Effective Use of Courtroom Technology: A Lawyer's Guide to Pretrial and Trial

Contents

Acknowledgments
Address for Comments
About the Authors
How to Use the CD
Preface

Part I: Courtroom Technology: An Overview

Three levels of technology
Common problems-the general lay of the land
Summary of experience to date

Part II: Discovery

General problems in discovery involving technology
Discovery of documents
Discovery of photographs
Discovery of video
Digital format materials
Internet discovery repositories

Part III: Pretrial

Deciding on equipment
Deciding on software
Preparation of exhibits
Disclosure
Equipment issues
Arrangements for making the record
Videoconferencing for pretrial matters
Other uses of technology by the court during pretrial

Part IV: Trial

Preliminary matters
Objections to evidentiary exhibits
Objections to illustrative aids

Part V: Tips and Techniques for Using the Equipment

Background
Evidence camera
Laptop computer and presentation software
Projector and projection screen
Monitors
Annotation tools
Color video printer
Audio Systems
Videoconference

Appendix A: Federal Courts with Courtroom Technology
Appendix B: Federal Court Local Rules with Respect to Courtroom Technology
Appendix C: Sample Pretrial Order Provisions
Appendix D: Helpful Resources
Appendix E: Federal Rules of Evidence
Bibliography
Glossary
Index

Donald H. Beskind

Donald H. Beskind is Professor of the Practice of Law at Duke University School of Law where he directs and teaches in its Trial Practice program and teaches Evidence and Torts. After practicing law in Colorado for several years, Mr. Beskind was, in succession at Duke Law School, a John S. Bradway Fellow, an assistant professor, and an associate professor and the director of the Clinical Legal Studies Program. Mr. Beskind returned to full time private practice from 1980 to 2010 specializing in plaintiff's tort litigation, and was been listed among the "Best Lawyers in America" in various publications since 1993. He continues to practice on a limited basis. Mr. Beskind was a long time program director for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He is co-author of BMI v. Minicom, Inc.; State v. Burns; Problems in Trial Advocacy; Effective Use of Courtroom Technology: A Lawyer's Guide to Pretrial and Trial; Developing Deposition Skills and North Carolina Evidentiary Foundations. He has published articles and spoken on evidentiary and trial skills topics and runs trial training programs in the U.S. and Great Britain.

Anthony J. Bocchino

Professor Anthony Bocchino is an honors graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law after which he was a Bradway Fellow at the Duke University School of Law. He served as a full time faculty member at both the University of Connecticut School of Law and the Duke University Law School before joining the Temple University Beasley School of Law faculty in 1979. At the Beasley School of Law for the period 1979 -1989 he was Director of Temple's Trial Advocacy and Clinical Programs. He has designed the program, written materials and taught in the law school's Integrated Trial Advocacy Program which has been twice awarded the Gumpert Award for Excellence in Teaching Trial Advocacy from the American College of Trial Lawyers, in addition to receiving the Gambrell Award for Teaching Professionalism from the American Bar Association. In 1997 he was named by Temple University as the Jack E. Feinberg Professor of Litigation.

Professor Bocchino has been honored with teaching awards from Duke University School of Law where he received the Mordecai Society Award and the Beasley School of Law where he was the first recipient of the George P. Williams II Memorial Award. In addition, he has received the Oliphant Award from the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Richard S. Jacobson Award from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America for excellence in teaching the art and science of trial advocacy.

In addition to his law school duties Professor Bocchino has served as a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) since 1974, served as NITA's Director for five years and served as the organization's Editor in Chief. Bocchino has written materials and designed programs for trial, deposition, fact investigation, motion practice and appellate advocacy programs for more than 30 law firms and numerous public agencies. He has also conducted needs analyses and designed litigation skill curricula for numerous law firms. His CLE materials and program designs are among the most frequently utilized by those organizations. In addition, he has and will customize materials to the specific needs of individual clients.

Professor Bocchino is the author of over 60 books and articles, predominantly in the fields of Evidence, Trial Advocacy, Civil Litigation and Professional Responsibility. His trial advocacy and/or deposition practice materials are used in a majority of the law schools in America, as well as in CLE litigation skills training in the public and private sectors.

Professor Bocchino has been elected as a member of the American Law Institute, and named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Litigation Counsel of America and the International Society of Barristers.

Frank D. Rothschild

Frank D. Rothschild has taught and lectured on trial advocacy since the 1970s. During that time he has been a NITA team leader and faculty member in hundreds of basic and advanced trial, deposition and technology courses. He has designed and been faculty at innumerable in-house programs for firms, insurance companies, public defender and prosecution agencies. In 1996 he received the Hon. Prentice H. Marshall Faculty Award from NITA. Mr. Rothschild graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and then clerked at the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. He then started a private general practice in Marin County, California, before becoming a public defender in Juneau, Alaska. He became a civil litigator for Perkins Coi in its Anchorage, Alaska office, followed by becoming a felony prosecutor for the Anchorage District Attorney's office. In 1985 he moved to Hawaii, where he has lived since. Besides the many trial training programs he teaches each year, Mr. Rothschild also serves as an arbitrator/mediator for the American Arbitration Association and Dispute Prevention and Resolution, based in Honolulu. He has also served as a per diem judge on Kauai since 1994, and is a member of the appellate mediation panel for the Hawaii Judiciary's Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Mr. Rothschild has authored or co-authored over twenty publications including PowerPoint 2003: 50 Great Tips for Better, Easier Slides (NITA 2005); PowerPoint 2002 for Litigators (NITA 2002) and a chapter titled "Top Ten Screwups in Direct and Cross Examination of Experts" in 2000 Wiley Expert Witness Update (Aspen Law and Business 1999).

Deanne C. Siemer

Deanne C. Siemer has practiced law in both the public and private sectors in Washington. Presently managing director of Wilsie Co. LLC, a specialized legal services firm in Washington, she previously served as general counsel of the Department of Defense under President Jimmy Carter. During that time she was instrumental in supervising a team of lawyers and support personnel at the First Marianas Constitutional Convention in 1976 and later as counsel to the Third Marianas Constitutional Convention in 1995. Prior to becoming general counsel of the DOD, Ms. Siemer was an attorney with the Washington Law firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. Receiving a B.A. degree from George Washington University, Siemer then studied at the University of Hawaii, including field study in Thailand. She then took a position with the Office of Management and Budget as an examiner in the foreign affairs area. She studied at Harvard Law School and received an LL.B. degree cum laude, before joining the firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. Ms. Siemer is very involved in continuing legal education, working with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), as a faculty member, trustee and former chair of the organization. She has also taught at the University of Buffalo Law School and has been a lawyer adviser for the trial practice course at Harvard Law School.