Use cases
Remote hearings: one window, shared deliberately
In a remote appearance the screen is the courtroom. The judge sees your document at whatever size their own monitor gives them, alongside a grid of faces, and everything you do with your machine is either invisible or, at the wrong moment, extremely visible. Two failures define the format: sharing the wrong thing, and sharing the right thing at the wrong resolution.
Be clear about how Exhibit Room fits. It has no video conferencing built in and no integration with Zoom, Teams, Webex or any court platform. What you do is run the exhibit in presentation mode and share that window through whatever platform the court is using. That is a deliberately boring arrangement, and it has the advantage that the court's own platform stays the only thing carrying video.
Setting up before the link opens
Join the platform early, before the matter is called, and get the sharing sorted while nobody is watching. Prefer sharing a single window, specifically the Exhibit Room presentation window, over sharing an entire screen. Window sharing means a notification, a calendar pop-up or your email preview never reaches the hearing.
Close what you do not need, silence notifications at the system level rather than per app, and decide where your notes will live. Since there is no separate presenter view, notes on the same machine are a liability; use paper or a second device. If you have two monitors, put the fullscreen exhibit on one and the video grid on the other so you can see the judge while a document is up.
Workflow in Exhibit Room
-
Open the trial and present an exhibit first
Go fullscreen before you start sharing, so the window exists and can be selected in the platform's share dialog.
-
Share that window, not the desktop
In the platform's share picker, choose the Exhibit Room window. Confirm with the host or the clerk that what they see is the document alone.
-
Set zoom for the smallest screen on the call
Press W for fit width when you are reading text aloud, and check with the court that it is legible. Remote viewers often have the document at a quarter of your screen size.
-
Move with the keyboard, announce as you go
Arrow keys for pages, E then the exhibit name for a jump. Say the page number out loud, because remote participants cannot see you gesture.
-
Stop sharing between documents, not between pages
Leaving the share running while you argue is fine; the fullscreen view shows only the document. Stop the share when you are finished with exhibits entirely.
Bandwidth, fallbacks and the second device
Screen sharing is the first thing a weak connection sacrifices. Use a wired connection if the building has one, have a phone on a cellular line as a second way into the hearing, and settle the rest of the machine the way courtroom laptop setup describes. If your video drops while you are sharing, the document usually freezes for everyone before the audio does, so ask early whether the court can see the page advancing.
Have a fallback that does not depend on the share working: exhibits emailed or filed in advance, so the court can open them locally if your connection degrades. And keep a second machine with the same trial imported, ready to rejoin, which is one more reason to keep an export of the trial current.
Remote hearing questions
Does Exhibit Room integrate with Zoom or Teams?
No. There is no video integration of any kind. You share the presentation window using the platform's own screen-sharing feature.
Should I share a window or my whole screen?
A window, every time. Sharing a full screen is how private material, notifications and file names end up in a hearing record.
How do I show a witness a document remotely?
The share puts it in front of everyone on the call, but whether that is acceptable for authentication, and whether the witness must have their own copy, is up to the court and the rules in play.
Can someone else drive the exhibits from their own machine?
Only if they are the one sharing, since there is no remote control feature. Whoever holds the keyboard on the sharing machine drives.
Test a screen share before your next appearance
No credit card required · Works offline · No subscription