172 - 9 Practical Steps to Take to Prepare for a Virtual Hearing
Leh
Meriwether: Welcome everyone,
I'm Leh Meriwether and with me is Todd Orston. Todd and I are your co-hosts for
Divorce Team Radio, a show sponsored by Meriwether and Tharp. Here you will
learn about divorce, family law, tips on how to save your marriage if it's in
the middle of a crisis and from time to time even tips on how to take your
marriage to the next level. If you want to read more about Todd and I, you can
always check us out online, atlantadivorceteam.com. Todd, I'm so glad to be
back with you.
Todd Orston: Wow.
Leh
Meriwether: It's been too
long.
Todd Orston: I'm feeling uncomfortable.
Leh
Meriwether: We haven't been
on the podcast or do this radio channel in a while.
Todd Orston: I know, life happened and
we did have to step away but we are back, and so there is a lot of information.
It's funny after 170 plus episodes, there are times where I'm like, I think
we're running out of things to talk about, and now I'm like, wow, there's still
so much, especially with COVID and all the issues that we're dealing with and
the court system is dealing with. Now there's numerous things that need to be
discussed, different ways things are being handled, and so we're going to give
it a shot.
Leh
Meriwether: Yeah. And we've
actually learned a lot from this whole COVID crisis and who would've thought
something like this would give us more material. I wish it never happened,
obviously.
Todd Orston: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Leh
Meriwether: But today we're
going to talk about nine practical steps to take, to prepare for a virtual
hearing. Now, we don't know how long these things are going to last. Well, I
think at a certain level, virtual hearings are here to stay in many courts,
they already existed in many other states, it just wasn't something that was done
here in Georgia, but I do know that for years I have attended a lot of
telephonic hearings in Florida courts because they were set up to handle
telephonic hearings in a lot of different situations, which I really enjoyed.
But now we're doing more Zoom hearings, which is ... and I've had a chance to
participate in a couple and it's different.
Leh
Meriwether: It is strikingly
different, but we're not going to focus today on just on the sort of the legal
side, more the practical side. So if you want to learn more about what happens
in a divorce trial, you can check out episode 123. Now, we're probably going to
do our updated one on what happens in a virtual divorce trial, and we'll focus
on the legal side. And then there's episode 75, how to prepare for a temporary
hearing, and then episodes 60 and 61 about testifying in court. Those are going
to apply regardless of whether you're in person or doing a virtual hearing. So
with that out of the way, let's dive into number one.
Todd Orston: Great plan.
Leh Meriwether: That already?
Todd Orston: It's a good number to start
with. We're going to start with numbers seven. No, I'm kidding.
Leh
Meriwether: Oh, okay.
Todd Orston: No, I'm joking. All right.
Yes, number one. All right. So I'll jump in and I'll say, even though it is a
virtual hearing, these hearings, there's still a visual component and so it's a
video. So you need to make sure that you are comfortable because again, this is
your bite at the proverbial apple, right? This is your day in court. It is the
day for you to be heard on whatever the issue is. If it's a temporary hearing,
if it's a final trial, whatever the issue might be, it's incredibly important
and you need to make sure you take it very seriously.
Todd Orston: So make sure that you are
comfortable being on screen, talking into a microphone or into a phone or
through your computer. However you are communicating in this system, make sure
that you're comfortable and if that means you need to do a little bit of
practice, then so be it. Call somebody on a Zoom call, call a friend, a family
member, something just to make sure that your setup looks good. It looks
professional. It looks like you are taking the process seriously, and that you
look and sound as good as you possibly can.
Leh
Meriwether: And I would also
say that, practice in front of the ... do a practice Zoom call with a friend of
yours, get used to being in front of that because what you don't want to do ...
Now, I will say a lot of judges and lawyers are giving people a ton of grace
when it comes to testifying through a Zoom call, because this is new for a lot
of people. But the better prepared you can be, the better you're going to
present. So if you can practice a little with a friend, get used to seeing
yourself on the screen and seeing other people on the screen, that can help you
get ready for your hearing.
Leh
Meriwether: I mean, lawyers,
and it's really interesting, you'll also catch things. So lawyers will go to
the seminars sometimes, these trial techniques seminars and we've actually done
this internally, where we videotape the presentation and then you watch the
tape afterwards. It's kind of like game day footage that football players or
baseball players watch after the game to learn how they can do better, throw
the ball better. Well, it's the same thing from what you're doing when you're
testifying. If you can practice, you may catch yourself rolling your eyes. You
may catch yourself slumping your shoulders. It may be something some sort of
audio language.
Todd Orston: Or something even more
graphic. I mean, we've all had a conversation with somebody we didn't like, and
we suddenly start engaging in some form of sign language. And remember this is
video. So as frustrated, jokes aside, as frustrated as you might get leading to
your point, remember you are being watched and as a matter of fact it might
even be a more intense visual inspection by the other parties than if you were
in court, because if you're in court, you're sitting, whatever it might be, 20
feet away from the judge, and the other counsel is sort of next to you and
looking at the judge and looking down.
Todd Orston: Here you're on a screen, so
you're being scrutinized. And if you are making too many facial expressions, if
you are making sound effects, "That's not true, whatever," that's
going to frustrate the court. So you need to remember that you need to be on
your best behavior, and you need to understand that everything you're doing and
saying is being watched on a screen that is inches away from the judge or opposing
counsel, so that anything you do is probably going to be picked up and seen and
maybe held against you.
Leh
Meriwether: Even the
microphone on most computers and phones is very, very sensitive. So it'll pick
up the slightest little thing. So going to your point, like where people go
like really. I mean, you could do that in the courtroom and the judge might not
necessarily hear it because you whisper it to your lawyer in your case, but on
the Zoom call, you can't do that.
Todd Orston: Yeah, that's a great point.
And so building on that for a moment, I can't tell you how many times and Leh
I'm sure you're the same way, where I had a client who's listening to testimony
that they absolutely disagree with. It could be complete lies that is being
presented, that are being presented by the opposing party. And my client is
"No," and they're shaking their head and they're this. And I have to
put my hand gently on their arm or whatever and just sort of say, "Enough,
stop, you're being watched. So just, I understand like a little bit of a shake
of your head fine, but all of these sound effects you're going to get in
trouble." I don't have that ability in a virtual hearing when my client is
not there with me to control.
Todd Orston: That means that you, as the
client, you as the person who is in this hearing on trial, you need to be
controlling your behavior even more so because you don't have an attorney there
with you to sort of control it. I can't through the video go, "Excuse me,
Mr. Johnson, can you stop shaking your head please. Yeah, no, no, no. Don't do
that. The judge doesn't like that. No stop, stop please. Sorry, judge. Go
ahead." So you have to control your own behavior.
Leh
Meriwether: All right. Let's
get to number two, because this is actually a pretty short one before we go to
break. So if you can have someone set up to take care of the kids and the pets.
The nice thing about going to the courthouse is that you don't have to worry
about the kids because this was ... In one of the hearings, literally the dog
started barking in the background. It was kind of funny. So try to set your dog
up, or whatever pet you may have, give them plenty of treats. Put them
somewhere where they might not hear exterior noise that will cause them to
start barking.
Leh Meriwether: Like I said, judges are still
giving a lot of grace, but the more we can minimize distractions, the better
the case presentation will be. And also this was a particular problem because
so many kids were home from school this past year because of COVID-19, but
you've got to make it where the kids can't hear you're testifying. If you can
use headphones, so you can hear what everybody else is saying and the kids
can't, but either have them go to someone else's house for the time of the
hearing, or be in a place where they're not going to be able to hear you
because they don't need to know what's going on in your case.
Leh
Meriwether: So when we come
back, we're going to continue to break down the nine things, the practical
steps that you can do to prepare for a virtual hearing. I just wanted to let
you know that if you ever wanted to listen to this show live, you can listen at
1:00 AM on Monday mornings WSB. So you can always check us out there as well.
Todd Orston: Better than like counting
sheep, I guess, right?
Leh
Meriwether: That's right.
Todd Orston: You can turn on the show
and we'll help you fall asleep.
Leh
Meriwether: There you go.
Todd Orston: I'll talk very softly.
Leh
Meriwether: Welcome to
Divorce Team Radio, this is Leh and Todd, and today we are talking about the
nine practical steps to take to prepare for a virtual hearing. And in case you
don't know anything about us, you can read more about us at
atlantadivorceteam.com. The show is sponsored by Meriwether and Tharp and you
can also get past episodes at divorceteamradio.com, where we also have
transcripts already done.
Todd Orston: I am. I am. Hey, before we
get started, one of the practical tip just about presentation and attire. Again
remember, I mean, if it's a telephonic hearing, wear whatever you want, scuba
gear, evil clown mask, whatever you want to wear, but if this is going to be a
Zoom call, meaning a video type hearing then remember you're being watched as I
was saying before. So I would probably suggest whatever you would think to wear
to court, if you were actually going to the courthouse, that's what you should
be wearing in a hearing where you're going to be observed by the judge.
Todd Orston: What you wear can sometimes
say a lot about you in terms of how seriously you are taking the proceedings.
If you're in shorts and a tee shirt, the court might look at that like, well,
you don't really take this seriously. The judge is in a robe and opposing
counsel is in a suit and tie and you're sitting there again in flip flops and a
tank top, court might be a little unhappy about that. So just be very careful
and always think towards being conservative in what you're wearing even though
it's a video conference.
Leh
Meriwether: It's funny you
say that because I have ... so I heard from a few judges who have said they are
very disappointed at what the lawyers are wearing on these Zoom calls. And then
on the Zoom hearing I was participating in a few three weeks ago now, the judge
was wearing a polo and he wasn't wearing a robe, but here, I was wearing a
suit. I had a coat and tie on and so always make your best presentation.
There's a lot of research out there that supports the fact that you gain more
credibility when you make a good presentation.
Leh
Meriwether: So much so, I
mean, it was a criminal case actually where prisoners were ... the Supreme
Court of the United States said that they should be allowed to wear a suit in
the courtroom because they are automatically prejudiced against if they wear
the uniform that they would wear in the jail, so. All right. Number three, find
a place in your home in advance to attend your virtual hearing. What sort of
things should people be thinking about when finding a good place in their home
for virtual hearing Todd?
Todd Orston: Toilet, absolutely. Do it
in the bathroom while you're on the toilet.
Leh
Meriwether: That way you
wouldn't have to take a break.
Todd Orston: That's right. Exactly. Oh,
gosh. Announcing you have to take a bathroom break as you're taking a bathroom
break is probably not a good idea.
Leh
Meriwether: You should have
just taken a bad turn.
Todd Orston: Absolutely. You want
someplace where there's not a lot of distraction behind you. You want someplace
where you're comfortable, where you are sitting up, you don't want to be reclining
or anything like that. Again, I'm trying to think of the best way to put it,
but you can score or lose points with a court, with a judge if it appears like
you're not taking things seriously. And so similar to what we were saying about
dress appropriately, be in an inappropriate place.
Todd Orston: Should you be out at the
pool? No. Should you be in, let's say a dining room at the table set up with
nothing distracting behind you? Fine. That's perfect. So just be very aware of
where you're setting up the camera so that you know, is there anything behind
that, I mean, you shouldn't have any offensive pictures or signs or anything
behind you, just make sure that anything that can be seen in that video is
appropriate and then paints you in the best light.
Leh
Meriwether: And like here's a
good example. If you're being accused in a custody case of not being organized
and not being able to get the kids to school on time and everything, well, then
don't have your background be a mess because then that sort of plays into the
narrative, but it's nice and clean and tidy. Like if you had a bookshelf behind
you and all the books are nice and organized, it's a visual play against the
narrative that the opposing side may be trying to play against you.
Leh Meriwether: So you don't have to have books
behind you, but Todd, your recommendation, like just get at the dining room
table. I mean, the only thing I might say about that would be just make sure
you've got good lighting. So if you're to the dining room table, and there's a
big window behind you and the sun's coming in from behind you, it's just hard
to see you. So try not to have a bright light source behind you. If anything,
if you can have it in front of you, so the cameras and I mean, whatever you're
using as your camera's facing you and the light is coming in and hitting your
face, that just makes you look better to whoever's watching the video, so good
lighting can make a big difference.
Todd Orston: That goes back to practice.
Get somebody that you know, that you can practice with that will look, that
will be able to say, "Ah yeah, I can't see you, you're in the dark."
Or, "The glare is so horrible that it's really hard to see." So just
practice and that'll help you. I mean, Leh, when you and I did some video spots
recently, I mean, I know it took you and I probably an hour or two to figure
out the right placement and lighting and all of that-
Leh
Meriwether: At least.
Todd Orston: ... to make it look good.
And so again, this is not just us doing a little information spot. This is you
on trial or you in a hearing. So again, you want to make sure you look as good
as you can look.
Leh
Meriwether: And here's one
thing I'm going to add too. So if your hearing's in the afternoon, if you don't
know when your hearing is, if it's an all-day hearing, that's one thing,
where's the sun hits your house? Like if there is a window near you, where's
that sunlight coming in during the morning and the afternoon, because you may
test a spot in the morning, like this is great, lighting's great, but then your
hearing is in the afternoon, the sun is coming behind you, you get hot from it.
It causes what's called white out, so that's just some practical tips. Think
about those things.
Leh
Meriwether: Also, let's say
you get a great location, if you're running on Wi-Fi, check to make sure that
location has a good Wi-Fi signal. You can go to speedtest.net. If your watching
on an iPad or a, I'm sorry, like a tablet or a smartphone, then there's an app
called Speed Test that you can get to check your speeds. So you want to make
sure your upload speeds that you ... usually you want to have no less than two
megabytes upload. You can do it with three megabytes upload so you can get a
good video quality and everything. So again, these are practical steps.
Todd Orston: Yeah. And very quickly, if
you have multiple people in the house and you know that you have Wi-Fi issues
once the kids are on their tablets and your spouse is doing Zoom calls or
whatever, bottom line, you need to coordinate with those other family members,
because what you don't want is to think, okay, I've got the bandwidth and I
think everything will be fine, but then while you're in the middle of the
hearing, your kids are watching videos and your spouse or significant other is
doing something else, and next thing you know, you're losing connection because
there's just not enough for the entire family bandwidth wise. So you need to be
strategic. You need to preplan to make sure things are going to work well
during that hearing.
Leh
Meriwether: Good point, good
point. That's actually point number six, make sure you have enough bandwidth
that day. So yes. So that was point nine, I mean, point six just because we're
going to come back to it.
Todd Orston: I told you, I don't like
those kinds of rules. I need to jump from number to number Leh, you can't
control me.
Leh
Meriwether: All right. So
like let's say the best spot in your house is in an big open room and you have
no privacy, then you're going to just going back to the other one about, make
sure you've got the kids or the pets taken care of hopefully out of the house.
Maybe someone can babysit them that day because you do not want, I mean, for my
custody case, the last thing you would want is the judge to see your kids come
up behind you as you're testifying about their mother or their father, that
would not be good. That would upset the judge.
Todd Orston: And dogs. And pets can be a
distraction absolutely, like a big white cat that you are caressing like an
Austin Powers, evil genius probably won't work nor will a dog barking unless
the dog is really cute then maybe you'll score some points with the judge. Just
know your judge. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding on both points. Put your dogs
away, make sure there are no distractions. You don't need ... turn off your
cell phone, do all those types of things to make sure that basically things are
going to be quiet and there won't be a distraction during that hearing.
Understand like going to and forgive me Leh, if I'm breaking another rule and
jumping around-
Leh
Meriwether: Oh, wait-
Todd Orston: Once you break the rule-
Leh
Meriwether: When we come
back, when we come back from the break-
Todd Orston: Yeah, that's a good point.
Leh
Meriwether: Because you're
not going to break some more rules.
Todd Orston: Hey, everyone, you're
listening to our podcast, but you have alternatives. You have choices. You can
listen to us live also at 1:00 AM on Monday morning on WSB.
Leh
Meriwether: If you're
enjoying the show, we would love it if you could go rate us in iTunes or
wherever you may be listening to it, give us a five star rating and tell us why
you like the show. Welcome back to Divorce Team Radio. This is Leh and Todd,
and we are here talking about the nine practical steps to take, to prepare for
a virtual hearing. Now, with the whole COVID-19 crisis, this has become a big
issue.
Leh
Meriwether: A lot of states
actually already had telephonic hearings and some of them had virtual hearings,
but Georgia has really adopted them because of this crisis so the cases could
keep moving forward. And there's a lot of talk about, not every state's had
this so, but there is a lot of talk that these things are here to stay, even
with the COVID-19 going away. I do like at one level the Zoom hearings and I
think we probably should do a separate show just to talk about like the pros
and cons of a Zoom hearing or whatever it may be. That's just one of the
software options.
Leh
Meriwether: But today we're
talking about the practical steps to get ready for one of these hearings,
because little things can make a big difference. Now, there's a lot of grace
being given by judges right now because a lot of people are adjusting and
adapting to doing virtual hearings, but the bottom line, if you can give a
better impression with some visual aids, let's do it. So that's what we're
talking about.
Todd Orston: Yeah, judges love
impressions. No, I'm kidding. No impressions, blah, blah, blah, blah. No
kidding. So yeah, absolutely. Again, you're on trial. This is your day in
court. You need to put your best foot forward. You need to make sure that you
sound the best you can, look the best you can, and make the best arguments what
have you. So just understand you are being observed, you are being scrutinized
by the court. So small mistakes can have big consequences. And that's why we're
saying when you are engaging in these types of behaviors, don't take it meaning
a Zoom hearing rather than a hearing in court, don't take it any less
seriously.
Todd Orston: Think about all these
things because you don't want, the way you're dressed or where you're sitting
or your audio quality or video quality to affect your messaging. The message
that you are trying to convey to the court because again, if it doesn't work
out for you, it's not like you just automatically get to redo it. You can't
say, "Well, that didn't work out, but judge, how about another hearing
tomorrow? I'm going to make all these things better. I'll sound better. Have
better arguments." No, this is pieces your one bite. So please make the
most of it.
Leh
Meriwether: And this episode,
we're not really getting so much into the different mic. I mean, you could go
crazy with microphones and video cameras and everything. I don't think you need
to go there.
Todd Orston: No.
Leh
Meriwether: I mean, it helps,
but today ... I mean, but a lot of people just don't do these things we're
talking about and you do these things and everything is much, much better. All
right. So this next one's a pretty short one. It's straightforward. The
question is, do you like to stand or sit? Because once you set up your camera,
you can't be moving around. It's just going to be so distracting. Like so let's
say you like to stand, but just start off sitting and you're like, well, I need
to stand up, and then you stand up and you tilt your, if you're doing it on a
laptop, you tilt it back or don't, oh, my gosh, do not get a phone and do your
hearing on your phone and walk around your house.
Leh
Meriwether: That will be
incredibly distracting to see things moving around. I haven't been in front of
a judge where someone did that, but I do know people that do, do that and it is
so distracting. And the last thing I want to do is do anything ... sometimes
these cases are really difficult cases. The ones that you get in front of the
judge, and it's often because you haven't been able to settle, not all the
time, but a lot of times, so it's a hard case. And so you may be at one of
those situations where it's 50, 50, it could go either way. And if it's going
to go either way, I'm going to stack the deck in my favor as best as I can. So
decide if you want to sit or stand for the hearing and then set your camera up
and then don't move it once you set it up.
Todd Orston: Yeah. Building on that I
will say, remember that you are trying to give a message to the court. You are
trying to tell your story, make your points, make your argument, whatever it
might be. And so anything else, like if you're on a phone and even if you think
you're doing a darn good job and you're sitting there, but you're holding that
phone. The fact that the phone is going up and down a little bit, that it's a
little bit shaky as good a job as you think you're doing, it's a distraction,
and a distraction is not a good thing in a court proceeding.
Todd Orston: You don't want the court to
be distracted from the main purpose of the hearing, whatever that argument is
that you're making, whatever the point is that you're making to the court. You
don't want the court to be thinking, wow, I need to take a Dramamine because
I'm feeling a little nauseous. All right? Because your camera is bouncing all
over the place. So you want to make sure, I personally don't care if you want
to or need to do it on your phone, fine, then again, set it up somewhere.
Todd Orston: Set it up if you want to
stand, fine. Find a counter, don't touch the phone, set it up so it's not going
to fall, so it's not going to do anything and then you know exactly where you
are going to be standing. You know the phone is stationary, it's not moving and
it doesn't create that negative distraction that could detract from your
overall argument and potentially even affect the outcome of the hearing.
Leh
Meriwether: And by the way,
it's my understanding, this is a little side tip, tech tip. It is my
understanding that the wired headphones for the Zoom calls plugged into a phone
or a tablet sound better than the wireless ones and it's a more stable
connection, but so. All right. Let's talk about the next one. If you can test
out the software a day or two in advance, whether it's Zoom, Microsoft Teams
because I've seen every courthouse to a different type of ... I don't know if
anybody's doing Skype, but I know Zoom and Microsoft Teams are the most common
ones I have seen.
Leh
Meriwether: So make sure
you've got the right web browser because some of these don't work well and like
Safari or if you have an old computer within an Internet Explorer, a lot of
them aren't supported for that anymore. Maybe Firefox or Chrome. So make sure
you've got the right internet browser that it's up to date, play around with it
to make sure you're familiar with the mute function, the chat function, because
what you don't want to do is put a chat to your lawyer and you send it to
everybody, "What should I say?"
Leh
Meriwether: The judge sees
that you just said that. So get familiar with the mute because you want to be
able to mute your ... because maybe you do, you know you're like, man, I'm
going to have a tough time keeping quiet, make sure you mute your phone. I
mean, whatever you're talking through, because you can do that. So like let's
say you are struggling hearing somebody say something and divorce cases are
very emotional. You hit mute, you turn your head, you get out of the screen for
a minute. You make those facial expressions you don't want the judge to see and
then you come right back.
Todd Orston: Yeah. The courts may or may
not spell everything out for you. The court might say, "This is going to
be through Zoom. It's going to be through ..." Obviously they'll give you
the time and all of that or a number to call in or whatever, but-
Leh
Meriwether: A link.
Todd Orston: A link. They may not
though. Make sure, like we as attorneys, our job is to make sure we understand
the process, make sure that we are ready and then we in turn prepare our
client. If you are handling this on your own, that's your job. You need to make
sure if the court says, "Okay, we're having a Zoom meeting tomorrow."
Okay. That may not be enough information for you to know exactly what you need
to do so that you are ready at the appropriate time. In the worst case
scenario, if you just can't get your ... get everything organized and get
connected and all of that, and you had a 1:00 hearing and 1:30, 1:45, you still
can't connect, I don't know what the court's going to do.
Todd Orston: And so you need to be
prepared and then to your point Leh, practice. Make sure that you are setting
up, that you're going through the correct browser. For instance, this program
that we're doing a Zoom, we're using a program right now to record this show.
All right? I accepted the link Leh, and it immediately went to Explore and it
said, "Nope, sorry, this isn't going to work," and I wasn't able to
connect. And I had to then go into Google Chrome and basically open it up
there, that's not something you want to be figuring out 10 minutes after the
hearing was supposed to start.
Leh
Meriwether: Yeah. So figure
those things out ahead of time, practice with them. Make sure you understand
different functions. I know it sounds so like, well, duh, but you'd be
surprised how many people don't carve out time in their day to make sure their
software is going to work, and just avoid it altogether. All right. Well,
number six, we kind of already ... Todd already touched on, make sure you have
enough bandwidth that day.
Leh
Meriwether: We were recording
something one time and then all of a sudden I couldn't see you and it turned
out my wife was on a Zoom call. My son was watching a video and my other son
was downloading a giant file and it just killed it. So make sure you've got
enough bandwidth that day, coordinate. When we come back, we're going to talk
about the last three practical tips you can do to prepare for a virtual
hearing. I just wanted to let you know that if you ever wanted to listen to
this show live, you can listen at 1:00 AM on Monday mornings on WSB. So you can
always check us out there as well.
Todd Orston: Better than like counting
sheep, I guess, right?
Leh
Meriwether: That's right.
Todd Orston: You can turn on the show
and we'll help you fall asleep.
Leh
Meriwether: There you go.
Todd Orston: I'll talk very softly.
Leh
Meriwether: Welcome back to
Divorce Team Radio, this is Leh and Todd. We are your co-hosts and this is a
show sponsored by Meriwether and Tharp. If you've missed, today we're talking
about, by the way, the nine practical steps to take to prepare for a virtual
hearing. If you're just tuning in and you're missing the other ones, then you
can definitely check out this show on divorceteamradio.com and you can see a
transcript of the show and you'll be able to subscribe in iTunes and
SoundCloud. So wherever you listen to your pods, you can listen to the show. We
should be everywhere. All right. We don't have time to talk.
Todd Orston: That's kind of a problem
for a radio show, but all right. Oh God, all right.
Leh
Meriwether: No, I mean,
babble, I mean, babble, not talk, babble. Okay, yep. All right.
Todd Orston: Number seven.
Leh
Meriwether: All right. Number
seven. Discuss with your lawyer in advance how you will message back and forth
because this is would go back to your point, Todd, like when we used to be in
court that we could hand write a note to our client or our client would hand
write us a note in the court. Wouldn't be able to see it, nobody be able to see
it, just between the lawyer and the client. And a lot of times the notes were
better than whispering because there are mics on some tables that can pick up a
whisper. So you need to discuss with your lawyer in advance, how are you going
to message back and forth. Maybe it's text messaging, private chat room inside
the software.
Todd Orston: Something, it is incredibly
important. Okay? And while you're testifying, you're not allowed or supposed to
be able to, I just want to be very clear. If you are on the so-called stand,
all right? So if you are testifying, then you're really not supposed to be
talking with your counsel, because you're not supposed to be coached through
your testimony. But at all other times then absolutely, you need, it is
imperative that you be able to pass notes.
Todd Orston: If you are listening, for
instance, to the opposing party testify and they are saying something and you
absolutely disagree. The purpose of communicating with your attorney is you need
to be able to say, "Hey, that's nonsense," and remember this exhibit,
or remember this piece of evidence, or remember this statement that was made
and the bottom line is, you do that so that the attorney can then cross examine
and present the evidence necessary to make your point to disprove let's say
what the other party is trying to say.
Leh
Meriwether: Yeah. This is
another part of this, inside this practical tip. If you can, I recommend using
a computer, number one, as far as like how to attend. Number one would be a
computer, number two, a tablet, number three, a phone, so in that list of
priorities. And if you can, have two devices available, because if you all
decide to communicate through some sort of text messaging app outside of the
whatever software you're using, you really want to have a separate ... you
can't do that on your phone. You can't switch from the hearing to your text
messaging. You won't be able to do it, but you could text on your phone-
Todd Orston: Right.
Leh
Meriwether: ... while you
have your Zoom call up or whatever it may be. Some people may feel
uncomfortable with the chat function inside of Zoom or Microsoft Teams or
whatever it might be. The important thing is to coordinate with your lawyer,
how you're going to talk the mechanics, how you're going to communicate before
the hearing. Number eight.
Todd Orston: Number eight. So trials are
not just about making, and hearings are not just about making arguments. It's
about not what you say, but what can you prove, and that, "Evidence"
is going to come from things, testimony that is given by witnesses, but also by
documentary evidence. And so make sure that you have coordinated with your
attorney and your attorney ahead of time has all the evidence, all of the
documents and materials that they need to present your case.
Todd Orston: And if you're handling this
on your own, be prepared and preparation could also mean likely means it's not
just a matter of being ready with the document as you're sitting there at the
hearing, there are some judges I'm hearing that are asking for you to send
ahead of time all of that information.
Leh
Meriwether: So you won't be
able to, let's say, you're at the hearing. You're like, "Oh, we need to
introduce this email." Well, it may be too late.
Todd Orston: That's right.
Leh
Meriwether: Because if the
lawyer doesn't have it to enter it ... One of the hearings I was on the way the
call was set up, the virtual hearing was set up, one of the lawyers couldn't
present, he planned on presenting some visual images and he couldn't do it and
it was the way it was set up so he wasn't able to present those.
Todd Orston: I mean, can you imagine
Leh, some of the hearings, if not most or all of the hearings that we've had
walking in and suddenly for whatever reason, obviously if we're in court, it
wouldn't have happened, but can you imagine if all of a sudden all of our
exhibits just disappear? I mean-
Leh
Meriwether: I've had
nightmares of that.
Todd Orston: Oh, I would faint. I don't
know what I would do, but we go into court prepared. We go into court with all
of the documents and evidence we believe we need to make the right case to the
court. If you go in and you don't give thought to this, and all of a sudden,
all of your exhibits are gone, that you can't use them because you can't
present them properly, that could kill your case, that could result in you
losing whatever it is you're trying to argue to the court, not getting the
ruling that you are hoping for, expecting, whatever.
Todd Orston: So please, this is of all
the things we've talked about, this is to me, one of the most important,
because the evidence is what makes your case. It's not just you going and
saying a couple things and hoping the court agrees with you, it's what evidence
do you have to support those claims?
Leh
Meriwether: Exactly. So make
sure you have met with your lawyer well in advance, gotten him or her, all of
the exhibits that are going to be used. You can't wait till the last minute.
This has got to be a high priority. If you've got an attorney that's not
getting back to you right away, then you need to be aggressive with your
attorney about scheduling appointment to make sure they have all the exhibits
for the hearing. All right. Last one, ask your lawyer if there's anything else
you should be aware of.
Leh
Meriwether: So this could
include, what are the judges pet peeves? Like I said before, there's been a few
judges that have been very vocal in the local newspaper here about how they
felt that lawyers weren't taking Zoom calls seriously, and they weren't
properly dressed. So they may be more important to some judges than others,
still going back to what we said earlier, dress to imress. All right, so.
Todd Orston: Yeah. You need to know your
audience.
Leh
Meriwether: Right, and ask the
lawyer too, your lawyer, is there anything I should be aware of and it could
be, yeah. Did you know that the last time we were on a Zoom call you were
picking your teeth? Or something like that. It could be something, but I mean,
people, they may be biting their nails. I've seen some crazy things. And again,
it's going back to, let's remove all distractions. Let's have the court focus
on that evidence that you need to win.
Todd Orston: Yeah. You need to
understand your audience. You need to understand that you are going in, take
this as seriously as possible. And so the bottom line is when you are about to,
or preparing for your hearing, you're about to go into court, you don't want to
go in blind. You need to know who your judge is, you need to understand are
they somebody who seems to like the Zoom calls? Do they not like them? How do
they want to deal with the presentation of evidence? A lot of these things
we've talked about.
Todd Orston: This number nine is sort of
the catch all. It's like, know all of these things, because you need to
understand your judge and you may not know everything. The attorney that you're
working with hopefully has a better understanding of who the judge is normally
speaking. And then who that judge is in terms of how they like these Zoom calls
to go, because again, one bite at the apple, this is your day in court. You
want to do everything the right way so that hopefully you accomplish your
goals. And if you don't, well, you can only blame yourself for not doing the
preparation necessary.
Leh
Meriwether: And there are
some times when even your lawyer's not going to know the judge. In Georgia,
there was a recent election and two incumbent judges lost their seat. So
there's going to be brand new judges sitting in two different counties that no
family law lawyer has been in front of before. So the other eight practical
tips will help you get ready for your virtual hearing to help increase your
odds of success. Everyone, thanks so much for listening to the show. If you're
getting a lot out of this show, we would love it if you would go online and
give us a five-star review, wherever you listen to your podcast. Thanks so
much.