Review: ExhibitsPad — an electronic exhibit binder for factfinders

LitSoftware has been creating iPad apps for lawyers for over a decade.  The company is well-known for its TrialPad, TranscriptPad, and DocReviewPad apps.  A few days ago, Lit Software released ExhibitsPad, its latest app.  The idea of this app is interesting:  replace the exhibit binders that a trial litigator passes out to a judge, jurors, arbitrators, or other factfinders.  Instead of giving them bulky binders that are difficult to handle and a pain to create, you hand each one of them an iPad.  That way, they can view and zoom in on an exhibit that they are holding in their hand, without having to squint to read a monitor across the room or a paper document that can be hard to read.  Of course, an entry-level iPad costs $329, so with 12 jurors, a judge, counsel, etc., the initial cost of this approach can add up.  But binders can also be expensive to create and difficult to update, and that cost repeats for the next trial, whereas you can buy the iPads once (even older models at a discount) and then use them again and again.  Plus, viewing an image of a document on a screen can be much more effective than a piece of paper in a binder, so for the right kind of trial, a litigator may decide that it is worth the expense.

Since this app is brand new, I have not yet had a chance to try it out in trial.  But I know that the folks at Lit Software have used this in sample trials, and they tell me that it has worked well for them.  Read on to see how this app works so that you can decide whether it makes sense for you to use it yourself in a trial, arbitration, mediation, deposition, etc.

[UPDATE:  A few hours after this post went live, the head of Lit Software, Ian O’Flaherty, reached out to me to share some additional thoughts.  I’ve added them to the end of this post, and they are worth reading.]

How to load exhibits

To use this app, you will need to have one or more iPads that you will provide to the factfinder(s).  The only app that you need to install on each of those iPads is the ExhibitsPad app, which you can download from the App Store.  Once installed, you can — and probably should — take advantage of Apple’s Guided Access feature so that the factfinder cannot exit the ExhibitsPad app.  For example, you don’t want a juror using Safari to search the Internet during trial.

You yourself will need to have a single paid copy of ExhibitsPad.  And you don’t pay for ExhibitsPad on its own; it is included at no extra charge as a part of the Lit Suite subscription (which I discussed in this post), the subscription that gives you access to all of Lit Software’s apps.  Normally, a Lit Suite subscription gives you permission to use each app on up to three devices.  But for ExhibitsPad, the license allows you to use the app on up to 26 devices, which should be enough for a full jury, alternates, judge, counsel, etc.

Once the ExhibitPad app is on each device, you create a case name and install the exhibits.  The best way to do that is to use an external thumb drive.  That way, you can place all of the exhibits on the thumb drive and then connect the thumb drive to each iPad to load the exact same exhibits on each iPad.  To connect a thumb drive to an iPad, you may need a connector, depending upon whether the iPad has a Lightning or USB-C port and depending upon whether you are using a USB or a USB-C thumb drive. 

Thus, the best way to use the app is for all of the trial/arbitration/mediation/etc. exhibits to first be pre-marked for all parties.  Then, all exhibits for all parties would be placed on a single thumb drive, and then loaded onto each iPad.  This is the same procedure that you would use for a standard trial binder. 

I presume that many folks will work with PDF files, but you can also load videos or audio recordings as exhibits.

There is an alternative way to use ExhibitsPad, a way that would work well in a deposition.  In some depositions, you don’t mind giving all of the exhibits to the witness at the outset.  But other times, you only want to provide the exhibit as you are using the exhibit.  For this, you can give the witness an iPad running ExhibitsPad with no exhibits loaded.  Then, every time you want to show an exhibit to the witness, you can AirDrop the exhibit to the witness (and opposing counsel).  If you want to highlight something on the exhibit, do so on your iPad and then just AirDrop it again.  I haven’t tried this yet myself, but my understanding is that every time that you AirDrop a new exhibit, it replaces the other exhibit.  In other words, the witness only has one exhibit at a time — much like a real deposition.

Viewing exhibits

After you preload all of your exhibits and provide the iPad to the factfinder, the factfinder will see a list of all of the exhibits — either listed by name, or in a thumbnail format.  Note that in the following images, I’m using a bunch of one-page exhibits, but you can also use multi-page PDF files.

Tap on any file to open it to full-screen.  The user can use standard pinch commands to zoom in and out on the document.

This is a feature that makes ExhibitsPad unlike any other way of presenting evidence to a juror or other factfinder because they have control.  If they are having trouble reading something small, they can zoom in to look closer.  You are literally putting the exhibits in the hands of the juror in a way that is easier to see and handle than providing exhibit binders.

What if a juror wants to annotate a document?  To do so, the juror zooms in or out and then presses the camera button at the top right, which creates an image of the screen.  The juror can then use the standard iPad tools with a finger to write, highlight, annotate, etc.  Those snapshots are stored locally on the iPad and not shared with others so they are personal to the juror — just like when a juror takes notes during trial.

A factfinder can delete a snapshot (swipe to delete), but a factfinder cannot delete or change the actual exhibit.

Conclusion

ExhibitsPad is a fascinating idea for an app.  I can see many jurors and other factfinders appreciating the ability to be closer to the exhibits, making the exhibits more powerful.  But I can also sit pitfalls, such as if you have a juror who is unfamiliar with technology and uncomfortable using a touch screen.  Also, if the factfinder is allowed to use ExhibitsPad during a presentation, the factfinder might get distracted by one exhibit and not pay attention to the next exhibit that the lawyer is discussing.  But you could address this by only providing the iPads when the factfinder begins deliberation.  I can see this being a particularly appropriate tool in an arbitration.

Apps like TrialPad and TranscriptPad have been around for so long that lawyers have found lots of interesting ways to use those apps, and the apps have evolved over time.  ExhibitsPad is just starting its life this week, and I’m sure that creative lawyers will come up with interesting ways to use this app that I’m not yet thinking about.  Moreover, I’m sure that the app will receive updates to make it more powerful in the future.  But after playing with this new app for the last few days, the more that I think about this app, the more excited I am about the different ways that this app can be used by a litigator to make the best possible presentation to factfinders.

Click here to get ExhibitsPad: 

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FROM IAN O’FLAHERTY OF LIT SOFTWARE:

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for taking the time to review our app.

We wanted to allow the owner of ExhibitsPad to be able to restrict the end user to only be able to use ExhibitsPad, and you described how that can be done using Apple’s Guided Access which is built into iPadOS. As you said, this feature can limit the end user to one app, preventing a juror doing their own research on the internet. We also wanted to make sure the juror or witness couldn’t get back to the Home Screen of ExhibitsPad and delete the exhibits, or somehow try to add more exhibits. We accomplished this by adding a Password setting in the Settings app of ExhibitsPad. When a password is enabled, the user has to enter this password in order to get back to the Home screen in ExhibitsPad. This feature, combined with Guided Access, makes sure that when you hand the iPad to the juror or witness, they stay within the guardrails!

I thought your readers might also be interested in the background behind the creation of ExhibitsPad. We’ve all heard the maxim, “necessity is the mother of invention” and ExhibitsPad is proof of this saying.

Recently, during the height of the COVID 19 pandemic, we were tasked with a way to hygienically distribute documents to all the parties in a federal trial. This was a hybrid trial where evidence was being presented using TrialPad on the screens in the courtroom, and over Zoom at the same time. Some witnesses were appearing remotely via Zoom, but others would appear in person, and both sides and the judge would be in the courtroom and needed the ability to review the documents being discussed.

This could have been accomplished with binders, but because it was many thousands of pages, it would have been a lot of binders! Additionally, there would need to be a new clean set of binders for each witness. And as the trial progressed, more exhibits would be admitted. This seemed like an overwhelming task for paper, but an ideal use of the iPad, a glass surface that can be easily wiped clean and disinfected. Both parties and the judge agreed to this novel approach.

Knowing that the iPad would be the ideal medium, we looked at various apps that might accomplish this in an easy and efficient way. We obviously considered our own TrialPad and DocReviewPad as ways for users to review evidence. Both of these apps are very powerful and easy-to-use tools with specific purposes, but neither was an ideal solution to be given to the parties as a way to review documents and videos. There needed to be a simple app specifically designed to distribute exhibits.

It became obvious that if we created an app like this it could have many other uses in legal proceedings. Besides being used by the judge and parties during this trial, iPad devices could be loaded with all the evidence introduced during the trial, and given to jurors to review during deliberations. Each juror could use an identically prepared court-issued iPad with all the exhibits, while remaining socially distanced, and not having to share paper and binders.

As you mentioned Jeff, the initial costs of purchasing iPad devices would soon turn into a cost savings over purchasing multiple binders for every matter, and the associated printing costs. Loading and preparing iPad devices would also be much faster than printing and organizing binders, with the added benefit of knowing that the evidence on one iPad was an exact mirrored copy of the evidence on the other iPad devices.

Even after the pandemic, when we’re vaccinated and feeling safe enough to interact with others again, this type of app would still be useful to distribute evidence to jurors for deliberations. Besides containing all the documents and color photo exhibits that can be zoomed in on; it can also include audio recordings, video depositions, and other multimedia files that each juror can play, pause, rewind, or scrub through.

We evaluated other simple PDF apps available on the App Store but there was something with each app that didn’t make it suitable for a legal proceeding. We decided we had to make an app ourselves, but it required some important features and capabilities:

• A court employee had to be able to load evidence into the app easily and quickly. [We decided in making a USB drive the main way this is accomplished.]
• The court employee loading the evidence needed a way to confirm that every iPad had the exact same set of exhibits. [We accomplished this by having a document, page, and multimedia count on the Home Screen of ExhibitsPad.]
• There couldn’t be any possibility that exhibits from a previous matter could get left in the app and get mixed with the new case being deliberated. [Every import of exhibits will completely replace the exhibits of any previous import.]
• It had to be easy to use for non-technically proficient users to review the evidence. [We decided on text buttons or simple icons, with large touch targets.]
• The app had to be very intuitive with a minimum learning curve, not requiring a manual or training. [We kept everything to one screen with a flat hierarchy so that users, with different comfort levels when it came to technology, couldn’t get lost within the app.]
• There had to be a robust and easy search capability to find an exhibit, even if hundreds of exhibits were part of the case. [A larges search field is always at the top of the screen.]
• The search should search the file names (i.e. exhibit numbers or parts of names), but not search the OCR data to prevent a juror from using the power of the iPad to mine the data. [As a user types in the search field the files are filtered to only show documents or multimedia files that contain those characters.]
• The end user shouldn’t be able to exit the app, possibly accessing the internet or using other apps. [Accomplished with Guided Access and a password is required to get to the Home Screen.]
• The end user should be able to take a snapshot of a particular page of a document to be able to reference it later. [A snapshot tool stores any snapshots in a dedicated Snapshots area in the app.]
• There should be some way for the user to annotate a snapshot of an exhibit without altering the original exhibit. [Any snapshots that are taken can be annotated with Apple’s familiar markup tools.]

These requirements drove the development of ExhibitsPad, an easy-to-use, single-purpose app designed to allow the end user to review exhibits, whether they be documents or multimedia.

As you discussed Jeff, ExhibitsPad can be used just as easily in deposition, with the questioning lawyer arriving with an iPad, or multiple iPad devices, loaded with the exhibits they intend to discuss. Or have ExhibitsPad empty, and then AirDrop exhibits one at a time for the witness to review as they’re being discussed, controlling the delivery and pace of the exhibits without giving anything away at the outset of the deposition.

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