Make do
Over the years, I’ve done so many trials. I would like to say I’ve done hundreds because sometimes it feels like it, but that wouldn’t be true! I’ll guess that I have supported some 50 to 70 trials in one capacity or another over the last several years.
Of course those trials run the gamut from settling or being continued, to going the full length in court. With the trials that get settled, or even continued, the whole war room space still gets planned out and built. You have to build it because you can’t count on anything other than the fact that you have a court date and must plan to be ready to go. I can post about the prospect of “pencils down” in a subsequent post. What I’m writing about in this post are some quick thoughts about war rooms in general and what they turn out to be in real life.
There seems to be a prevalent feeling with those that don’t go to trial that it is a vacation. People see that you leave the office and travel to (sometimes) interesting locals. Their thinking you get to stay in fancy hotels and eat fancy food. How isn’t that a holiday? While some of these things are true, I don’t think anyone working a trial would call it a vacation by any means. This leads me to another point I have made so many times at trials and I believe is usually the case.
Trial is more like camping than an all-inclusive vacation. Work with me here. I’m obviously not saying that you will be sleeping on cots in tents and eating s’mores cooked over the fire. That clearly isn’t true if you’re staying in a comfortable hotel. What I really am getting at is that the workspace and how you get things done is very different from your office.
When you are back in the office, you have all of the comforts available to you. Your desk is set up the way you like, printers are probably convenient, everyone has designated work areas and so forth. In the war room, it can be a tight squeeze. You can’t spread out with all of your stuff like you do at your desk in the office. There might be several printers in close proximity to you. Sometimes there isn’t a lot of room to walk around. Noise levels are going to be higher than back at the office.
Back to the camping comment, if I may. Another mistaken idea that some people get when they go to trial goes back to the “you’re going on a fabulous vacation” attitude. I have seen it time and again. Some people think that the technology, the network, the printers and everything else should be better than it is in the office. I guess since people think it’s a fabulous vacation, there should be upgraded everything. Thus, my comment that trial is more like camping than an all-inclusive holiday.
People are working close to each other. Sometimes you can’t get the bandwidth you would like either because it’s cost-prohibitive or simply unavailable. Frequently, people will be unhappy with the speed of the printers and/or copiers, but that’s really all that are available. You have to make do. You have to work with what you have available sometimes. There will be trials where you have to squeeze into a space that is really not big enough for all the people that are on the trial team. Your team might have to rent another hotel room for the duration just to use for storage or as a break-out room. Be creative and flexible and you can get through it.
Trials aren’t always like that. Occasionally you’ll have all the space you desire, but you can’t count on that. I have been to trials where a firm rented desks and set up their workspace like it was an office in a large metropolitan city with a phone on every desk. In many cases though, that is not going to be realistic or even possible, not to mention the expense of setting that up. Quite frequently your war room space will be that tight squeeze and a lot more like camping than you expected but you can make it work.
Of course those trials run the gamut from settling or being continued, to going the full length in court. With the trials that get settled, or even continued, the whole war room space still gets planned out and built. You have to build it because you can’t count on anything other than the fact that you have a court date and must plan to be ready to go. I can post about the prospect of “pencils down” in a subsequent post. What I’m writing about in this post are some quick thoughts about war rooms in general and what they turn out to be in real life.
There seems to be a prevalent feeling with those that don’t go to trial that it is a vacation. People see that you leave the office and travel to (sometimes) interesting locals. Their thinking you get to stay in fancy hotels and eat fancy food. How isn’t that a holiday? While some of these things are true, I don’t think anyone working a trial would call it a vacation by any means. This leads me to another point I have made so many times at trials and I believe is usually the case.
Trial is more like camping than an all-inclusive vacation. Work with me here. I’m obviously not saying that you will be sleeping on cots in tents and eating s’mores cooked over the fire. That clearly isn’t true if you’re staying in a comfortable hotel. What I really am getting at is that the workspace and how you get things done is very different from your office.
When you are back in the office, you have all of the comforts available to you. Your desk is set up the way you like, printers are probably convenient, everyone has designated work areas and so forth. In the war room, it can be a tight squeeze. You can’t spread out with all of your stuff like you do at your desk in the office. There might be several printers in close proximity to you. Sometimes there isn’t a lot of room to walk around. Noise levels are going to be higher than back at the office.
Back to the camping comment, if I may. Another mistaken idea that some people get when they go to trial goes back to the “you’re going on a fabulous vacation” attitude. I have seen it time and again. Some people think that the technology, the network, the printers and everything else should be better than it is in the office. I guess since people think it’s a fabulous vacation, there should be upgraded everything. Thus, my comment that trial is more like camping than an all-inclusive holiday.
People are working close to each other. Sometimes you can’t get the bandwidth you would like either because it’s cost-prohibitive or simply unavailable. Frequently, people will be unhappy with the speed of the printers and/or copiers, but that’s really all that are available. You have to make do. You have to work with what you have available sometimes. There will be trials where you have to squeeze into a space that is really not big enough for all the people that are on the trial team. Your team might have to rent another hotel room for the duration just to use for storage or as a break-out room. Be creative and flexible and you can get through it.
Trials aren’t always like that. Occasionally you’ll have all the space you desire, but you can’t count on that. I have been to trials where a firm rented desks and set up their workspace like it was an office in a large metropolitan city with a phone on every desk. In many cases though, that is not going to be realistic or even possible, not to mention the expense of setting that up. Quite frequently your war room space will be that tight squeeze and a lot more like camping than you expected but you can make it work.
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