We’re your “roadies” because we know how to set up everything electronic and know enough to tape down the cables, use bags full of cables, connectors, tables and all the miscellaneous things you might need. – And we know how to use them all.
Cool Things We’ve Done
- One time…we went on a boat trip with a judge, jury, whole lot of lawyers, court reporter and myself, loaded with video camera and tripod, portable lights and microphones; a whole portable recording system. In the middle of a trial about big machinery. We went to a water reclamation plant on an island in Boston Harbor and everyone gathered around the huge turbines at the heart of the dispute while I recorded video and audio as the expert witness gave official sworn in court testimony, questioned and cross examined and objections recorded and everything, court on an island. I put together a DVD from the videotapes and the jury had the testimony to look over when they deliberated.
- Another time a client had a kitchen stove to show to a jury as an expert witness explained how it was put together. Instead of trying to crowd everyone around we decided to rig a camera above the stove and project the image from the top looking down onto an 8 foot screen so judge, jury lawyers and spectators could see the demonstration. We set up a remote control so the attorney could zoom in on parts he wanted to question the witness about.
- Kinda like another time…a client wanted to show how a tire failed from the inside out, separated at a mis-designed seam and didn’t want to have to saw it apart. The client brought in the whole tire on a special stand and we slipped a “lip-stick” camera into the tire and projected what the expert directed what to show and testify to. Everyone in the courtroom, including the judge and jury could see exactly what the expert was discussing.
- In another case a client had hundreds of medical pathology slides to show for doctor’s testimony. NETS® obtained copies of the slides and digitized them so they could be projected and highlighted with arrows to show the medical evidence as well as the records.
- We helped a client in a 2 week trial which would have taken much longer without NETS®. One morning we had a witness with some documents we didn’t have in the electronic system so we took advantage of a tardy juror and scanned 70 pages of medical records so we could show and highlight and blow up the one or two critical words from two dozen pages the attorneys wanted to use so they could make their point and move on to the next. This kept the jury focused on the points, not on passing around pages of documents. What could have taken 3 hours took only 35 minutes. We are always prepared for these last minute adventures and provide solutions on the fly.
- This is the famous Captain Video trial, as if you’ve seen the MLW article I was able to retrieve previously recorded deposition testimony of a key witness and play back clips which contradicted her live testimony at trial, was able to show case documents and photos and deposition testimony and quickly redact portions the judge ruled objectionable. The judge was lots of fun and gave me the nickname fondly. I think.
- We used a camera rigged in a car, our professional digital video rig with battery belt for extra powerful onboard light, a digital still camera on time lapse and the chief valet of a high priced Back Bay Boston high-rise condo to show how long it takes to bring a car out of a crowded garage. An attorney hired a parking lot design firm to a test and we designed and produced a way to capture it on tape and combined that footage, with split screen cam views, a stopwatch effect, still photos, computer images of the design specs and witness narration to create video presentation to a room full of lawyers and arbitrators.
- Recently, for a case involving children I put together footage of the children along with family photos and interview footage with their parents into a 20/20 style five minute piece to show to a defendant. Super highly confidential stuff but extremely effective settlement strategy.