A digital camera stands on alert. The Ohio court is one of several hundred such courtrooms in the U.S. that have been decked out for the Digital Age. These fully loaded courtrooms are part of a broad movement to give a 21st-century edge to a profession steeped in tradition. Introducing digital equipment is helping to rev up a sluggish legal process by giving the judge and attorneys instantaneous access to evidence and case documents, as well as the ability to share information more quickly and directly with the jury. Juries are better informed.
Trials move faster.
Judges see more cases. The law firm has been using personal-computer networks and video technology in the courtroom since it represented the defunct DeLorean Motor in 1998. The depositions were displayed on television monitors throughout the courtroom in the New York Supreme Court, one of the nation s most digitally advanced. Going beyond videotape, many lawyers are using videoconferencing to question, from the courtroom, witnesses based overseas. In a case involving a Japanese company, both sides fully expected it would take years to bring all the witnesses over to the U.S., according to Nicholas Croce, president of Doar Communications, which develops courtroom technology.