| Toolbag:
War Rooms
Litigation
Tools of the Trade
As your litigation
team prepares for an out-of-town trial, your office staff arranges
your hotel rooms and travel. But, what about a war room?
A war room provides you with a space dedicated to the case —
separate from the courthouse and your hotel room. Your team can
come together to plan strategies, work on arguments, create/polish
demonstratives, add documents and other exhibits, prepare motions
and briefs, and address any other ongoing activities surrounding
your casework.
A properly designed war room should be equipped with technology,
security, access and functionality. These features require planning
and experience to result in a war room tailored to your needs.
Many war rooms include the following equipment:
| . |
PCs
equipped with graphics software |
| . |
Standard printers
|
| . |
Large-scale plotters
for enlargements |
| . |
Mounting equipment
to create easel boards |
| . |
Document scanning
stations |
| . |
High-speed Internet
access |
| . |
Multimedia projectors
and screens |
Even with
the best equipment, a war room is only as good as the team who runs
it. A war room team will include the same type of staff who assists
you each day such as paralegals, behind-the-scenes attorneys, and
copy and messenger personnel to prepare and take care of all the
documentary and witness preparation. Your team will also include
specialized war room staff such as technology consultants who handle
the technological issues of the war room and courtroom, as well
as professional graphic artists, all working together around the
clock to ensure your presentation materials are ready to go, regardless
of any surprises in court the day before or new concepts developed
during the evening.
Your technology consultants
can also assist in court by loading the required materials in the
presentation system in the evenings and breaks, and orchestrating
them to appear on cue during the courtroom presentation by the trial
attorney or expert. The ability to have visuals appear as needed
frees the litigator to connect with the jury, move about the courtroom
and watch the reactions of the fact finders and the opposition,
as necessary.
Practicing with your team in the onsite war room can help smooth
your performance, ensuring that your arguments hit home with the
decision-makers.
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