Bar Insider
Trial by ZOOM
BY STEPHEN E. CHAPPELEAR
I never thought I would try a lawsuit from my house. This past March, a trial date loomed. COVID-19 raged. If we wanted a trial, in a case that had already lingered for several years, we would do it remotely, via the Zoom platform. This article will discuss my recent Zoom trial and offer some suggestions. When I had my first trial over 40 years ago, I walked up the courthouse steps of the Licking County Courthouse, where I paused and thought, “Truth. Justice. And the American way of life.” At the outset of every trial since, I have repeated my homage to Superman comic books to bring good luck.
It felt strange on the morning of my Zoom trial making that statement to myself as I entered my study at home and logged onto my computer. That is not where the strangeness ended. From at least the time that my great grandfather lawyer C.C. Chappelear was trying cases in Circleville in the 1890s, trials have been held in large woodpaneled courtrooms with high ceilings that are majestic, formal, sacred places: temples of justice. The courtrooms look and feel like places where justice will be done. In our Zoom trial, there was no “feel” of the courtroom. We each sat in front of a computer screen, looking at images of the other participants, with whatever background they chose—none of which were particularly “judicial”. The tangible symbols of justice were not there.
14 | Columbus Bar L aw yers Quarterly Summer 2021
