Technolog y
product watch
hot buttons
TECHNOLOGY IN PRACTICE. WHAT WORKS? WHO GETS IT?
need for a professional to present the evidence. The question is,
will you feel comfortable? Those who are fairly tech-savvy seem
inclined to follow a DIY approach, while others rely on an associate, a paralegal or even an outside consultant. And, of course, it
is still true that outside consultants may be hired to prepare the
exhibits.
One piece of trial presentation software clearly owns the iPad
beachhead—TrialPad. With a price tag of $89.99, TrialPad is quite
a bargain. It won’t do everything that TrialDirector and Sanction
can do, but it will do all that many litigators need. TrialPad’s fan
IN AN AGE WHERE THE
AVERAGE ATTENTION
SPAN OF JURORS
SEEMS TO BE EIGHT
SECONDS, USING
PROFESSIONALLY DONE
EXHIBITS AND VIDEOS
CAN KEEP JURORS (AND
JUDGES) ENGAGED.
club grows exponentially by the month, aided by the fact that you
can master its basics in an hour or two—and the website contains
plenty of helpful information, videos and FAQs.
Lawyer James Moncus turned to the iPad in what would become
his largest verdict—$37.5 million in a wrongful death suit. He
and his law partner carefully examined Exhibit A, Evidence and
TrialPad before selecting TrialPad, but they were careful enough to
keep copies of their exhibits on the other two apps in case of trouble.
With 45 key trial exhibits, TrialPad worked seamlessly in the
courtroom. They were able to play the deposition video with the
iPad’s native video app and sync it to the transcript. They were
never more than seconds away from any document and able to
enlarge parts of the text through the touchscreen by pinching or
expanding their fingers. They could annotate documents with
circles and lines, or simply highlight a key portion of the text.
WHEN MR. MURPHY COMES CALLING
In the midst of trial, Murphy’s Law will sometimes rule the
courtroom and your technology will die and refuse to be revived.
Always, always be prepared to return to the paper world. Even
the expert consultants can get burned. So have a second laptop
or tablet, as well as spare accessories, and still be ready to try
your case with paper. Multiple redundancies may be painful,
but they are critical insurance against catastrophes. LP
BY SHARON D. NELSON & JOHN W. SIMEK
snelson@senseient.com & jsimek@senseient.com Sharon D. Nelson is a practicing attorney and the president of
Sensei Enterprises Inc. John W. Simek is the vice president of Sensei Enterprises Inc. He is an EnCase Certified
Examiner (EnCE) and a nationally known testifying expert in the area of digital forensics. Together, the authors provide
legal technology, information security and digital forensics from their Fairfax, Va. firm. 703-359-0700; senseient.com
