The National Litigation Support Team (NLST) is providing video conferencing assistance for CJA panel attorneys. In many districts CJA panel attorneys are being asked to use video conferencing. For some, this may be the first time they have attempted to do it. If you would like a second pair of virtual eyes when trying to use this technology, email the National Litigation Support Team at Video_Conference_CJA_Help@fd.org and someone will follow up with you and see if we can assist.
In addition to one-on-one assistance, NLST has created two step-by-step documents to help CJA panel attorneys download, install, and use video conference technology:
- Guidance for CJA Panel Attorneys Using Video Conference Technology for Court Proceedings (5/20/2020)
This memo provides guidance and recommendations for how to effectively participate in court proceedings for two common video conference technologies adopted by the courts: WebEx and Zoom.
- Guidance for CJA Panel Attorneys Using Video Conference Technology for Client Meetings (5/12/2020)
This memo provides guidance and recommendations for conducting client meetings using two common video conference technologies, WebEx and Zoom.
Please remember that this is not NLST's primary area of focus (it's typically addressing e-discovery challenges and using litigation support technology), and there are many video conferencing platforms and services out there, some of which we haven't seen. But we know that with some assistance, panel attorneys can use video conferencing tools successfully. We work with panel attorneys every day using litigation support technology and we have seen how they have been able to do much more with technology than they ever thought, and we want you to have assistance during these difficult times. We will try and respond quickly, but give us 24-hour notice as we are a small team and there are over 12,000 CJA panel attorneys in the U.S. If there is a great interest for this kind of help, we will expand our group of people who will respond. We may encounter technical problems beyond all our control. Jails may be using a commercial service, or they may be using their own proprietary system. But know that we will do what we can to help make it work and give you some tips and tricks for the next time.