You need equipment
If your firm is going to trial, or perhaps you are hosting a document review, you need equipment. Of course, there are some firms that have LOTS of extra equipment sitting at the ready. I would guess that most firms don’t have a significant amount of inventory waiting in the wings.
As an example, let’s assume that your firm is going to trial in the near future. Maybe you’ll have 15 people on your trial team. For the purpose of this illustration, I’ll suppose that you’ve already booked the war room space and have contracted with an internet services provider. What type of equipment might you need to have for this trial?
Networking equipment – you need network switches to connect everyone, some type of device to provide network addresses for each host on the network (either a server or networking device such as a firewall that will serve up DHCP for your network), and Ethernet cables for computers and printers.
Electrical – you’re going to need power strips to distribute to all of the stuff that plugs in, extension cords to bring the power to the strips, etc. You can’t scrimp on extension cords because you might have issues with flipping circuit breakers in the space you’ve rented and need to use the cords to distribute power across different breakers.
Monitors – everyone these days wants to have a nice monitor (and frequently, two) to work with during trial. It doesn’t matter if you have a desktop computer or a notebook, dual monitor setup can be done and it can really help to have the extra “real estate” for looking at documents all day long.
Keyboards and mice – even if you are all working on notebook computers, it’s really nice to use a keyboard, a mouse and have at least one monitor plugged in.
Copiers and printers – the numbers of B&W to color, and how many copiers you need depend on your specific circumstance, but this is an area that trial teams always need to consider carefully. Insufficient numbers of printers, or if they are too slow, or if you don’t have enough replacement toner can have serious effects on the workflow of your team.
Projectors – you’re probably going to want at least one for run-through sessions with the technician that will be sitting in the “hot seat.” You don’t have to have them, but projector screens might be needed as well if you don’t have clean wall space to project to.
This isn’t an exhaustive list. There is a need for office supplies as well, no small task for a team going to trial. Paper and other supplies have to be accounted for. If your firm is hosting a document review, you’ll likely need most of these same items including possibly the computers for the reviewers to use.
~Leslie
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