In this visual, media-driven world, more and more lawyers are using courtroom technology to speed the flow of trials and more effectively communicate to judges and juries. According to the 2008 American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report, 47 percent of responding attorneys, including 34 percent of solo practitioners, reported using laptops in the courtroom.
Despite these growing numbers, it often happens that opposing sides are unevenly matched, and the less technologically equipped party cries foul. At some point, lawyers who bring their own technology into the courtroom likely will encounter requests -- and judicial pressure -- to share their hardware, software and even their staff with opposing counsel.
Litigators at my firm, Harrisburg, Pa.-based McNees Wallace & Nurick, have experienced this situation with some regularity, and anecdotally, it seems we're not alone. Typically, the opposition moves to bar the use of technology altogether. The judge then offers a Hobson's choice: Either make your digital exhibits available to the other side, or leave them at the office.
Lawyers who have not faced this before may be tempted to comply without resistance. But the arguments against sharing computer-generated exhibits are not trifling, and they are well worth making.
PROFESSIONAL COURTESY?
What litigator hasn't been asked during trial to share a foam board enlargement of a key document photograph? Who could reasonably refuse such a request?
To Continue Reading: Click Here
---------------------------------------------
Source: law.com
By: Susan V. Metcalfe
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment