LegalTech: First Integrated Electronic Courtrooms Opened in the United States

Samuel Miller

Earlier this September, litigation services and software company Opus 2 International announced the United States’ “first integrated pop-up electronic courtroom built for paperless trials” occurred in Miami.  Brenda Mahedy, head of global marketing for Opus 2 International, discussed the impact of these services on court cases, while addressing the history of these services in the courtroom context.

Although Opus 2 was unable to discuss the specifics of the case, Mahedy and the company disclosed that “the parties were two multinational companies with branches in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe engaged in international litigation. Both parties came to the trial with an extensive array of technology and witness services, including evidence and trial presentation technologies.”  Mahedy stated, “while various disparate hearing room services already exist in the U.S., such as trial presentation tools, third-party interpretation services, and video conferencing, it is rare that these services are fully integrated with one another, yielding a much more seamless and efficient process during trial.”
Currently, these services are also utilized in some capacity in state courts in Texas and Utah dealing with electronic filing.  Furthermore, District Courts in the District of Columbia, Michigan, California, and Kentucky also provide technology-based evidence presentation capabilities though the addition of audio and video hardware in their courtrooms.  While these changes may improve efficiency and streamline paperless trials, these technologies may be slow to develop across the justice system, due to the structure and nature of changing policies and procedures related to the operation of the courtroom. Drawing from other court systems such as the UK, which have already begun to implement these technologies, however, may provide some model by which the courts could begin to make these changes.