The Technology Manager’s guide To
legal av
from the editors of
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Editor’s Note [margot douaihy, editor, AV Technology]
Court-Appointed AV Sound reinforcement solutions, video arraignments, and interactive annotation devices are becoming more common in the legal system, even as counties and states stretch their courthouse tech dollars. Even centralized control systems are in greater demand as previously disparate functions can be accessed on the same interface. So continues our prima facie case at the editor’s desk—sharing strategies that have greater efficacy but are also guaranteed to return the investment. We want to help empower end-users of every experience level—from fledgling court reporters to seasoned attorneys. This special supplement, The Technology Manager’s Guide to Legal AV, is designed to do just that. Please share your courtroom, law office, or legal venue questions with us anytime on LinkedIn or Facebook. Thanks for reading.
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Table of Contents Editor’s Note...........................................................................................................................................................................A2 FEATURES ThE SoUNd oF JUSTicE: ENSURiNg ThAT JUdgES, ATToRNEyS, dEFENdANTS, ANd coURT REpoRTERS cAN hEAR oNE ANoThER iS A TAll oRdER. hERE’S whAT To coNSidER ..................................................................................................... A4 cAlcUlATiNg lEgAl AV’S Roi ANd Tco ................................................................................................................................ A6 coURT-AppoiNTEd VidEo: JAilS ANd coURTS ARE AmoNg ThE gRowiNg NUmbER oF JUdiciAl ANd lAw ENFoRcEmENT FAciliTiES USiNg VidEo FoR dEpoSiTioNS, ARRAigNmENTS, ANd oThER TASkS. doiNg iT RighT iS No SmAll FEAT.........A10 ThE EFFEcTiVE USE oF coURTRoom TEchNology ........................................................................................................... A12 mAkiNg A cASE FoR coNVERgENcE: AV ANd iT ARE Slowly coNVERgiNg iN coURThoUSES, pRiSoNS, ANd oThER lEgAl FAciliTiES. ThAT’S cREATiNg oppoRTUNiTiES To woRk moRE EFFiciENTly ANd EFFEcTiVEly, bUT ThE JURy iS STill oUT oN ThE RElATEd chAllENgES. ....................................................................................................................... A14 lEgAl byod: bRiNg yoUR owN dilEmmA? ........................................................................................................................ A16 mEET yoUR mANAgER: bhiShAm SomAi ............................................................................................................................ A17
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J a n u a r y 2 0 1 3 | av ne twor k. c om | T h e Tec h nology Manager’s guid e To legal av
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LegaL av
The Sound of Justice
Ensuring that judges, attorneys, defendants, and court reporters can hear one another is a tall order. Here’s what to consider. By Tim Kridel One way that the judiciary encourages respect is by holding court in venues that are frequently cavernous and clad in high-end finishes such as marble and hardwoods. Unfortunately that’s also the kind of environment that gives acoustical designers, technology managers, and other AV pros fits. “Large rooms with reflective surfaces present particular challenges,” said Karl Winkler, Lectrosonics director of business development. “Proper microphone choice and placement are step one. Then, proper gain structure helps a great deal to keep noise out of the system. “Next is a good auto mixer using a gain-sharing method rather than a gated method for mixing. Finally, echo cancellation is critical for intelligibility at the far side, such as hearing rooms or remote sites via teleconference.” Law firm offices are an obvious example of a remote site, but another—one where the audio environment can be even more challenging—is the place where video arraignments are held. Ideall, all legal participants would sit in a room with the right lighting, acoustics, and micing, but that’s not always the case. For example, if the jail has limited space, budget, or both, the end of a hallway might be converted to a makeshift video arraignment space. That means that the legal participants’ voices ring off the cinder block walls, creating intelligibility problems for the judge. In that situation, mic placement is key. “The acoustics will be a nightmare—no sound absorption whatsoever,” said Tim Root, Revolabs CTO and executive vice president of new business development. “So having a mic close to the per-
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Above: Court facilities, law firms, and law enforcement agencies don’t deploy extensive AV systems just for kicks. There has to be a solid ROI to justify each investment.
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J a n u a r y 2 0 1 3 | av ne twor k. c om | T h e Tec h nology Manager’s guid e To legal av
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LegaL av Calculating Legal AV’s ROI and TCO Courts and law enforcement agencies don’t deploy extensive aV systems just for kicks. there has to be a solid Roi to justify six- and seven-figure investments. So what are they? “A major benefit is the increased efficiency that digital evidence presentation provides,” said aJ shelat, hall Research vice president of sales. “Judges have told us that trials that would have taken a week or longer now only take days due to the ability to share evidence with the jury, judge, witness, and counsel simultaneously or selectively. “For example, before there were highresolution document cameras and monitors in front of the jurors, they would spend a lot of time just passing evidence material between the jurors, not to mention everyone else involved. Reducing the time in which trials can take place has a huge impact on the average per-trial cost and should be taken into account when assessing the Roi.” total cost of ownership (tCo) also is important. one strategy is to select aV products
Revolabs’ Conference Room Hybrid Mics
son’s mouth is critical because you’re going to get reverb like crazy.” Emphasis on intElligibility Even when participants in legal proceedings are in a well-designed AV environment, that doesn’t guarantee that the judges can always understand what they’re saying. Ditto for when everyone is in the courtroom.
that use standards and technologies that are widely used but that also haven’t been around so long that they’re on a glide path to obsolescence: hDmi rather than Vga, for example. The vendors themselves also affect TCO and Roi. For example, vendor-provided training helps maximize Roi by ensuring that employees know how to use the new equipment. “next is the manufacturer’s support, including software and firmware upgrades over time, warranty period and accessibility,” said Karl Winkler, lectrosonics director of business development. “the system should
“For courtrooms in particular, this technology greatly enhances the ability of the courts to do automated recording and attendantfree sound reinforcement while retaining high intelligibility.” —Karl Winkler, Lectrosonics
last many years without a hiccup and should only need to be replaced when it is obsolete, and maybe not even then. “manufacturing quality matters in this regard, and often the least expensive systems that save money at first do not hold up. however, high cost is no guarantee of these factors. Check the maker’s track record for reliability. Check their case studies.”
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president and justice project designer. Schwartz explained that if a judge’s hearing acuity isn’t very sharp, very often, in the front of the bench, they install an adjustable speaker. It’s equally important that attorneys and other people in the courtroom can hear the judge as well as one another. That’s not always the case. “Often, due to the layout of many courtrooms, many court reporters find themselves sitting in an acoustical void, where the sound waves bounce around them,” said Martin Gruen, deputy director of the Center for Legal & Court Technology, a joint experimental project of the William & Mary Law School and the National Center for State Courts. “[That makes] it difficult to hear all areas of the room and more challenging for them to accurately capture and record what is said. This increases stress by not providing them with an ideal environment.” The right number of mics in the right places goes a long way toward alleviating that problem. “Typically a courtroom will have four to eight microphones, based on the number of participants and the type of court proceeding,” said Adam Lofredo, ExhibitOne strategic account manager. “Also, we need to make sure that we have even speaker coverage, so anyone in the courtroom feels like the person speaking is right next to them having a conversation. The typical courtroom needs between eight and 12 speakers
“It’s a major problem right now: The judge can’t hear anybody,” Root said. One solution is to put speakers in front of the judge for sound reinforcement. That design also can be advisable for certain types of courts simply because of who’s sitting behind the bench. “A lot of times, appeals [court] judges are older judges,” said Bob Schwartz, HOK group vice
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for appropriate coverage. “ But installing loudspeakers all over the courtroom might not be an option for reasons such as aesthetics, budgets, and cable runs. Conferencing mics with onboard speakers can be an alternative. “These speakers do a fantastic job of creating a local sound field—basically a low-level, distributed sound system—which is a perfect solution for acoustically challenging environments like courthouses,” said Patrick Herlihy, Media Vision USA senior product manager. “This local sound field also allows the overhead speakers to be kept at a lower level, resulting in greater pick-up pattern and gain before feedback from the conferencing microphones. That increases the quality of the audio both locally and remotely.” If the facility is new construction or a major remodel, there’s more flexibility for speaker and mic placement. “The speaker system should also be set up in multiple zones—typically four: judge, well, jury, and gallery—which will help to prevent feedback from open microphones,” Lofredo said. “Feedback is created from a participant’s audio coming from a ceiling speaker before it gets to an open microphone. So we zone out the judge’s audio from the ceiling speaker that is in his/her zone.” Mics and loudspeakers increasingly aren’t the only tools used to ensure a great audio experience in both courtrooms and adjunct facilities. “One of the trends that started some time ago but continues to gather steam is the use of high-quality auto mixing,” said Lectrosonics’ Winkler. “For courtrooms in particular, this technology greatly enhances the ability of the courts to do automated recording and attendant-free sound rein-
“Reducing the time in which trials can take place has a huge impact on the average per-trial cost and should be taken into account when assessing the ROI.” —AJ Shelat, Hall Research
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LegaL av forcement while retaining high intelligibility. “Gain-sharing algorithms for auto mixing are becoming the norm now. This, coupled with echo-cancellation technology for teleconferencing, has made it possible to have proceedings that are seamless while bridging one or more remote sites. Even small law offices can benefit from these technologies, making their lives easier while still retaining ease of operation.” Stay flexible for the future Even the best courtroom AV designs don’t last forever. The needs and wants of judges and attorneys change over time, so one challenge is ensuring that the audio experience remains consistently great. The Justice Research Group at Australia’s University of Western Sydney is studying ways that technology managers and others can accommodate those changes. “One of the key issues that our research team is currently investigating is the impact of wireless technologies of the future,” said Emma Rowden, who also sits on an InfoComm—American Institute of Architects committee that’s developing AV “One of the first things that the county officials pointed out was how long the courthouse had been serving the community,” Shawn guides for designing courts and correc- Snider, project manager at RG Sound & Communications, said about the historic Auglaize County Courthouse in Wapakoneta, tional facilities. “That may obviate the need Ohio. It was completed in 1894 and recently underwent a $30 million renovation. RG Sound & Communications centered each courtroom’s new system on an Ashly Pema 8125.70 integrated processor and amplifier. “Because they had a tight budget and limited for fixed cables, and free up the real estate [19th Century] closet space, we felt that the Ashly Pema, which offers eight channels of fully featured matrix processing and eight of the courtroom for more flexible arrange- amplifier channels in a two-rack space chassis, was the perfect choice.” ments to suit particular cases.” Although wireless is an obvious way to ensure ments. We’re also coming out with 256-bit AES for “New audio networking technologies a certain level of flexibility future-proofing, it’s not those environments where they want the capabil- like Dante go a long way toward addressing the only option. For example, the Arizona U.S. ity of having top-secret-level encryption. For the the challenge of running cables in a highly District Court features raised floors with 4-foot-by- most part, digital at 128 is fine.” dressed environment like a courtroom,” said 4-foot panels for access to wiring bundles below. Batteries are another important consideration. Lectrosonics’ Winkler. “With a single Cat6 That design makes it easier to reposition furniture Even if the manufacturer said its product can run cable, 32 input and 32 output channels can be such as attorney tables if the court’s needs change. for eight hours between charges, it’s still worth run simultaneously.” Wireless can be a good fit immediately, too, looking at whether the mic is designed to make it Since 1998, Tim Kridel has covered the tech such as to accommodate attorneys who like to easy for a non-technical person to change a bat- and telecom industries for a variety of publicapace around. Digital solutions are ideal because tery. After all, mics don’t always make it back to tions and websites, including AV Technology, Carrier interference is less of an issue. Encryption often is the charger when users are finished. Ethernet News, Digital Innovation Gazette, Pro another important consideration. If aesthetics are a major consideration, and AV, and InAVate. His coverage includes Carrier “We have 128-bit encryption for our base wireless isn’t an option for whatever reason, one Ethernet, mobile apps, speech recognition, digiproducts,” said Revolabs’ Root. “From a govern- alternative is wired technologies that require mini- tal signage, FTTx, videoconferencing, Wi-Fi, and ment perspective, that’s for non-secret environ- mal cabling. cellular. He can be reached at tim@timkridel.com.
“Often, due to the layout of many courtrooms, many court reporters find themselves sitting in an acoustical void, where the sound waves bounce around them.” —Martin Gruen, Center for Legal & Court Technology A8
J a n u a r y 2 0 1 3 | av ne twor k. c om | T h e Tec h nology Manager’s guid e To legal av
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LegaL av This courtroom AV system uses Hall Research equipment to empower users. The system was designed and installed by Smith Audio Visual Inc. of Topeka, Kansas
Jails and courts are among the growing number of judicial and law enforcement facilities using video for depositions, arraignments, and other tasks. Doing it right is no small feat. By Tim Kridel The visual experience is more important than ever in today’s legal system, but increasingly it’s virtual. One example is video arraignments, whose benefits include the security and cost savings of not having to transport people from the jail to the courthouse. Other applications include depositions and visitation, with the amount of video usage varying widely. “Courts have been slowly increasing their use
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of videoconferencing, especially for administrative purposes,” said Fred Lederer, William & Mary Law School Chancellor professor of law. “There is relatively little use of remote motion practice or testimony. Most remote hearings are via telephone at present, although the amount of videoconferenced testimony, especially in civil cases, is
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increasing. “Administrative proceedings—especially Social Security disability hearings, Medicare hearings and immigration court hearings—are very different. All three have heavy use of remote audio-video appearances.” Although video comes with a variety of techno-
Photo Courtesy of osage County Court, Lyndon, Ks
Court Appointed Video
LegaL av logical and other challenges—more about those in a moment—it’s a safe bet that usage will continue to grow. One obvious reason is money, such as freeing up personnel to focus on other tasks instead of endlessly ferrying defendants to arraignments, for example. A growing number of police officers and detectives have PCs and tablets with webcams. Adding a video softphone client to those devices turns them into videoconferencing endpoints. “A court system in Williamsburg would have liked to be able to use videoconferencing to allow for a police officer to virtually appear in court from the squad car, thus reducing the time the office spent in court and increasing the time he/ she is on patrol in the community,” said Martin Gruen, deputy director of the Center for Legal & Court Technology, a joint experimental project of the William & Mary Law School and the National Center for State Courts. Another driver is cultural: Attorneys and other legal professionals are increasingly using video in their personal lives. That usage is starting to set expectations about what’s possible in their professional lives. “In part due to changing social expectations related to FaceTime and Skype, and in part due to the current fiscal constraints that are crippling courts, I expect remote audio-video appearances in the courts to expand relatively rapidly in the next five years,” said Lederer, who also oversees McGlothlin Courtroom, considered the most technologically advanced facility in the world. More than a caMera A wide variety of factors determine whether everyone involved has a satisfactory video experience. Some of those factors are relatively straightforward. For example, suppose that a witness is testifying from a law firm’s office. At her end, the camera should be as close as possible to the display that has the courtroom video feed. If they’re not, she could appear shifty to the judge and jury because she’s looking away at the monitor while talking. She also should be able to see her feed to know how she appears to everyone else. “Often very little attention is paid to the lighting, the background, the angle of the camera to the face, and so on,” said Jay Farbstein, owner of Jay Farbstein & Associates, an architectural firm that specializes in law-enforcement facilities. “That can affect credibility. If it’s done well or adequately, everything is fine.”
To maximize credibility and professionalism, the remote location should have a facility designed for videoconferences rather than a setup cobbled together at the last second. After all, it’s only freedom or finances at stake. “Basically we have to treat them as close as possible to the way they would be treated as if they were in the courtroom,” said Bob Schwartz, HOK group vice president and justice project designer. “That could mean lighting, video quality and audio quality, what the background is. “The judge wants to see more than just the head. The judge wants to see body movement to see reaction to questions.” Lighting can make or break a video system’s ROI because a dissatisfied judge has the power to stop using it for arraignments and other applications. “Too often proper lighting is not taken into consideration,” Gruen said. “Many judges prefer not to use videoconferencing because they like to see clearly the defendant’s body language, facial expressions, as well as voice intonations and inflections. Without proper lighting, this is not possible and puts both the judge and the defendant at a considerable disadvantage.” The same attention to detail applies to the courtroom, too. “There are a lot of different participants in the courtroom, most of whom are facing different directions and have different viewing requirements,” said Adam Lofredo, ExhibitOne strategic account manager. “As an example, we have to consider the needs of the judge, jury members, witnesses, counsel, clerk, and those in the gallery. “Compounding that are ceiling height, lineof-sight obstructions such as pillars and lighting, whether it’s natural light or coming from lots of fixtures. [There’s also] the size of the room: The greater the distance the screen is from a participant, the larger the screen.”
Point of View:
District Attorney Brian Hermanson Kay & noble Counties, oKlahoma
We do not have videoconferencing in our courts yet. We do, however, often use video playback. We also play back video statements made by defendants when they are interviewed. We have seen that people are more and more used to receiving their information from a television screen or a monitor. When information is provided to the jury on such a device we see jurors lean toward the device and pay closer attention. they appear to have a comfort level with this form of medium and, as such, are more willing to receive the information from such a format. Brian Hermanson practiced law in Ponca City, OK, for 31 years, before becoming the District Attorney of Kay and Noble Counties, Oklahoma, in 2011.
MaxiMizing security and productivity Video effectively extends the courtroom and other legal facilities to the outside world. As a result, securing those video connections is another key consideration. Security is just one example of how designs and best practices from other verticals aren’t always sufficient for judicial and law enforcement applications. “Setting up an AV room is not as simple as setting up a videoconferencing room in a business office,” Gruen said. “How defendants are moved
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LegaL av A courtroom with advanced audiovisual solutions.
Photo courtesy of exhibitone
Effective Use Of Courtroom Technology The book “Effective Use of Courtroom Technology: A Judge’s Guide to Pretrial and Trial” is a joint project of the Federal Judicial Center and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy that offers specifics about day-today use of technology in courtrooms. This book, published by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, states: “Appropriate use of technology to display or play evidentiary exhibits or illustrative aids changes the dynamic in a courtroom in productive and helpful ways. For jurors, it can increase the sense of participation and improve the understanding of the facts.” You can download this resource at http:// www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/CTtech00. pdf/$file/CTtech00.pdf
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into the room, how the public defenders access this same room, as well as if they will be in the same room, how police personnel will manage the space—these are all important aspects that need to be planned for at the beginning.” One way to maximize security is to get input from judges, sheriffs, and other key stakeholders early on in a video system’s design. But that’s good advice for maximizing ROI, too, as well as identifying other opportunities to implement video. “The Gulfport, Mississippi, police department wanted to incorporate first court appearance capabilities via videoconferencing, but issues around restricted funds (once this need was identified) negated being able to incorporate it towards the end of the installation,” Gruen said. “Having the sheriff at the beginning would have brought this need to the table at the planning stage and may have allowed for different options, enabling the first court appearance capability to be incorporated.” The type of court also affects opportunities to use video. “By their very nature, most appellate courts do not have visual displays of information because they are only reviewing the record of trial made
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below,” Lederer said. “Trial courts, however, take evidence, and technology-enabled trial courtrooms may have various forms of image display, high-tech court-record, videoconferencing, assistive technology, and very sophisticated audio systems. “This is actually a complex question because there are many different types of court proceedings and courts, and their function often affects the technology involved.” ToTal cosT of ownership Finally, don’t overlook how video architecture choices affect the system’s total cost of ownership. “Traditional videoconferencing solutions for law enforcement applications such as video depositions and recording require the complexity of infrastructure management, which cannot be outsourced as a managed service due to security issues and regulation,” said Ken Davison, Magor Communications chief marketing officer and senior vice president of sales. “That requires significant cost on both capital and internal service organizations. By moving to a switched, transcoderless architecture, infrastructure management is reduced by an order of magnitude.”
LegaL av
Making a Case for Convergence AV and IT are slowly converging in courthouses, prisons, and other legal facilities. That’s creating opportunities to work more efficiently and effectively, but the jury is still out on the related challenges. By Tim Kridel Add judicial and law enforcement facilities to the growing list of places where AV and IT are converging. And like their counterparts in general enterprise and other sectors, legal technology professionals face a variety of challenges, from security concerns to usability. For example, enterprise IT managers often balk at
allowing AV traffic such as video to run over their networks for reasons such as security and bandwidth. There and in the legal sector, that resistance is starting to wane, partly because technology has evolved to address their concerns. Case in point: the use of video for applications such as remote arraignment and testimony. “In early 2005, we saw an early adoption of videoconferencing over IP,” said Adam Lofredo, ExhibitOne strategic account manager. “This was an IT nightmare since video consumed a lot of bandwidth. Eventually Photo courtesy of exhibitone
Phoenix, Arizona-based ExhibitOne has designed more than 1,500 courtroom systems, including this one.
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the videoconferencing manufacturers co-created the H.264 video standard, which was a compression algorithm that allowed decent videoconferencing calls at much lower bandwidth: typically 384 kbps. “At the same time, the IT industry started making investments in the 10/100 MB switches. This combination allowed us to see most videoconferencing today run over IP.” HDbaseT and Audio Video Bridging (AVB) are two other technologies increasingly used in courthouses and other facilities so audio and video can share the same Cat cabling. The next step is to have AV and IT share that and other infrastructure. “We are currently not seeing the AV systems run over an existing network because of the network demands that AV requires,” Lofredo said. “However, the IT and AV networks are being run in parallel and cohabit in the same backbone pathways and server rooms. Over the next few years, as IT departments deploy gigabit backbone systems, we will most likely see a harmonic convergence where AV and IT are all run on the same network.” It’s important to ensure that sharing infrastructure doesn’t make AV vulnerable to eavesdropping or create a back door into IT systems. “It is critical to keep data secure, whether it’s streaming video or sensitive data that is on the courthouse’s network,” said AJ Shelat, Hall Research vice president of sales. “As AV has evolved, so has IT, and they each have the tools to share the physical space and keep sensitive data secure.” But not all resources will be shared, including between just AV users. For example, court security might not want to use the same camera systems that support video arraignment. An InfoComm—
LegaL av American Institute of Architects committee that’s developing AV guides for designing courts and correctional facilities has explored that kind of sharing. “They keep saying no, that they want better cameras for what they’re doing—such as video arraignment—than what the court security people will have,” said Bob Schwartz, a committee member who’s also HOK group vice president and justice project designer.
possible.” When comparing vendors and integrators for an AV or IT project, another thing to look for is their ability to train staff on newly installed systems. “Proper training for basic features and operation should be a major consideration,” Shelat said. “We have seen the knowledge level vary considerably from one facility to another, but also from one bailiff to another. It is the job of the dealer and/or installer to ObjectiOn: WhO’s in charge provide adequate documentation and trainLarge legislative venues pose many of the same challenges as courthouses Of the technOlOgy? ing for each installation.” and government facilities—ensuring consistent audiovisual performance with Someone has to run all of those AV and IT sys- an interface easily usable by myriad participants. The Connecticut Legislative AV/IT training also varies significantly at tems, regardless of whether they’re converged. Office Building, pictured here, features a customized audio unit with a bronze- the law school level, so it’s a mistake to “It varies by jurisdiction, but it could be plate finish. The microphone system is part of the TAIDEN HCS-4100 Digital assume that attorneys will always know how Conferencing System line. the court clerk, a bailiff, sometimes the court to run a control panel or connect their laptop reporter,” Schwartz said. “I think you’re pretty to the projector. lucky if you’ve got an AV person in the courthouse.” the bailiff or someone else, the responsible person in “Insofar as I am aware, most law schools do not Day-to-day operations aren’t a minor issue. It’s the room already has a core job, and controlling the address AV issues except insofar as they might come just the opposite: If AV and IT systems aren’t working AV routing is just an added responsibility they are up as issues in a given course,” said Fred Lederer, effectively together or at all, it undermines their ROI. charged with. “ William & Mary Law School Chancellor professor Even so, it’s not uncommon for court reporters and One reason for limited training is money. of law. “Even then, a criminal procedure course, for other legal professionals to have AV and IT operations “In a world where everyone is trying to cut their example, might not even discuss the existence of more or less dropped in their lap with little training. budgets, there are an increasing number of those remote arraignment or for Sixth Amendment con“While the AV systems may be managed and responsible for these systems that have not been frontation clause purposes, remote testimony. maintained by someone who is highly trained and properly trained in AV,” said Patrick Herlihy, Media “A fair number of law schools do have technologyexperienced, depending on budgets, it is often likely Vision USA senior product manager. “This makes it enhanced courtrooms for training students in trial that the user of the system will have only basic train- incumbent upon us as AV professionals to ensure practice. The degree to which that technology is used ing to use the system efficiently in order to get the that the technology we bring to the table is designed is very unclear and likely dependent on each indijob done,” said Hall Research’s Shelat. “Whether it is and integrated to be as user-friendly and intuitive as vidual teacher.”
Legal BYOD: Bring Your Own Dilemma? One big difference between courtrooms and enterprise conference rooms is that
Unless a case involves, say, copyright infringement, it’s unlikely that an attorney
the latter often limit the types of laptops, tablets and other devices that they’ll sup-
or expert witness would need to display content that’s HDCP protected. Even so,
port from an AV perspective. That leaves courthouse technology managers to figure
content protection is something to keep in mind when troubleshooting because it’s
out which interfaces to support at attorneys’ tables and elsewhere.
not uncommon for a device such as a Mac to turn on HDCP even when the content
“Increasingly courtrooms are moving towards a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) model, where more attorneys bring their personal devices, including iPads and
doesn’t require it. One way to minimize BYOD headaches is to provide PCs in each courtroom.
various tablet devices,” said Martin Gruen, deputy director of the Center for Legal
Then attorneys, expert witnesses, and other non-staff can bring in their content on
& Court Technology, a joint experimental project of the William & Mary Law School
a disk or flash drive. But that option might not fly.
and the National Center for State Courts. “Knowing this ahead of time, and planning for these work style differences and expectations, ensures that every word is captured and recorded.” But that’s easier said than done. For example, each courtroom would need the most commonly used adapters to connect devices to AV gear such as projectors. If that’s the strategy for dealing with BYOD, then it’s important to keep an eye on which interfaces device vendors are adding and dropping from their product lineups.
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“If their computer doesn’t have the same fonts, it throws off the formatting,” said Bob Schwartz, HOK group vice president and justice project designer. Although tablets, laptops, and even smartphones are the best-known examples of BYOD, they’re not the only types of devices that technology managers and courtroom staff have to contend with. Document cameras are another. “The variety of hardware presents a challenge because they’re all sources that need to be integrated into the system,” Gruen said.
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Q&A With Audio Visual Technology Manager Bhisham Somai Bhisham Somai is the Audio Visual Technology Manager at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, New York City. Founded in 1931, the New York office is Weil’s largest office and serves as the legal firm’s worldwide headquarters; according to the company’s website, more than 500 attorneys practice in Weil’s New York HQ. The firm has 21 offices worldwide. Bhisham Somai, Audio Visual Technology Manager, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in NYC
AV Technology: Do you do inhouse AV installation? If not, who is your systems integration partner? Bhisham Somai: We do minor in-house AV installation, but for our major boardrooms, we work with integrators such as Video Corp of America, TriTech Communication, Whitlock, Avidex & Real Time Services.
How is AV/IT convergence affecting your day-today work, if at all? Are you equally “fluent” in both areas? AV techs need to have an IT background to fully support our users. Everything is being networked and accessed via computers and tablets in the office and remotely. I have been lucky to have started in IT and then converted over to AV, which enabled me to easily grasp all of the new technologies that are
coming forth. What troubleshooting tools do you regularly use in your facility, if any? We use remote tools such as Crestron eControl, iPad remote control, device web pages, and Cisco Movi. What AV equipment/gear are you most interested in procuring for your facility in the next year? We will continue to add collaboration tools to our boardrooms and adding features to our videoconference infrastructure. Should tech managers attend InfoComm? Why/ why not? Absolutely, the future of AV ties into IT infrastructure, especially with AV systems being centralized and videoconferencing taking up massive resources on IT infrastructures.
National Institute for Trial Advocacy Creates Online Learning Portal for Attorneys The National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), a provider of hands-on education for the legal profession, created an online learning program for continuing legal education and attorney mentoring via Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite webcast technology. At NITA, a team of expert professors, judges and practicing lawyers offer hundreds of one-day or multiday courses for continuing legal education credits and accreditation. Last year it launched an online program called “Deposition Skills: Online” for attorneys unable to attend in-person due to time, location or budget restraints. Instructors record their lectures via Mediasite in NITA’s studio71, and remote participants access a catalog of on-demand presentations to watch, in addition to taking part in live classes via webcams. “In our first year, we’ve had over 6,000 views of our on-demand video content. Our volunteer educators are giving lectures all around the U.S., and
our goal is to increase our distance learning capabilities to include even more online programming on different topics,” said Wendy Velez, NITA’s associate executive director of operations. “Mediasite for me means innovation. It gives us the freedom to try new things and reach more attorneys nationwide.” NITA also holds private classes for individual firms and uses a teaching method called flipped instruction that involves faculty prerecording lectures for attorneys to
watch before class. Class time is then dedicated to hands-on learning and dynamic discussions about what they learned. “Mediasite is easy to use and anyone can do this. You don’t have to be a film school graduate to be able to operate the platform. We can also track analytics and see who watched what, which is important for the state accreditation boards,” Velez said. Mediasite is used by schools, corporations, and government entities; its video content management and webcasting system automates the capture, management, delivery and search of live and on-demand streaming videos and rich media. For more information, visit sonWendy Velez, NITA’s Associate Executive Director of Operations icfoundry.com and nita.org.
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