If you are an attorney with a major hearing or trial coming up in the 2nd Judicial District, do you have your game plan ready as far as the courtroom technology you intend to use? Will you have all of your exhibits properly saved and ready to display electronically? Will you be presenting a PowerPoint slideshow for the jury? Will you be directing all of this from your own portable laptop or will you bring an assistant to do this? Do you have other presentation needs to plan ahead for?
You would do well to read the Courtroom Technology Resources page for the Second Judicial District at the Minnesota Courts webpage. For your laptop, VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort connections are available, but you should bring your own cable. Certain equipment can be borrowed from the Court (such as DVD players or projectors). Make these reservations at least a week in advance with Court Administration. The Court does not furnish laptops, and only wireless guest internet access is available (under MJB Guest). Note that the Court staff is also not available to serve as your tech support, other than for those items supplied by the Court. If you still have questions, prepare a list of them regarding your presentation needs and ask your judge’s clerk about the technology setup in your particular courtroom. Do this at least a week in advance of your appearance. For added peace of mind, ask if you can come to the actual courtroom ahead of time to set up a “dry run” and see if everything works.
Even though they are not directly applicable to Minnesota state district courts, it may be helpful to consult the Courtroom Technology Manuals for the Minnesota Federal Courts. At the very least, they can help you draft a list of questions to ask your judge’s clerk. If you are still concerned about the possibility of unforeseen technical problems, being able to present your case on a simple dry erase board is always a reliable backup. You can also come up to make a quick print-out or photocopy as needed in the Law Library for 15 cents per page.
