I don't know about you, but I don't practice in just one courtroom, or even one courthouse.
Over the course of my career, I've been in courtrooms all across the state. Sometimes my office was right next to the courthouse, and other times my office was several hours away, with miles and miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic in-between.
And no matter how close or how far away my office was located, I always had the same problem.... I'd forget something at the office.
When your office is right next door, it's not a big deal if you forget something... You simply walk back to the office during a break, pick it up, and come back.
But when you're hours away from the office, you've got a big hurdle.
What do you do?
Well, hopefully you're smart enough to remember to bring everything with you, even if it means creating a big pre-trial checklist and getting one of those 18-wheeler briefcases to haul all of your stuff.
But sometimes, you don't even know you need something until you get to the hearing. What do you do then?
This recently happened to me. (This morning, actually). I went to court, and realized I had left a document on my desk that I'd been reviewing in preparation for the hearing.
Normally, this would be a BIG problem. But not anymore!
Instead, I had access to a PDF of the document on my iPad, and everything was smooth. If I need to give a copy to the court, I keep a portable printer in the car, and can have a hardcopy in seconds.
("Thank you, technology!")
In case you've ever forgotten something back at the office, let me share with you a few of my portable office "must haves" to simplify life for the on-the-go trial lawyer:
- Internet wi-fi card. I don't trust public wi-fi, and if you have anything worthwhile on your computer, neither should you. Buy your own network card - every major cell company is happy to sell you one.
- A cloud information system. I'm still a huge fan of DropBoxfor non-secure stuff (motions, caselaw, etc), but not for client information. For that, I prefer SpiderOak, which has a zero-knowledge policy, meaning that they have no idea what I store there, so they can't reveal it to anyone, even if they're served with a subpoena. (They'll give you 2gb for free when you sign up.)
- An iPad. You might prefer an Android or Windows version, but whatever you use, it's nice to have a tablet that you can walk around the courtroom with.
- A portable printer. I use the Canon PIXMA iP100. This is one of the best investments you can make, because you'll be surprised how often you need to print a case or a quick motion in the parking lot before a hearing!
- A decent scanner. I'm making the switch to the Fujitsu ScanSnap ix500 from my current scanner - everything I've read says this is the best one for the small office.
- Adobe Acrobat Professional. Forget trying to use the knock-off PDF editors. This one's expensive, but it's the gold standard for PDF work. Here's a link to an educational version of the software - If you qualify, you'll save a bundle:
http://www.journeyed.com/item/Adobe/Acrobat/1549871
There are lots of other doodads and doohickeys (those are real technical terms) that I use, but these are the critical ones. I hope they help your practice for those times when you're "on the go."
Best wishes for courtroom success!1
source;http://www.trialtheater.com/
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