Courtroom trivia quiz: In what year was the first documented case of “multi-media technology” used in a courtroom proceeding? Hint: It comes from a Hollywood movie in which attorneys use a news reel clip with freeze frames and stop-action stills to reveal the faces of various local citizens involved in an act of mob violence. It’s not as recent as you might think,1 and you may be surprised to learn how long attorneys have been using visual presentation technology and techniques to better present their cases.
Computer visuals and technology are common in courtroom proceedings today as attorneys strive to keep up with the fast pace of today’s culture, the ever-shortening attention spans of modern jurors and their acceptance — if not insistence — on being entertained through the use of technology.
Hugh Keefe teaches trial practice techniques at Yale University. Part of his teachings focus on how attorneys have always endeavored to find the best way to present information. “Courtrooms — contrary to public opinion — can be terribly boring places, and trials can be terribly boring,” he says. “So, an issue for trial lawyers always is how to [spice] it up.”2
The Rise of High-Tech Courtrooms
A first step for the attorney new to technology is to seek out a wired courtroom, ranging from various local institutions, such as the U.S. District Court in Seattle, all the way to the Courtroom 21 pilot project at the William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Va., which is billed as “the world center for courtroom and related technology information and experimentation.”3
Federal courts have long held an advantage over state courts in their adoption and integration of technology. Although it can be hit-and-miss, the best approach is to survey the court once the venue has been determined. Check with the bailiff, ask the clerk or take a field trip and you may find a certain amount of communal equipment that can be utilized or reserved.
However, some court-maintained equipment can be spotty at best. Many law firms now own their own basic equipment for court appearances, minimally consisting of a trial laptop, screen, projector and document camera (often referred to as the ELMO).4 Track down who maintains and controls this equipment in your firm, check it out, practice with it, and become familiar with what’s available and how best to use it.
For large cases, companies specialize in integrating visuals, graphics and illustrations into case presentations. This includes systems replete with full matrix-switching capabilities, a kill-switch override button located at the bench, and integrated audio and video. The companies also provide on-hand assistance to troubleshoot problems and ensure that all goes as planned. This leaves the attorneys free to focus on the legal aspects of presenting a case.
System Specifications and Requirements
When presenting material from a laptop onto an external display, you’ll want to be sure you’ve rehearsed your presentation once or twice. Have a troubleshooting cheat-sheet from your IT person or have a trial presentation technician available to help with setup and implementation.
Get there early and test your presentation with the actual equipment that will be used. There can be slight variations in projectors that require thorough testing. It also is useful to run through the entire presentation or slide show. PowerPoint shows may have so many embedded graphics that they can become quite sluggish and slow to respond. Run through all the slides once and they will load much faster when you run through the program again.
Also familiarize yourself with your laptop’s display settings. Some newer laptops can run such high resolutions that projectors even just a year or two old may not be able to handle the presentations properly. Court personnel should be familiar with the proper settings for their equipment.
With your hardware set, you next need to determine the proper electronic file formats for integrating materials into a trial database. It is crucial to get documents in an electronic format as early as possible. Work with a qualified vendor to get your documents imaged, get them on CD and begin to work with them in a digital format.
If you are going to utilize video deposition testimony, be sure to order it in a digital format from your vendors and to specify MPG1 files — the common denominator in trial presentation applications. “Authored” DVDs should be avoided for in-court use; they can be viewed only on a home player. Though the quality is much higher, if you want to use it in court, the video has to be converted.
Once in the proper format, designation edits are a snap. These can even be done on the fly to adjust for admissibility rulings and prepare perpetuation testimony for use the next day.
Presentation Software Options
The most basic and widespread trial presentation software is probably already on your computer — PowerPoint. In fact, PowerPoint may be able to take you through the majority — if not the entirety — of a small case. A printout of the slide show will allow you to go directly to certain slides. Advanced users can set up custom shows that link out to other areas of the slide show and jump back to a pre-designated “home” page.
The next realm of presentation applications greatly enhances what you can do with documents, video and case materials. The ability to pull up documents on the fly, create highlights, zoom into certain sections, compare documents side-by-side, as well as create video perpetuation edits and/or impeachment clips quickly and easily, all can be accomplished through use of a sophisticated trial presentation application.
The two main applications are Data Corporation’s “TrialDirector” and Verdict Systems’ “Sanction.” Which program to use often is a matter of personal preference, experience or support availability. If you or your litigation support team are going to try operating the software yourself, you should test both programs.
As with documents, be sure to get your work product in an electronic format early on. This allows you to begin working with the digital files, creating clips, making reports and highlighting particularly important testimony. Clips also can be edited into PowerPoints and used for mediation or settlement purposes.
When You Can Utilize Computer Presentations
Admissibility of visual presentations is discretionary; for example, the federal rules are unclear on the specifics of what is allowed. In general, if the parties agree, judges are likely to allow the materials.
Visual presentation displays are for illustrative purposes only and will not be admitted into evidence. Rather, they are used to help the jury’s understanding of the issues. Although documents may be highlighted with certain sections pulled out for emphasis, only the underlying documents are admitted into evidence.
The Art of Persuasion
The attention span of today’s jurors is increasingly shorter. Attorneys telling their story need a way to ensure that the jurors are able to follow it.
People are by and large visual learners. Research shows that juries prefer any kind of visual display, from hardboards to electronic formats. If information is presented through more than one method, retention levels increase dramatically. Any presentation technique — if repeated too often — will eventually become boring and uninteresting.
Pulling up documents through a trial presentation program and interacting with the trial technology specialist can break up the presentation of documents through PowerPoint alone. The ELMO is not only great for three-dimensional objects, but it also can be used effectively with documents. By placing documents on the ELMO, attorneys can draw and highlight right on the documents and zoom in to focus on particular sections.
The simple use of visuals helps jurors’ understanding of the facts and moves proceedings along more quickly. Jurors are a captive audience; beware of boring them or seeming to waste their time. The faster you are (while still being efficient), the more likely the jury will be to respect you, your case and your arguments.
Once you start to dig into technology, you’ll find it’s not all that complex or overwhelming as perhaps it first seemed. And the basic task remains the same.
As Richard Sherwin, of New York Law School, states, “Law has always been about story-telling … about framing esoteric rules into popular stories that people can relate to. The challenges are going to be a little bit different, the methodology may be different, but it’s still Aristotle, even if it’s a digital Aristotle.”5
Chris Hazelmann is president of Prolumina Trial Technologies whose mission is to be the leading expert in the effective use of technology for the visual presentation of evidence in the practice of law. The company’s services and expertise include trial consulting and litigation support services. Hazelmann graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio where he received a B.A. in linguistics.
1 Fritz Lang’s film, “Fury,” released in 1936.
2 “Multimedia Display at Issue in Skakel Appeal,” NPR’s Morning Edition, Diane Orson of member station WNPR. Friday, February 4, 2005. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4473947
3 http://www.courtroom21.net/company/index.html
4 ELMO is actually the name of a manufacturer, but much like Kleenex, the term has quickly become a generic catch-all for document presentation cameras. Other manufacturers include WolfVision and Dukane AudioVisual.
5 “Multimedia in the Courtroom,” NPR’s All Things Considered, Diane Orson of member station WNPR, November 20, 2002. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=850600
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