Travel Routers

If you're travelling for work, consider using a portable travel router. These little gadgets can enhance the coverage provided by a wifi network, and secure your connection with a VPN for multiple devices. They are often pocket size, and can easily be used on the go. If you're working with a team that is moving between locations, each member can stay connected to the router, rather than having everyone connect to various wifi networks. It's only necessary to connect the travel router to each new wifi network.

Some travel routers allow you to connect and share data on an external hard drive, and some have SIM card slots so you can work independently of wifi networks. If the travel router has an ethernet port, a single network cable can provide a wireless connection for multiple devices.

In a pinch, you can slso use travel routers to charge a smartphone.

Not every travel router will provide you with an entirely secure connection. Make sure that you get one that does not have a hardcoded password, and select a strong password for the travel router.

Court rules on cell phone use in court from coast to coast

One of the many details to worry about when you're getting ready for trial is how to get permission from the court to bring in your smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices. The National Center for State Courts has a great resource that can help you find the necessary information for a number of state courts. See this web page, "Cell Phone and Electronic Device Policies - Social Media and the Courts State Links".

The NCSC has posted links to state court policies on the use of portable electronic devices and wireless access in courtrooms.

So, for example Rule 122.1 of the Supreme Court of Arizona permits the use of portable electronic devices (laptops, cell phones, etc.) to retrieve and storage information, and to send text messages, but instructs that the devices be silenced while they are in the courtroom.

Rules posted for the Connecticut Superior Court by Judge Patrick L. Carroll III, the Chief Court Administrator, specifically permit the use of portable scanners for imaging documents in the clerk's office and printers outside of courtrooms.

The Local Rules of Practice for the Third Judicial Circuit for Harrison County, Indiana simply prohibit attorneys from turning on their smartphones: "No person, excluding law enforcement, or person exempted by the Court, shall take, carry, transport or possess any firearm or explosive device, in any area, in or adjacent to the Harrison County Courthouse, State of Indiana or in the Harrison County Justice Center in Corydon, Indiana. Additionally, cell phones, pagers, and other electronic devices, shall be placed in the 'off' position while in the Courtroom." See Ind. Harrison LR31-AR00-08.

Trial Director 360 Specs - 2 GB of Dedicated VRAM

One of the very earliest Tips of the Night from April 12, 2015, warned hot seat trial techs using Trial Director to confirm that the laptop they were using contains at least 1 GB of VRAM - video dedicated RAM.

For the current version of Trial 360, Ipro notes that at minimum the laptop should have a graphic card with 128 MB of dedicated video memory, but recommends using a device with a NVID or AMD graphics card with 2 GB of dedicated video memory.

Beware that a laptop with integrated memory will not give you as much power for editing and presenting video clips as you may need. Take for example the Acer Swift 3 with an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U octa-core processor and Radeon Graphics. This is widely lauded as a laptop with amazingly fast performance for a device priced well under $1000. However, it lacks a dedicated graphics processing unit, and it does not qualify as a true gaming laptop. Gaming laptops, like those put out by Alienware, set the standard for trial techs needing to present video clips without any lags in the courtroom. A laptop using an integrated graphics processing unit will draw on the system's overall memory.

A dedicated video card will be required for resource intensive tasks like graphic designing. Note that this will also cause the laptop to run very hot and use up more power. It may be wise to get a laptop cooling pad.

Trial Director also recommends a quad core processor, and 8 GB of system RAM. The 64-bit version of Windows 10 is required, and Trial Director 360 needs the 64-bit version of Microsoft Access.

Note Ipro's warning: "The minimum hardware requirements are suitable for trial preparation purposes.  The recommended hardware requirements are strongly suggested for courtroom presentation.” 

Believe me, you want to go with the recommended specs. It has been a while since it happened, but I have had the crushing experience of watching combined video segments play back incorrectly in court, after spending hours preparing them the night before.