Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery was a visionary cartoonist and is often celebrated as a father of the street-smart and mischievous Bugs Bunny. In addition to siring Bugs, Avery created a hilarious tetralogy of animated films that parodied short documentaries demonstrating emergent technology: The House of Tomorrow (1949), Car of Tomorrow (1951), T.V. of Tomorrow (1953) and Farm of Tomorrow (1954).
Avery was a descendent of the arbitrary and capricious Judge Roy Bean. With such a legacy, it is a pity that he never made a cartoon about the Courtroom of Tomorrow. Were he still alive, Avery could have drawn inspiration from the Division One appellate courtroom in Seattle and its new electronic podium.
However, unlike the Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions in Avery's cartoons, the ePodium delivers on its promises of convenience and usefulness. In other words, the ePodium is no joke. (Rather, the joke will be on those appellate advocates who attempt to use it without investigating and practicing on it first. Please see the note at the end of this article.)
The ePodium provides you with several advantages over its Precambrian predecessor. First, it is handicapped accessible. If you are wheelchair bound, you can connect your laptop to a port on the left side of the ePodium, facing the judges, and deliver your presentation from that side without being obstructed from the view of the judges.
Second, the ePodium has two touch screens. The larger of the two screens displays Windows software, which, among other programs, runs Microsoft PowerPoint. Now, you can copy your presentations from a flash drive to the computer in the ePodium. After copying, in order to access your presentation once it is time to argue, you should minimize your presentation's window on the desktop; then you can safely detach your flash drive, making way for the next attorney.
To avoid having other attorneys mistake your presentation for their own, make sure you give your file a distinctive name. Once it is your turn to argue, all you need to do is maximize the window to access your presentation.
At that point, the touch screen allows you to use your fingertips to draw lines around the material that you wish to emphasize. When you lightly tap the screen, helpful little arrows appear. You can change the color of both the lines and the arrows by tapping the upper left-hand corner of the touch screen. The image that you see on the ePodium is transmitted, in real time, to the two large, flat-screen televisions on either side of the judges and to the judges' laptops.
Of course, before you argue, you should practice (and practice and practice) with the touch screen because it takes some time to get the hang of it, and once you do get the hang of it, you might have to restrain yourself from doodling. If you try to get the hang of it while giving your argument - on the usual lawyerly assumption that you can figure anything out - your argument may well get hung out to dry as you fumble with the ePodium to make it emphasize what you want.
The smaller of the two touch screens is a media console, which allows you to toggle between transmitting images from the computer, DVD or VHS player, and the document camera. Unfortunately, because the ePodium has only one DVD player, only one attorney will have time to cue a DVD before arguing. Therefore, in order to avoid an impromptu duel, you should probably digitize any video footage into your PowerPoint presentation.
Although you only have access to the DVD player on a first-come, first-served basis, you have unlimited access to the document camera. With the document camera, you can display documents in real time, as well as save documents to the camera's memory that you can access once you begin your argument. The camera also has a zoom function; however, instead of spending time zooming in on detailed documents with small text, you may prefer to save time by displaying brief documents with large text.
But, no matter what you do electronically, you should be aware that the judges (as always) still have the final say, particularly the presiding judge, who even has a console that can override your presentation! Had Tex Avery designed the console, it would probably have a button aimed at longwinded or ill-tempered attorneys; by pressing this button, the judge could open a trapdoor beneath the offending attorney, dropping counsel into a pit of hungry sharks. (There are rumors that certain members of the Court are intrigued by this possibility and are "working on" this function, but have no intent to announce when it is operational. It is not known if there is any truth to these rumors.)
Even though the ePodium exists to streamline oral arguments by eliminating the amount of paper you have to carry, you should be aware that computerized equipment can go awry. Therefore, you should bring real paper copies of your materials just in case the ePodium malfunctions. However, in the future, you may never need to carry anything into court heavier than a flash drive. For instance, you will be able to upload your entire brief to the ePodium, and by clicking on hyperlinked citations, guide the judges to any relevant part of a case or the record.
As Bugs Bunny would say, "Exciting, isn't it?"
For those who want to minimize the angst and excitement of "discovery learning" at argument, please note that the Court opens the courtroom a half hour before argument so that counsel may practice. In special cases, arrangements may be made through the Clerk's Office to practice when court is not in session.
Further, both the Court and the KCBA Appellate Law Section co-sponsor a one-hour CLE on the podium, which includes both instruction and practice time. That CLE will be repeated periodically when there are sufficient requests. Contact KCBA at 206-267-7016 to indicate your interest in a future "Magic Podium" CLE.
Matthew Rovner graduated cum laude from Seattle University School of Law in 2006 and was admitted to the Washington Bar in November. He can be reached at rovner_matthew@yahoo.com.
