Courtroom technology is a wonderful thing. Use of technology in the courtroom has gone far beyond the good old days of poster boards, overhead projectors and VHS video playback. Now we see state-of-the-art animation played directly from attorneys’ laptops and viewed on wide-screen televisions that would make any sports fan drool. There’s touch screen technology which allows attorneys or witnesses to annotate projected images of evidence and portable Elmos to allow plug and play projection of evidence to individual video monitors for each juror. The courtroom is changing as jurors demand entertainment along with the evidence and Certified Legal Nurse Consultants should always look for ways to recommend their attorney-clients make the best use of that technology.
There are two main purposes for using technology in the courtroom. The first is obvious, to assist the jury in understanding the evidence or to illuminate a salient point in the case. The second is to keep the jury’s attention and entertain.
Tom and I were having dinner with a friend at their new house. The husband went to show us his elaborate home theatre system. Four phone calls to his support tech, 45 minutes and a little bit of swearing later, he got it working. If we’d been a jury he’d have lost us at the blue-screen-of-death, which brings up another courtroom technology tip, always have a Plan B.
Success Is Inside!
P.S. Comment and share your experiences with courtroom technology.