The Trial Notebook by Paul Purcell - HTML preview

I.  Introduction

Welcome to the Trial Notebook ebook; a small excerpt from “The Attorney Case File”.

Based on the stats from our website, most visitors arrive after having searched for information on how to construct a Trial Notebook, so here we are, with a little more to help you with your law office, case management, and trial preparation needs.

Though just the tip of the iceberg, we’ve packed a lot into this short work.  We’re going to cover some of the basics of a Trial Notebook; we’ll throw in a few useful forms from our system, provide some rather useful tips, and then finish up with helpful insight into the final construction and “polish” for making yours the best Trial Notebook it can be.

If you are fairly new to the profession, let’s settle this question:  “What exactly is a Trial Notebook?”  A Trial Notebook is the “brain” of your court appearance.  It’s not the folder that holds your evidence, it’s not a collection of court rules or procedures, and it’s not your day planner housing your law office to-do lists.  It’s your own focused, dedicated organizer for the in-court presentation of the witnesses, exhibits, and other information related to one trial and one trial only and if you do it right, it will be pretty much worth its weight in gold. 

If you’re a seasoned pro but say “I can’t see using a Trial Notebook for every case.  We’ve done well in a lot of our smaller trials without going to all that trouble …” then let’s look at:

“Top Ten Reasons to Create a Trial Notebook”

10.  The process itself is educational since you review your case while putting it together.

9.  It helps you notice billable hours you might have misplaced had you not reviewed.

8.  Nothing will sway a jury against you as quickly as looking disorganized and inept.

7.  If you add attorneys for any reason, a good Trial Notebook brings them up to speed.

6.  A good Trial Notebook can streamline your time in court which may win good will.

5.  If you’re support staff and create great Trial Notebooks, you might rule the firm one day!

4.  It shows the Judge, Jury, and Opposition that you’re ready and you mean business!

3.  Organization and readiness instill confidence in the presenting attorney(s).

2.  It also instills confidence in the client (you know… the one writing the checks).

1.  You want to WIN!!

We all want to win. 

It has long been said that good attorneys will not ask a question in court to which they do not already know the answer.

The answers to these potential questions should have been provided as you worked your case; in the investigation, legal research, the preliminary proceedings, discovery, and every second leading up to an appearance in court.  The most important question of all, though, is “In court, can you find the answers you gathered so you know you’re asking the right questions?”  Just as important, are seemingly minor details also organized to the point you don’t miss a single step?

Presenting your case in court is the culmination of all the hard work put forth in its preparation.  You’ve worked hard for your client, investigating the details of the case, performing statutory and case law research, creating piles of briefs and memos, lining up expert witnesses, communicating with the clerk of the court, scheduling and calendaring all related activities, accounting for all billable hours, securing your evidence, creating exhibits, pouring over discovery items, and making sure every I was dotted, every T was crossed.  In all, you want your case presentation to be a work of art, and that’s why we’re here.  We want to give you the framework to help you shine once you get to court.

In just a bit we’ll go through the actual steps you should take in setting up your notebook, but for this short intro, we’ll discuss the “Litmus Test” or rather the qualities your notebook should have that will help set you up for success when your case goes to T.R.I.A.L.:

Thoroughness – Have you included everything you’ll need and double-checked it?

Reliability – Does your hardcopy or softcopy notebook format work? 

Inquisitiveness – Do your sections and forms prompt you to provide the right info?

Appearance – Does your Trial Notebook command respect or is it a mess?

Logic – Is there good, intuitive, material organization?  Can you navigate it easily?

Thoroughness

There is nothing so fatal to a court case as a missed detail.  While you don’t want to be repetitive, the more important an event is the more a little redundancy is your friend.  You want to include everything you need, repeat a couple of things here and there, and have some good cross-reference so you don’t overlook anything.  Some thoughts to keep in mind:

• Work from forms, templates, and checklists.  Don’t leave anything to chance or memory.  You’ll find a few of our forms and checklists in the “Useful Content” section.
• Review everything with your client and your presenting attorney(s) as you go along.  Waiting until the last minute ensures missed detail and a nervous client.
• If you had an investigator working with you, have them review with you the material they provided so you know all the ins and outs of the information gathered.
• Create an “Index and Reference” section where you make an index like you would find in a text book.  For example, have one list showing your Document Control numbers in numerical order along with the items they represent, list your witnesses in alphabetical order, your e-discovery files by name, and list all other electronic file names in alpha-numeric order with a description of their contents.  In court, you never know what you’ll have to look up. 

Reliability

Just how can a notebook be “reliable?”  Simple.  It’s usable and does everything you would expect.  In this case, the goals are to both house and safeguard all of your pertinent organizational data and intel, and to be ready to provide that information to you exactly when you need it each and every time.  We’ll cover this in more detail later, but for now, let’s look at some general points:

• The heart of your system should be a hardcopy three-ring binder.  Though most offices and courts are trying to “go green” and conserve paper, there is a time and a place for a paper-based organizer.  Trial is that time and place.  Binders don’t crash like computers can.
• Though we’re heading in to an all-electronic-file age, the vast majority of us were raised on paper-based books and handwritten notes in school and we’re still faster at navigating a tabbed notebook than a computer file. 
• A hardcopy Trial Notebook is also good in case the computer crashes, or your firm’s computer operating system is changed during the course of a lengthy trial.  The more important the case, the more redundancy is your friend.
• The binder you choose should be durable and hold papers well.  It’ll be tossed around on desks and tables, scooped up with folios and boxes, and take countless trips in vehicles.  You don’t want it to show wear or spill its contents in the middle of court.
• Similarly, any computer you bring into court should use a reliable operating system and you should have a power cable, a charged battery, and all pertinent accessories.
• Your soft-copy media should also come in a couple of formats just to make sure you can reliably access each.  Have one copy of the file loaded on your computer and have a CD or DVD copy in addition to the files on a “thumb drive” or “flash drive.”  We’ll have some related tips for computer use under “Putting it All Together.”

Inquisitiveness

You get to ask questions in court.  That’s how you get some of your information.  A trial would be useless if you didn’t question anyone or anything.  Why?  So you don’t miss a single detail.  Your Trial Notebook should do the same for you… provided you set it up right.

• Always work from templates, forms, and checklists.  You’ll find examples under “Useful Content.”  Checklists will remind you of the information your notebook should house.
• As the saying goes “The dullest pencil has a better memory than the sharpest mind.” – (Author Unknown).  Your forms will help you remember what to do with final notebook content review, on the day of court, and for making sure you have all the main items and support items you’ll need to ensure your presentation in court is complete, thorough, organized, and successful.  The better you are at customizing these checklists, the better off you’ll be.  Remember, “When in doubt, write it out!”  Don’t leave important things to memory.  Set your Trial Notebook up so that it asks you the right questions before you ask questions in court. 

You wouldn’t take this into court would you?

Appearance

People shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but they do.  It’s just a fact of life.  For example, your personal appearance should be as professional as possible, especially when you’re in front of the client, court, or opposition.  Your Trial Notebook should maintain a professional appearance as well in order to command respect from the jury, confidence from your client, and to intimidate the opposition.

Imagine a disheveled, slovenly looking attorney flipping frantically through a stack of legal pads and loose papers while the clock ticks and the confused expression on his or her face deepens.  Now imagine a well-dressed, calm, confident, attorney casually referring to a new laptop and doing a quick cross-check with a tabbed three-ring binder housed in a nice leather cover.  Which of these images conveys a winner?  Think about a few appearance pointers:

• You don’t want to spend too much money on notebooks, but make sure the ones you get look good and match the folios and binders you bring with you to trial.
• Never use stacks of pads, papers, or “unbound” anything.  All paperwork should be in some sort of binder, folio, or labeled box, and they should look like they came as a set.
• For externally visible labels, use something that looks professional, and make sure they all match (though you might use different colors for different sections).
• Rubber bands have a minimal place in court.  Don’t use them if you don’t have to.
• Neatness counts, even when it’s only your people seeing the contents.  This is especially true if you’re a paralegal preparing this for a partner of a firm.  Your work product affects your career.  Make it good and make it count.  Make sure all spelling is correct, typestyle (font) is uniform, grammar is good, the layout follows office protocol (which you should help set), and that all copy is legible.

Logic

The most thorough and detailed Trial Notebook in the world is going to be useless unless the presenting attorney can understand the layout and logic of how everything in the notebook is organized.  Consider the following:

• The first consideration is, “Who is the lead or presenting attorney for the trial?”  Though your firm’s notebooks should be pretty much standardized you still have to consider the nature of the type of case being tried followed immediately by the idiosyncrasies of your presenting attorney.  Do they prefer hardcopy, or do they work best from computer?  Do they like large print or small print?  Do they respond well to color-coded / highlighted text or certain symbols like different types of bullet points?  Has the court issued any edicts concerning trial materials?
• Though one attorney might prefer one certain format over another, you need to keep two things in mind.  One, there should be some uniformity, and two; your redundant backups should mirror each other as much as possible.  For example, if the attorney prefers working from an electronic copy of the Trial Notebook and the laptop crashes, the hardcopy binder should be laid out in the same fashion as the softcopy version. 
• We can’t stress this enough: work from forms, checklists, and templates.
• This also bears repeating: Create an Index & Reference section to give you a secondary way of looking up information that you need to locate quickly.

Could you navigate your way through a ton of important documents without a good, logically organized Trial Notebook?

• Though you have a lot of data you gathered for your case, keep in mind that the Trial Notebook is not meant to house everything, but rather, it is to be the main organizer or index of your materials and an outline of your case.  Use other folios, folders, binders, and boxes for the “guts” and documents.  Keeping the Trial Notebook’s contents concise and to the point makes for easier navigation which is much more logical.

Sadly, in such a short ebook we can only speak in generalities with your Trial Notebook.  There are so many types of cases.  You might be working either side of civil or criminal, tax or tort, paternity or product liability, contract or malpractice, family or corporate.  However, trials do have some foundational elements to them, so we’ll give you the framework you’ll need that will help you prepare the best Trial Notebook you possibly can.  Let’s look next at “Basic Structure.”