I have been in the paralegal game for a few years now and I have worked in law firms that still do everything by paper and in firms that are strictly electronic. Goosmann Law Firm is the first (almost entirely) electronic firm that I have worked for, so I had to adapt to the change. For a litigation paralegal, this has been especially difficult when trial is upon us and I do not have that paper file I can play with.
What is a Trial Box?
A trial box includes everything your attorney will need to present his case at trial. In the hard file days, it was pretty easy to produce this box for your attorney because you already had binders with pleadings and all exhibits, correspondence, deposition transcripts, etc., already in hard copy form, organized, and ready to go. With exclusively electronic files, that is not the case. You will have to create this box from scratch during trial preparation.
As soon as trial is scheduled, I begin a folder in our electronic file called – TRIAL. It is big and obvious, and I encourage my attorneys to add to it as the case progresses, and I add anything I think will come in handy during trial preparation.
Here is what my typical electronic trial box folder structure looks like:
Every paralegal’s electronic box will look different based on preference and what kind of litigation case they are working on. The main point here is if you keep all the electronic documents organized and in check while you are progressing through the case, you provide your attorney with quick access to important documents, and you can easily go in during trial preparation and start printing and organizing into folders for your attorney to take with him to trial.