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43 Emory L. J. 1095 (1994)
Technology Comes to the Courtroom, and...

handle is hein.journals/emlj43 and id is 1107 raw text is: TECHNOLOGY COMES TO THE COURTROOM, AND... Fredric L Lederer* We have seen the future, and it consists of high-tech courtrooms outfitted with teleconferencing devices and computers to aid legal research, provide instant transcripts and help the deaf understand what is being said.' Our increasing dependence on technology, particularly computer-based technology, is one of the distinguishing characteristics of late twentieth century American life. Microchip-based information and communications systems are increasingly at the heart of human activities. Because law and law practice are in significant ways forms of information collection, analy- sis, storage, and processing, one could readily expect the legal profession to be greatly affected by the technological developments of the last twenty years or so. Although the degree to which the profession has been charac- terized by cutting-edge technological pioneers2 is unclear, the extent to which lawyers and law firms have been affected by communications ad- vances,3 particularly the ubiquitous fax, and the personal computer revolution, is apparent. Could we even imagine legal research without * Chancellor, Professor of Law, the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Professor Lederer is the director of William & Mary's Court- room 21, the world's most technologically advanced courtroom. I High-Tech Courts, NAT'L L.J., Jan. 10, 1994, at 16 (editorial accompanying an article high- lighting Courtroom 21, discussed infra). a The stereotypes associated with the legal profession are many. Among them, undoubtedly, is an image of the profession as being deliberate, cautious, and traditional; an image certainly based in reality. Few people like change for the sake of change alone, and the legal profession could hardly be faulted if, as an entity, the profession failed to plunge headlong into technological pioneering. Those who work with computers and software are undoubtedly familiar with the adage that in the world of computers the pioneers are those with the arrows in their backs. What may be surprising is the number of pioneers the profession has had. ' We tend to forget the impact of the telephone itself, especially when put to creative use. See, e.g., J. Allison DeFoor, II & Robert N. Sechen, Telephone Hearings in Florida, 38 U. MIAMi L. REv. 593 (1984); Roger A. Hanson et al., Telephone Conferendng in Criminal Cases, 38 U. MIAMI L. REv. 611 (1984). 4 Generational change is upon us. Not many years ago, my law school offered popular optional training in basic word processing. Now, nearly everyone enters the school with that knowledge, if not his or her own personal computer as well. Of course, some law students, lawyers, and judges still do not or will not use computers. Although undoubtedly a significant number, these technological doubt- ers ought not be given undue attention. Somewhere a few lawyers probably insist on drafting docu-

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