IV. Putting it All Together
We started off with a short “Introduction” to make sure we’re all on the same page with what this ebook is about, we gave you a suggested Trial Notebook layout under “Basic Structure,” we provided a few of our many detailed templates in “Useful Content” and now it’s time to wrap it up and talk about “Putting it All Together.” Here we’ll discuss the thoughts, tips, and tricks we’d like to pass along so you have more in your toolbox to help with Organizing Your Materials, Physical Assembly of Your Notebook, Handling the Computer Files, and Prepping for Trial.
The first tip we’ll give you here is the first item under “Top 10 Reasons to Create a Trial Notebook” from the Introduction section which is that reading through it is educational in and of itself. For that reason and that reason only, we’ve categorized the tips below but have not put them in any sort of additional order (contrary to our own admonishment to always be organized). Our feeling is that if you read through all of them, you’ll learn more than if you only skipped through looking for certain things.
Organizing Your Materials
These are the tips that can apply to the notebook, to your office, or to how you gather your pieces for trial in the first place. Like we said earlier, structure is good and structure depends on having all your resources together and organized.
- When do you start putting your notebook and related files together for trial? The answer is “Yes! Sort of.” You should always organize all your data from the very first second a client calls your office. That’s generally a given. And, you should be able to lay hands (or mouse) on these files at any given moment, because if you have to spend too much time sorting through your gathered data you’re wasting valuable Trial Notebook assembly time. However, you don’t want to jump the gun; you don’t want to waste company time assembling a Trial Notebook until it’s certain you’re going to trial. So balance the two and stay organized from day one and you’ll be ready to start on your notebook and trial prep should that become necessary.
- A key hint: Once you decide on a Trial Notebook structure, use that layout exclusively (in both hardcopy and softcopy formats) and make sure all attorneys and all staff members learn which parts are where. Familiarity improves speed of use.
- Putting your Section Cover Sheets into your Trial Notebook first turns the whole thing into its own to-do list making your life a little easier. Now all you do is fill in the blanks.
- If you use a color scheme for tabs, page color, highlights, printed text, etc., make it a uniform system for every case worked, and keep a legend in your office, and in the Trial Notebook. Do the same with fonts or typestyles. One font might mean one thing, one font might mean another. Use a uniform system for bolding, italicizing, highlights, etc.
- However, regarding font colors, highlight colors, font style, bullet points, and all that to signify certain things, the first question to ask is, “Just how complicated do you want things to get?” It would be easy to get so bogged down in signaling, that you spend all your thought energy trying to figure out what a particular marker color means and you lose track of the more important points behind what you’re doing. If you choose a highlight or symbol system make it simple.
- Hint: One of the many cross-reference things you should do is when you have an issue to bring out in recorded deposition, mark the location by line number in the hardcopy transcript and cross-reference that to time / marker location on video or audio (such as minutes or seconds). Caveat: If you’re using the court’s equipment, know how it marks or tracks the location of video or audio segments and you certainly want to know if it doesn’t track or mark parts or segments at all.
- Consider having a “Hold” sub-tab for witnesses or exhibits you have decided against using or extras you’re keeping in reserve. This keeps their info handy in case they later prove necessary.
- The key step in creating a great Trial Notebook is to organize your information from the very beginning. Use forms, templates, or whatever it takes to avoid having to go back and decipher unorganized notes from legal pads, etc. Most everything in life is like a computer; “Garbage in, garbage out.” Your Trial Notebook will be the same. Keep things organized from the beginning.
- Hint: Keep your old Trial Notebooks even if the case is long closed. Lessons learned in one trial often carry over to others, and this is certain if you focus on a narrow specialty.
- “Top 10 Productivity Tips for Trial Notebook Assembly”
10. Avoid emails, phone calls, and other distractions. Maybe leave the office to work.
9. Do you work better with regular breaks, or with unbroken continuous work periods?
8. Focus on only one trial at a time. Don’t try to multi-task. It can backfire.
7. What’s your most focused time of day? Are you a morning or night person?
6. Work from a Trial Notebook checklist or refer to a good one you made before.
5. Supplies. Do you have paper? Ink? Your laptop power cord? Set up for success.
4. Copies of all materials and documents should be on hand. Searching wastes time.
3. Have production components on hand: notebook, laptop, thumb drives, etc.
2. Does something like coffee or food work for you or against you? Adjust your diet.
1. Work alone or in small numbers for the first assembly. Let a team review later.
Physical Assembly of Your Notebook
- If you use numbered tabs, make sure you have a key in the front, the back, and in the Daily Journal section so you can easily find sections from the most likely places you’d be while you’re in court.
- Preferably, you label your tabs using words. If you do, make sure the tabs are labeled on both sides. Remember, any awkward flipping or extended time searching looks bad in court to all present.
- A hint for your tabs is to color code them. Use one color for your exhibits, another for items from the opposition and so on.
- Every section should have at least one cover, the tab divider page. This keeps prying eyes off your documents. In our profession there have been too many incidents of “prying eyes” causing problems with cases or court proceedings. Keep this same thought in mind when you have your laptop screen up. Consider getting a screen cover that only permits viewing from a very small direct angle, or at least have your “sleep mode” or screen saver only a keystroke away (so you can blank the screen without having to wait for it to time out).
- When making secondary books for others, i.e. judge, jury, and opposition, you might be tempted to scrimp on the opposition’s if you even do one at all (for discovery). But, remember this; what goes around comes around. Play fair, be nice, and treat everyone well. Consequently, you don’t want to spend too much money on the notebooks otherwise it looks like you’re trying to bribe, influence, or at least curry favor.
- Production hint: Since your notebook will be flipped through a lot, you’ll need a little durability with the pages and the punched holes if it’s going in a three-ring binder. First, print all your documents for the notebook on a slightly heavier paper. Standard printer / copier paper is a 20-pound paper. Go with about a 24-pound paper. Also, run a strip of cellophane tape down the inside margin of the paper on the front or back side before punching it for the binder. This is a much easier reinforcement than trying to go back later with those little adhesive “donuts” that fit around a punched hole.
- If your finished notebook is on the ponderous side, get in the habit of taking out the pertinent pages when you need them (such as your opening or closing statement outline) and immediately replacing the pages when done. Note: As much as anything else, the proper use of the Trial Notebook helps in creating good organizational habits and one leads to the other. Creating good Trial Notebooks teaches organization, and good organizational skills help in creating good Trial Notebooks.
- For your physical notebook, use only one if at ALL possible! It’s not a case of “all your eggs in one basket” since you have redundant softcopy backups, but being the easier format to use, it looks better if A), you have everything under “one roof” and B), with everything together you don’t forget one of the notebooks back at the office.
- You’ll notice in our suggested sections list, we have 13 categories (the “Baker’s Dozen” kind of 13, not the unlucky kind) though we labeled the last one with ** rather than a number. Here’s why: You can find 12-tab divider sets along with a ton of other set sizes (5 tabs and up) at your favorite office supply store. For the odd tab, simply keep a set of blank dividers and use a different one of them each time you make a notebook. The final tab would be marked “Index” anyway so it shouldn’t matter if the rest of your sections are divided by numbered tabs or named labels. That’s why the Index & Reference section is marked **.
- Just as you tailor the Trial Notebook to the lead attorney, you should also tailor the Presentation Schedule Bench Copy to the Judge or Court. Different Judges or Courts may prefer (or outright require) different formats. The thing to check is whether they would appreciate a redundant copy in a different format. For example, a court may require that all copies of Trial Notebooks be in electronic softcopy format, whereas the Judge may be “old school” and like a nice paper hardcopy. Another thing to think about is that if they do like a paper hardcopy, what are they more appreciative of? Three-ring binder? Comb binding? Spiral binding? One caveat though. Where your attorney might appreciate having that nice leather-bound expensive looking binder, giving something like that to a judge might be construed as attempted influence. Make your bench book professional and presentable yet economical.
- On the subject of sub-tabs in your physical notebook: Colored Post-It ® tabs are so easy to use, but please resist the urge to use them too often. Having a few is fine when you need to mark something for quick access, but otherwise, too many looks unprofessional. (In fact, having too many will look like you just slammed your book shut on a Parrot!) Instead, you can either use a numbered set of tabs, another set of blank dividers, or a “peel and stick” tab so you can more neatly mark the subsections you need to access while in court.
- You’ll notice that some of the sample forms we’ve provided in this ebook have the titles repeated at the top and bottom. That’s because a good many of our clients prefer a top bound notebook or classification folder system and having the title repeated at the bottom makes finding a particular page easier. Consider this level of detail and thought when you go to create your own forms and pages.
- Depending on the size of the case and the amount of witnesses, exhibits, and other data, you might want to create two notebooks: one for your case and the other for the opposition’s. This makes navigation easier, it makes division of duties easier and faster (if you have to look something up during a tense moment in court), and it makes for better portability since you only have to pick up half the material as you’re pouring over one book or the other. Color-code the two notebooks if you do this. However, if at all possible, keep everything in one notebook. It’s harder to lose parts that way.
- Whatever format the lead attorney prefers, have the Trial Notebook available in that format, but always, ALWAYS have a redundant backup in the other format (softcopy - in several formats - or hard copy). Going green is good, but earning green is just as important, so don’t blow the case just to save some paper. Leave the electronic copy requirements for the volumes of paper exhibits that have to be shuttled back and forth as part of Discovery, and for eDiscovery.
- The redundant backup rule also applies to key exhibits. For example, a witness statement should be prepared in all available and applicable formats. If there is a video deposition, there should be a hardcopy transcript (verified), the video should be saved on both disk and thumb drive (flash drive) and in various video formats depending on the requirements / capabilities of your electronic equipment and that of the court. For video, an audio file backup should be made just as you’d make a hard copy transcript of the audio.
- Where it’s important to have an original document, place a photocopy of the original in your Trial Notebook if needed while the original resides in your file box or is already in the court’s possession as evidence. In many cases, the location of a physical piece of paper indicates its value. For example, a piece of paper in the Trial Notebook can have handwritten notes added at will. A piece of paper in the file box should not be touched, altered, or marred.
- If you choose something like an expensive leather binder, don’t make it so expensive that you can’t file it away for years at a time while the case progresses through various steps.
- You should have a sub-section on “lessons learned” in each Trial Notebook, or at least as part of your “Court Journal.” After all, it’s called practicing law.
- Speaking of detail, please notice that we did not number this ebook like a normal book. We started with the very first title page because we knew we would be giving this book away in PDF format, and we wanted the PDF’s page numbers to match the ebook’s page numbers. This is another tiny example of not only the kind of detailed thought we apply to what we do, but an example of the detail you should use.
Handling the Computer Files
- Even if most of your data storage is electronic, and discovery is eDiscovery, we still suggest you have a hardcopy version of your Trial Notebook. The more important the situation, the more a little redundancy is your friend.
- Thumb drives should all be labeled with a name, case number, or drive serial number and that information entered into the “where stored” blank on your various forms and Index & Reference.
- Laptop computers should also be inconspicuously labeled. There would be nothing more embarrassing than to say “Oops! I left that file in my other computer!”
- Just as you have your Trial Notebook in both hardcopy and softcopy formats, your electronic information should be saved in a variety of formats to ensure universal accessibility. Save things in their native format and make electronic copies in PDF, TXT, DOC, PPT, or XLS formats. For example, if you have a PowerPoint ® presentation you’d like to make, only the PowerPoint software doesn’t want to cooperate, you can save the PPT or PPS file as a PDF and use Adobe to show the slides. You’ll lose some of your special effects, but it will work in a pinch.
- Now that we’ve mentioned the possibility of losing your special effects, we feel it prudent to ask you to not use special effects unless absolutely necessary. Keep things simple for the jury.
- Your hardcopy and softcopy pages should look just alike. Use the same document format in your physical notebook as you do on computer. If you have to switch back and forth you want to be able to read and navigate one as easily as the other and having to decide which is what or where on different formats does nothing but waste time and cause confusion. Uniformity is one of the keys of efficiency.
- If your firm handles a variety of cases, come up with a case and file numbering system that will tell you at a glance what type of case you’re working (criminal vs. civil, tax vs. tort, family vs. corporate, etc.) and also whether or not you’re representing the plaintiff or defendant.
- In your softcopy version, you can use internal hyperlinks from key words or names to definitions, exhibit notes, or background info. Internal hyperlinks are easy to make in most word processors.
- Become an insatiable file saver or backup person. Learn the “save hotkey” for any software package you might use. For example, in Microsoft Word ® and Excel ® hitting “Ctrl S” (the Control key and the letter S key) will save the current document. You can make it an almost unconscious habit to hit Ctrl-S every minute or so and never have to worry about losing important files in those “Murphy’s Law” moments where the power goes out or the computer “hiccups.” Also, change the “auto save” time length. For Microsoft Word ® you do this by going to “Tools” then “Options” then click on the “Save” tab. You’ll see an option that says “Save AutoRecover info every..:” and then you’ll see a box where you can change the number of minutes governing how often the auto-save feature saves your current file.
- One of the things we constantly point out to people is that the software systems that came loaded on their computers are probably far more useful than most of us know. They’ll do so much already that we tell most of our readers / clients to learn what their computers will do already before investing in higher-end software-oriented case management or trial notebook packages.
- Check all flash drives, files, and file storage devices for viruses, spyware, and keystroke loggers before loading them on your office computers and certainly before loading them on the computer you’ll be taking to court.
- Consider adding a small box to each document template you create for your office where you show the filename for the template. This helps you find it more easily because you don’t have to stop and think “Now which of these cover sheet filenames is the one I want?” You’ll notice on some of our forms we provide that same item along with a blank for “Document Control #.”
- Make sure everything you do or create has some sort of internal “Document Control Number” such as “Bates Numbering.” Hint: If you have your files saved in Microsoft ® format(s), they’re searchable for keyword content. This means that if you know a document control number and it’s typed into a document somewhere, you can tell various search features already loaded with Windows ®, to search inside a series of documents to find the document(s) containing that number (or other word or phrase).
- In addition to your firm’s internal document control number, be sure to list accepted / admitted items by the court’s exhibit number and cross-reference with your “Index & Reference” section.
- Hint: Assign an ID number to your thumb drives, or at least label them with the case number for the trial. Do the same with CDs / DVDs, and other removable storage devices that will be dedicated to this one particular case or trial. In addition to labeling them, list them in the Index.
- Another hint: When upgrading laptops or buying new ones, try to make sure they all match and that they all use the same version of the same operating system. This way everyone knows how to work all the computers. Uniformity is one of the keys to efficiency. Speaking of computers:
- “Top 10 Qualities of a Good Software-Based Case Management / Trial Notebook System”
10. The system requirements match the capabilities of your firm’s computers.
9. The package’s features and functions are an exact match to your office’s needs.
8. Use is intuitive and does not require much training. And if so, training is included.
7. There are no hidden fees like “per station,” “per time period,” “number of cases,” etc.
6. The software company does not place a great deal of emphasis on useless features.
5. The package won’t be obsolete in just a few months, unless upgrades are low cost.
4. You can recoup the cost of investing in the software in a very short period of time.
3. The package is customizable by the user and can change and grow with the firm.
2. Tech support is free and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
1. Tech support has operators you can understand and who can understand you.
Prepping for Trial
This part might seem redundant since this whole ebook is about prepping for trial, but this portion is a small set of ideas to help get you ready for court that have little to do with making a Trial Notebook, though some parts are related, and more about readying you to use your notebook in trial. We just felt compelled to give you all the help we could.
- Use the same Trial Notebook template / model for all court cases, not just the bigger more important ones. The reason being, you want to know your Trial Notebook system forward and backward so when the more important cases come up you’re focusing on the case and not trying to remember all the details you need in your files.
- Call a colleague, preferably someone in the same firm but uninvolved in this trial, to read through your notebook. It should make sense to them even though they may be unfamiliar with the issues, people, and exhibits. They should feel like they could take on the case if your notebook was handed off to them.
- Prepare an “office supply box,” a small one, and keep handy items such as paper clips, stapler, binder clips, markers, breath mints, cough drops, etc. (Hint on cough drops: These help make sure the presenter’s throat is hydrated and their voice is as smooth and even as possible.)
- Review the Trial Notebook with available staffers, even if not all of them are involved in that particular trial. This does 2 things. One, it gives you fresh sets of eyes and ears who can help you spot errors, inconsistencies, or contradictions, and two, if a firm member who is part of the trial is absent for whatever reason, their replacement is at least a little familiar with the trial’s focus and issues.
- One of the worst things you can do is sit in front of your client the day of (or just before) trial and put your Trial Notebook together. The Trial Notebook should be in a constant state of assembly from the day trial is a probability. Last minute efforts do nothing but undermine your client’s confidence in you as their legal representative. Since one of the purposes of a good Trial Notebook is client confidence, they should get to see the Trial Notebook assembly in progress and should be asked on occasion to review portions thereof. Indeed, the act of a thorough investigation itself will almost produce your Trial Notebook in rough draft format.
- Review with the client is good for several reasons. First, the chief complaint among clients is a lack of communication from their attorney. Second, trial is nerve wracking on any client – regardless how many times they may have been there – and knowing how thorough your preparations are can help make them more at ease. Third, they may be able to add that one crucial detail that you either omitted or they forgot to tell you (better to know now). Fourth, review also reconfirms to the client their position in the trial so as to reinforce reasonable and legitimate expectations of probable outcome and preps them so they know what is going to happen and when during the trial process.
- Another thought with having your client review your material with you is potential malpractice reduction. Though your client is a layman so to speak, and has hired your firm as their representative, you might allay the claims of “I didn’t know what was going on” or “I didn’t know that was going to come up in court” or “My attorney never communicated with me” by including the client in as many steps as possible. This is the reason you’ll find “Client’s Signature” or “Reviewed by Client” on some of the Trial Notebook forms. Though this holds little to no weight regarding existing precedent, good communication and documentation can go a long way toward protecting you on a number of fronts against unforeseen issues.
- If you have multi-media presentations or slide shows, practice presenting them as often as you can. Being familiar with the material and smooth in its presentation carries a lot of weight regarding your image and how you’re perceived in court.
- Also keep in mind that “prepping for trial” is an on-going process that doesn’t only occur when a case is scheduled for court. There are quite a number of skills above and beyond good Trial Notebook assembly that lend themselves well to success in a court of law. On the next page we’ve put together a quick list of eleven different ways to keep yourself ready for trial.
- “Top 11 Ways to Improve Your Trial Skills”
11. Volunteer to help the indigent for more time in court. Practice makes perfect.
10. Take a creative writing class. This will help with creative thought and organization.
9. Take Continuing Ed law classes through your Bar Association or local college.
8. Be part of a Debate Club. Practice combining reason, logic, and persuasion.
7. Take Software Classes. Expertise makes for easier electronic presentations.
6. Join a mystery book of the month club. Reading a mystery is good brain exercise.
5. Work word, math, and spatial puzzles to keep your analytical brain exercised.
4. Take a course on private investigation. This will also develop analytical thinking.
3. Visit an image consultant. How you come across to others in court is very important.
2. Watch your diet, rest, and exercise. Stable energy levels help you focus.
1. Join Toastmasters. The better you can speak in public the better you’ll be in court.
Since we like adding our little numbered lists, here’s one more to condense some of the more important points we’ve made to sum up this section:
- Putting it All Together - A Final Step by Step Synopsis:
1. Put together your Trial Notebook shell using a three-ring binder and the tab dividers.
2. Insert the Trial Information Sheet and fill out the Section Cover Sheets.
3. Load the Trial Notebook using the Section Cover Sheets as your “to-do” checklists.
4. Coordinate the hardcopy Trial Notebook with the organization of your electronic files.
5. Print your “Index & Reference” pages and insert them in that section.
6. Review each section with the supervisor, presenting attorney(s), and the client.
7. Record the fact that each section was reviewed on the section’s cover sheet.
8. Compare the hardcopy Trial Notebook to the electronic version.
9. Review your redundant electronic backups to make sure all presentations will work.
10. Fill out your “Day of Court Checklist” to help you remember everything you’ll need.
One of the things that will make your life easier is if you had everything you needed not only for assembling a Trial Notebook at the click of a
