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Many
great trial lawyers are successful because they are
good
storytellers. Words uttered by a skilled trial lawyer
paint vivid mental images that are so real that everyone
in the courtroom becomes transformed into eyewitnesses
of the events being described. Eyes are opened wide
and ears listen keenly as the skilled trial lawyer
takes his audience on a journey of well-placed crescendos,
measured pauses and strategic whispers. All of this
is often done with little or no visual aids. Increasingly,
however, great trial lawyers are able to tell even
better stories with the help of technology. The right
image displayed at the right time is worth the proverbial
thousand words. When used effectively, courtroom technology
even allows the trial lawyer less gifted in gab to
paint vivid visual images that are as effective as
the mental images painted by their skilled counterparts.
But, technology has not just benefited lawyers. Courts
have benefited immeasurably from technology. With
juror management software, courts are able to manage
every aspect of jury service. Legal databases give
courts access to appellate cases within minutes of
being decided. And, with electronic filing, case files
are easily accessible. Soon recent advances in technology
will be as much of a fixture in the courtroom as the
bench itself.
Basic Tools of a Modern Courtroom
There are a myriad of
items that maybe found in a modern courtroom, but
there are two basic tools that most modern courtrooms
have--computers and presentation podiums.
There is, perhaps, no
one item that personifies the advancements in courtroom
technology more than the computer. As computers have
become more compact, their spread into courtrooms
has exploded. Computers are increasingly more common
on the bench and at counsel's tables. Computers at
counsel's tables make legal research possible with
a few strokes of the keyboard. Legal research may
be conducted online or via CD/DVD. Attorneys are able
to access emails, keep all of their trial notes, pleadings,
and exhibits on thumb drives that fit in their shirt
pockets and do all of this while keeping an eye on
what's happening in the world. Computers also make
Realtime© available. Realtime© displays
everything that is being transcribed by the court
reporter as it is happening. Testimony may be searched
using keywords. Notes on key points may be taken in
the margins next to testimony as it is given. Statements
made on the record may be reviewed instantly. Realtime©
is invaluable to courts as well as it aids in making
better rulings by providing an accurate account of
what has occurred so that objectionable testimony
may be viewed instantaneously.
In addition to computers,
many modern courtrooms have presentation podiums.
Presentation podiums replace lecterns serving as command
centers from which a lawyer is able to direct the
management of his case. Most presentation podiums
contain a document camera that is connected to a projector
or some other device that will display exhibits. A
document camera looks and works in many ways like
an overhead projector. The major benefit that the
document camera has over the overhead projector, however,
is that there is no need to make transparencies. Any
exhibit placed on the document camera will be projected.
Want to display a fingerprint? Simply place the subject's
finger under the document camera and zoom in. The
document camera is able to magnify the finger large
enough so that the individual ridges of the fingerprint
may be counted. Pictures, diagrams, weapons, and drawings
of every sort may be displayed in the same manner.
Document cameras and projectors make poster boards
and easels obsolete.
Displaying an exhibit
is good, but what good is an exhibit if it can't be
marked on? To address this problem, modern courtrooms
may also have a digital annotating system or electronic
display board that allows users to mark on exhibits
as they are being projected. These marks overlay the
exhibit leaving it untouched. The exhibit containing
the markings may then be printed and introduced. The
witness and the attorney mark on the exhibit using
a digital annotating tablet or touch screen monitor.
Pointers and markers are no longer needed.
The presentation podium
will also often contain a computer and/or connections
for a laptop, a DVD/CD/MP3 player, a VCR, and a tape
cassette recorder. In many systems, the attorney controls
these items through a device that interfaces everything
at one central point.
Technology is collecting dust
While some forge ahead
into a world connected by small mobile wireless devices
containing libraries full of information, many are
being dragged, some kicking and screaming, into the
future. Dust is collecting in the strangest places.
It's not the lecterns, easels or poster boards that
are getting dusty. Instead, dust is collecting on
keyboards, document cameras, and touch screen monitors.
Why? Well, no matter how great technology may be there
are too many "old dogs" that don't want
to learn anything new. Also, technology, no matter
how great, will fail. The failure will come at the
one time when it is needed most to work. Finally,
fear of the unknown is a paralytic.
Become resigned to the
fact that problems will occur. Bring the old tools
only as a back up. And finally, remember, the man
that brings a pocket knife to a machine gun fight
will probably end up on the short end of the stick
at the end of the day.•
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