Technology

Today's Tech: How An Adjunct Professor Teaches Law Students Trial Technology

This law professor is teaching her students how to use trial technology, and it may be helping them to land jobs.

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In my last column, I shared how one law school professor used technology to engage her students in the classroom and better prepare them to practice law in the 21st century. Fortunately for future law school graduates, she’s not alone in her efforts. There are many other law school professors who are ensuring that their students have a firm grasp on the intersection of law and technology.

Bonnie Kipp is just such a professor. Bonnie serves as Judge McKeague’s judicial assistant in United States Court of Appeals and is an adjunct professor who teaches “Technology Enhanced Trial Advocacy” at Michigan State University College of Law’s Trial Practice Institute. She’s been teaching trial technology skills to students since 2005, after becoming a certified trainer on electronic evidence presentation software.

“I began teaching law students how to use trial technology after watching attorneys struggle with the technology. Our courtroom was one of the first to be wired for technology presentation and when the judge began to require lawyers to use it, I realized how difficult it was for many of them. I wanted to simplify the learning curve, so I started teaching law students how to use these tools.”

According to Bonnie, using trial technology to present cases to juries is the future and it simply makes sense to teach law students the ins and outs of trial presentation technology: “Electronic evidence presentation is only going to grow from here. When I was the courtroom deputy for Judge McKeague back when he was a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, our courtroom was in it from the ground floor. The judge was one of the first to require that lawyers use it during trials and this type of technology is only gaining momentum. In our experience, the benefits are many and it actually cuts trial time in half. So teaching law students how to use it is my way of giving them a niche and preparing for them for the future.”

Her class focuses on learning how to use evidence presentation software, along with the pros and cons of each type of trial technology. “I teach students how to use Trial Director which is electronic evidence presentation software operated from a laptop, and which also includes a free corresponding iPad app. Recently I began to teach the students how to use other iPad apps, some of which are created specifically for trial presentation, while others have more general applications. Apps taught include Keynote, Timeline 3D, TrialPad, JuryTracker, iJuror, Dragon Dictation, Evernote, and WestlawNext. I also teach TD Notebook, which is a cloud-based app for case preparation which permits lawyers to work in a collaborative environment to prepare case for trial.”

Bonnie believes that obtaining technology know how provides her students with invaluable skills that allow them stand out in a competitive job market: “These skills absolutely give students an edge over students without this experience. For example, the resumes of many recent law graduates often look alike. But a student who’s been in a trial advocacy program, who has had hands on learning with trial practice, and has learned electronic evidence presentation will definitely stand out. In fact, we’ve had students tell us they’ve taken their laptop with them to job interviews to showcase their electronic evidence presentation skills and they’ve felt that it’s helped them get jobs.”

Her parting advice for law students and lawyers seeking to use evidence presentation technology at trial? “Certainly whenever you’re working with technology, nothing is set in stone and things don’t always go as planned. But the possibility that technology can fail doesn’t outweigh the benefit of using it. The key is to practice, practice, practice. That way it becomes second nature and doesn’t add to the stress of an already stressful trial. And always have a plan B in case technology issues arise. You need a hard copy of exhibits to send back to the jury anyway so if the worst case scenario happens and the technology goes down you have the hard copies available. So, no matter what, it’s always important to have a plan B.”

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So that’s how one adjunct professor uses technology in her classroom to help prepare her students to practice law in the 21st century. As always, if you or an attorney you know is using technology in a creative or unusual way in your law firm, drop me an email at niki.black@mycase.com. I’m always looking for new attorneys — or judges — to feature in this column.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and Director of Business and Community Relations at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikiblack and she can be reached atniki.black@mycase.com.

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