features are available for purchase, but the free version is absolutely essential for any lawyer. As an additional bonus, both of these
electronic transcripts merge seamlessly with TextMap, a program put out by Lexis Nexis CaseSoft, which can be used to create incredibly useful deposition sum- maries.2
At the end of the deposition, just
ask the court reporter for an E-tran (that’s the lingo, if you want to appear “cool”) and ASCII to be e-mailed directly to you and/or your assistant.
2
http://www.casesoft.com
Tip No. 3: Use Instant Messenger Instant Messenger (“IM”) is e-mail
with adrenaline: it allows two or more people to have an actual typed conversa- tion over the computer. There are plenty to choose from, including MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! If you have a laptop computer with wireless capability, or if you are able to hook up to the Internet while at trial or at a deposition, you can instantly com- municate with your associates, assistants, and experts. Need a document that you didn’t bring with you? IM your assistant, and have him e-mail it to you, or send it directly through the instant messenger
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38 Trial Reporter
program. Need more information on a particular point the defense expert is making? Instant message your expert, and find out the lynchpin of his analysis. Also, if you want your remote associates and experts to be able to read the deposition as it proceeds, ask your court reporter about LiveNote’s Realtime Internet Service.3
Tip No. 4: Get A Projector Let’s face it, in this day of multimedia,
jurors are not interested in listening to any of us talk. And, if you do, you need something visual that gives the jury a reason to remember it. If you are a trial lawyer, you need a projector. Projectors have many uses: showing demonstrative evidence to the jury, playing a critical deposition segment to the mediator, or giving a presentation to the office. What specifications should you get?
Your projector should have a capacity of at least 1000 lumens (a measure of the brightness capability). The higher the lumens, the easier it is to see the projec- tion, even in a well-lit room. Unless you’re a connoisseur, the differences between an LCD and DLP projector are not likely to be significant, but talk to your retailer about your anticipated projector uses. A basic projector can be purchased for under $1,000. Of course, the projector will need a
screen ($100 to $200 for a basic ver- sion; find something that shrinks down that you can travel with and display in a courtroom), and it is important to make sure you have the proper cables to connect your laptop to the projector. Most projec- tors and laptops communicate through a USB cable, which is the standard technol- ogy hook-up. All of these components are available at your local office supply store. You can also connect a digital presenter (like an overhead projector, except that it can project regular paper and objects instead of transparencies) directly to the projector.4
Always make sure to test your
presentation a couple of days before you need it.
Tip No. 5: Use Videoconferencing For Your Depositions
Videoconferencing is not just for big
corporations anymore. As the technol- ogy has advanced, it has become more
3 4
ht tp: / /www. l ivenot e . com/ s e r vi c e . asp?service=2#faqs
See
www.samsungpresenter.com for one ex- ample of a digital presenter.
Summer 2006
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