in the people I continue to interact with, clients and employees,” she said. “The biggest thing is I’ve been able to work within an industry I have really enjoyed.”