By Alan Gahtan - August 28, 1995
The courtroom of the future is here and located in Williamsburg, Virginia. Known as Courtroom 21, the mock courtroom at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William & Mary is the world's most technologically advanced courtroom.
The use of technology in the courtroom has with few exceptions been largely ad hoc. Its use has largely depended upon the initiative of individual litigators and receptive judges. Courtroom 21 hopes to change all this. In addition to its use to support the law school's in-house education function, Courtroom 21 provides an international showcase of integrated, commercially available technology with application in the courtroom. It has attracted the attention of lawyers, judges, law school deans and other legal professionals from around the world.
The video conferencing facilities installed in Courtroom 21 support two-way television arraignment and witness examination. This technology may find a use in criminal matters where the costs of transporting and guarding prisoners can be reduced. Defendants can be linked to the courts for routine hearings such as arraignments and bail hearings from a special teleconferencing room set up at the confinement facility. Remote arraignments have been used in Dade County, Florida since 1982 when two-way television was initiated for first appearances in misdemeanour cases. Video conferencing facilities in the courtroom may also one day allow the use of jurors from other venues without actually having to move the physical location of the trial.
Multiple computer-controlled cameras are installed in Courtroom 21. A multi-frame video system combines video images from cameras focused on the judge, witness stand, both counsel tables and a wide-angle overview of the courtroom. The image from each camera appears in one of a number of small windows with a larger window automatically switching to show the image from the location where the audio is originating. The resulting images can be fed from a simulated trial to closed-circuit television monitors located elsewhere in the complex and can be recorded to form an audio-visual record of the trial which can be used for appeal purposes.
The audio signals are also fed into a real-time transcription system, an assisted listening device that supports the use of wireless headphones and a linkup to AT&T's Language Line which can provide consecutive translation of up to 143 languages.
The technology used in real-time transcription systems is similar to that used to generate real-time captions of live television programs. The output of these stenographic machines, when connected to a personal computer running real-time transcript-digesting software, can allow lawyers, judges and paralegals to immediately view an electronic copy of the testimony. Even the less sophisticated programs provide the ability to scroll back and forth through the text. Lawyers can review fresh oral testimony during breaks or over lunch.
Evidence is presented using an automated trial presentation system. Automated trial presentation systems have been used in a number of recent high profile cases including the Exxon Valdez trial, RTC v. Lincoln Savings & Loan, the O.J. Simpson double murder trial and Michael Jackson's defence of a copyright infringement suit brought in respect of his song "Dangerous." Exhibits are converted and stored in digital form so that they can be projected onto a large projection screen or video monitors in the courtroom. Particular exhibits can then be called up and displayed almost instantaneously and the lawyer and expert witnesses gain the ability to annotate the evidence during testimony.
The Courtroom 21 facilities were assembled for demonstration and experimentation by private- sector companies. These same companies have also committed to periodic upgrading of the system to ensure that all components remain current.
The use of Courtroom 21 is closely integrated and supports the school's practical-oriented legal skills program. First year students are put into one of twelve simulated law firms and given simulated cases requiring them to conduct legal research, interviews, examinations, negotiating with opposing counsel and other practical legal tasks. If matters cannot be settled by negotiation then they are tried in Courtroom 21.
Although legal education south of the border has traditionally had a more practical orientation, one hopes that Canadian law schools will take notice of such developments.
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