“What did you use for AV in trial last week?”
“I’m not sure; we had BigCompany come run it. They did a great job.”
For those of us who have had this conversation, our next thought is pretty common: “how did you get your client to front the $32,174.05[1] for that?” Or, for plaintiffs’ lawyers like me, “how am I going to advance that cost?” “How many experts could that money hire?” And, “even if we win, how big does the case have to be for the court not to strike it from our bill of costs?”
TrialPad is not perfect, but I think it is a good alternative to the competition.
Disclosures
- I did have Advanced Legal Services, (303) 815-1586, set-up our system and print our trial exhibits because I was short on time. They were great. Having them do set-up only was far less expensive than having them run the system through trial. I also believe I could have set the system up on my own if I had a bit more time.
- I’m relatively tech-savvy. Our office is paperless with few exceptions, and my partner and I both grew up using computers often.
Supplies
- iPad 2
- TrialPad app for iPad[2]
- DropBox app for iPad and your office computer[3]
- Suitable trial projector, projector table, and screen
- Computer speakers
- Long cable to connect iPad directly to trial projector
- Gaffer tape to tape cable to floor
- Electronic files for your trial exhibits.
Notes on Set-up
- The iPad version doesn’t matter. If you’re buying, newer is better – it will last you longer, and the newer versions have more storage space and faster processors.
- Dropbox isn’t the only cloud storage app that works, but it’s the one I’ve used.
- If you plan to buy a projector rather than borrow, get one with an outlet plug for your computer speakers. (See the “cons” section below for the reason why…)
- You can set-up the system to work wirelessly using an Apple TV (the newer one has issues linking to most projectors) and a wireless router (no need for an internet connection), but I would suggest a dry run on this to see if it runs quickly enough.
- Most of the supplies you need can be borrowed or rented inexpensively.
Pro’s
- The system is easy to set up. TrialPad imports files from Dropbox in the same file structure in which you already have them saved. When I revamped my closing after the court finalized jury instructions, it was easy to import the specific .PDF slides I wanted to use. And when our trial court asked us to re-arrange our equipment before jury selection, the wiring was not difficult to disconnect and reconnect, as long as you have extra tape.
- TrialPad itself is powerful enough, without sacrificing much user-friendliness. The app uses the language we use, and the buttons are self-explanatory where they aren’t labeled. An exhibit can be prepared before it’s shown on the screen with a simple set of buttons at the bottom of the screen. The “call-out” and highlight functions were easy to use and great for pointing-out key parts of our client’s medical records.
- TrialPad allows you to get creative with demonstratives. It can show .PDF documents and play most audio and visual files. For example, we used MS Excel to graph our client’s pain scores, then saved the graph as a .PDF. We used the graph to contradict a defense expert’s opinion about a (non-existent) “general trend” in those scores. We used MS Word’s table function to make a calendar of our client’s prior treatment, and saved that as a .PDF we used to illustrate how seldom her pre-existing injuries affected her enough to send her to her doctor. We played an animation of the type of procedures our client had to have post-accident. One of our more defense-oriented jurors told me after trial that these visuals allowed him to decide in our favor.
Con’s
The audio output functions are finicky. We could only get sound to play through the projector’s small speaker. The projector had no output for computer speakers, so we had to put the witness stand microphone next to the projector’s speaker. Sound quality suffered. This is the iPad’s issue, not TrialPad’s issue, but TrialPad is only available on the iPad. The iPad may have a settings option to switch sound output from its lightning outlet to its headphone outlet, but I was not able to find them.
Verdict
TrialPad worked very well, it was easy to use, and it didn’t cost much. I’ll be using it again in the future.
[1] That was the price for one party’s trial technical support in Valentine v. Mountain States Mut. Cas. Co., 252 P.3d 1182, 1195-96 (Colo. App. 2011).
[2] http://www.litsoftware.com/trialpad/
[3] https://www.dropbox.com/
Sean is one of two partners at Dormer Harpring, where he focuses primarily on plaintiffs’ personal injury cases. He can be contacted directly by email at smd@denvertrial.com, or by telephone at (720) 372-3771.
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