Guides
How to present exhibits in court during testimony
Showing one document is a technical problem. Running twenty of them across four witnesses, while a judge rules on objections and a court reporter records every number you say out loud, is a choreography problem. This page is about the second one.
It is written for trial counsel and for the person sitting beside them running the screen. What you will have at the end is a sequence you can follow at the lectern, a short vocabulary for talking about exhibits on the record, and a way to keep track of what has been offered and what the court actually received.
Before you start
Bring the exhibit set, a witness-by-witness running order, and a record of what is already agreed. Stipulated exhibits do not need the same treatment as contested ones, and knowing which is which saves minutes per witness across a week.
Each exhibit should be one PDF. Not a folder of images, not an email with three attachments hanging off it — one document, one file, one number. If a document and its attachment belong together, combine them into a single PDF before trial or mark them separately and say so. Exhibit Room holds one PDF per exhibit for exactly this reason, so the decision gets made in your office rather than at the lectern.
Write the running order the way you will actually speak it: witness name, exhibit number, the one-line purpose, and the page you need first. A trial exhibit index is a good place to keep this, and it doubles as the list you hand to co-counsel.
Step by step
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Have the exhibit ready before you name it
Open the document on your own screen before you say its number out loud, so there is no gap between the reference and the image. Dead air while software loads reads as unpreparedness, and it invites interruption. Exhibit Room keeps the whole trial's exhibits in one list, so the document you need next is one click away rather than several folders deep.
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Show it to the witness before you show it to anyone else
The customary sequence in many courts is: mark, show opposing counsel, hand or display to the witness, lay the foundation, then offer. Displaying a document to the whole room before it is admitted can draw an objection you did not need to take. Ask the court how it wants electronic exhibits handled if the practice is not obvious from the standing orders.
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Lay the foundation with the document visible to the witness only
Your questions establish what the document is, who made it, and how the witness knows it. Keep the page still while this is happening. If you need to move through pages to establish authorship or completeness, move deliberately and say the page number as you go so the transcript makes sense later.
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Offer it, and listen to the ruling before you publish
"Your Honor, we offer Exhibit 004." Wait. If it is received, then publish it to the room; if it is received for a limited purpose, say so on the record and keep that limit in mind when you argue it in closing. Nothing goes on the large screen until you know which of those happened.
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Direct attention to one thing at a time
A whole page on a screen is an invitation to read ahead. Zoom to the part that matters, or use a prepared annotation that makes it obvious. In Exhibit Room the + and − keys zoom during presentation, W fits the page width, and F returns to the whole page when you want to re-establish context. Highlights and callouts you drew in preparation are visible in presentation mode too, and annotating exhibits covers how to prepare them without overdoing it.
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Move between exhibits without leaving the fullscreen view
The transition between documents is where most courtroom presentations fall apart, because it usually means dropping back to a file browser in front of everyone. In Exhibit Room, pressing E during presentation opens the exhibit switcher: type an exhibit number or part of its name, press Enter, and the next document is up. Practise the three or four switches you know are coming.
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Record the ruling as it happens
Somebody on the team must note, in the moment, whether each exhibit was offered, admitted, rejected or received only as illustrative. Memory is not adequate and the transcript will not arrive in time to help you. Exhibit Room marks each exhibit with a status — Not offered, Offered, Admitted, Rejected or Illustrative — shown as text next to the exhibit rather than as a colour alone, so the person holding the laptop can update it between questions.
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Reconcile at the end of each trial day
Ten minutes at the end of the day comparing your statuses against your notes is worth an hour of reconstruction later. You are checking that nothing was offered and forgotten, and that anything received for a limited purpose is flagged. The exhibit admission tracker gives you a printable place to do this if you would rather work on paper at the end of the day.
Examples
In the fictional matter of Smith v. Jones, the direct examination of a facilities manager runs through three exhibits: Exhibit 003, a photograph of a stairwell; Exhibit 004, an email from the manager to a contractor; and Exhibit 021, a repair invoice.
The running order note reads: Reyes — 003 (p.1, condition on 3 May) — 004 (p.2, second paragraph) — 021 (p.1, line 6). Exhibit 003 is stipulated, so it goes up quickly. Exhibit 004 is contested on hearsay grounds; it stays on the witness screen while the foundation is laid, and it reaches the large display only after the court receives it. Exhibit 021 is offered for a limited purpose and its status is set to Illustrative on the spot, which is what stops it being argued as proof of the amount in closing. Between documents, the operator presses E, types 21, and presses Enter.
Related terminology
An exhibit that has been identified and given a number but not yet received is a marked exhibit; once the court receives it, it is an admitted exhibit. Something used to explain testimony rather than to prove a fact is usually called an illustrative exhibit, and the master document listing everything you intend to use is the exhibit list.
Frequently asked questions
Who should run the laptop — the examining lawyer or someone else?
Whoever is not asking the questions, if you can spare the person. Splitting the roles lets counsel watch the witness and the jury instead of a screen. Teams of one manage fine with a short list of page numbers and a handful of keys.
What happens if an exhibit is admitted subject to a later ruling?
Note it explicitly rather than treating it as admitted. In Exhibit Room you might leave the status at Offered and put the detail in the exhibit's description field, then revisit it when the court rules.
Can I control the display from a tablet at counsel table?
No. Exhibit Room is a desktop application for Windows, macOS and Linux, and there is no companion app or remote control. Presentation is driven from the keyboard of the machine that is plugged into the display.
How do I keep a sealed or confidential exhibit off the public screen?
Handle it as a courtroom procedure question first — many courts have a protocol for sealed material — and as a software question second. Do not rely on a drawn box to protect anything; see how to redact a PDF for why.
What is the fastest way to go back to an exhibit from an hour ago?
The exhibit switcher. Press E, type the number, press Enter. Typing part of the exhibit name also works when you remember what the document is but not what it was numbered.
Run a full exhibit set from one screen
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