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Battle Plan for Success
Creating a four-star war room.
By
Ursula Furi-Perry, JD
July/August 2007 issue
In the
middle of an important trial, there is nothing more essential and
helpful than organization and preparedness. For experienced trial
attorneys and their paralegals, that translates into setting up a “war
room” — an orderly, central location to keep trial materials and files.
An organized war room
makes for an efficient place to access case documents and provides a
safe haven for all files associated with a case. “I can have every piece
of evidence known to man and it does nothing if I don’t have them
organized in a war room,” said Julie D. Hunt, litigation paralegal at
Saladino Oakes & Schaaf in Paducah, Ky., who was chosen as the 2006
Paralegal of the Year by the American Association for Justice (formerly
the Association of Trial Lawyers of America).
At many law firms, the
war room is the legal assistant’s responsibility. “The paralegal is the
go-to person for documents, pleadings, discovery status questions and
the like, so it’s a logical progression that paralegals would be the
case ‘librarians,’ so to speak, for their war rooms,” said Janet M.
Powell, a litigation project manager at Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak &
Stewart in Miami, a national labor and employment law firm exclusively
representing management. Savvy and prepared paralegals are the key to
setting up, organizing and maintaining a successful war room.
Planning Your War Room
A well thought-out war
room means thorough planning — and a lot of it. “No two groups of
attorneys will do things the same way, and no two trials are alike,”
explained Ann Price, litigation case manager at Patton Boggs in
Washington, D.C. “You have to be flexible. I have always planned far in
advance and therefore had a minimum of problems.” While some things can
be corrected if a challenge pops up, issues such as insufficient space,
lack of communication methods and inadequate technology are hard to
address in the middle of trial. “You don’t want a lot of workmen in your
war room once your trial materials are in place,” Price said. “You must
anticipate any problem that can come up and work ahead of time to
resolve it before it becomes an issue.”
Also, consider war room
costs to your client. While some trials warrant an elaborate war room
setup, other cases might require something smaller, prompting you to
organize your materials on a single table or shelf.
Space planning is one of
the most important considerations in preparing to set up a war room.
“Most folks don’t give themselves enough room or don’t arrange things so
that [they] can get to [them] easily. If the room is cramped, it will be
difficult to function there even if the materials are well organized,”
Powell said.
Consider whether the war
room will be in a high-traffic area, causing distraction and
disturbances. In addition, plan for any heating or air-conditioning
concerns, lighting and the necessity of renting shelving, seating or
equipment. Depending on your client’s needs, take into consideration
electronic capabilities, such as phone lines, wireless Internet
connections, security, speed and reliability.
Think about accessibility
and security. Are all members of your trial team able to access the
files in the room? Will you need to provide extra sets of keys to your
colleagues?
You should account for
plenty of office supplies and other necessities. Price said one of the
greatest challenges in establishing a war room is “making sure you
brought everything you need [or] think you will need, and that you bring
sufficient supplies or have a steady supply stream available.” Hunt
worked on one case where she and an assistant created a brand new office
in their war room on location, complete with a label maker, office
supplies and even a wireless printer — only to find they forgot to bring
printer paper. Fortunately, this was quickly remedied by a friendly
visit to the clerk’s office.
Finally, don’t
underestimate the necessity of an enjoyable work environment. “You
should find the surroundings pleasant and more than adequate or you will
go crazy,” Price said. “You will know it’s a comfortable, workable space
if you find the associates working on the case in the war room,” Powell
said, adding that she also brings a CD player and a few CDs from home,
and keeps contact information for nearby restaurants handy as well. And
of course, on-site coffee availability is always a plus.
Setting up Shop
Paralegals typically set
up the furniture and office machinery first in a war room. Think about
conference or work tables, adequate seating and sufficient shelving —
especially for those often full and heavy boxes where trial files are
stored. “Try to purchase inexpensive metal shelving with [three to five]
shelves so you can still stack the boxes, but only have to handle one
box at a time,” Powell said. For easy access, Hunt said she sets up a
conference table to hold her color-coded trial files.
Next, think technology.
“If your case documents are contained in a searchable database, a
decision will need to be made [as to] whether to include a station in
which an individual can search for documents electronically,” said
Laurie Sanguinetti, senior litigation paralegal at Dechert in Palo
Alto, Calif., who mostly works on patent litigation matters. Printers,
e-mail access, scanners and any pertinent software programs should be
set up as part of the war room computer station. Make sure computer
files are easily accessible and appropriately labeled on the desktop.
Also, think about other technical and electrical equipment, such as a
copier and shredder.
Consider how you will
transport your technology and how you will physically secure it on-site.
Check the location for sufficient outlets and figure out whether you
will need to bring surge protectors. Make sure the war room has a
suitable and efficient Internet connection, and check in advance whether
the trial team will be able to access office files remotely. “The one
thing I find curious that is often overlooked is a phone,” Sanguinetti
said. A speaker phone might also come in handy. Hunt said she sets up
equipment that is necessary to go over any trial exhibits and
demonstratives, such as screens and projectors.
Don’t forget contact
information. “I have [a] desktop icon for my case telephone book,”
Powell said. “It has the contact data for everyone and everything
associated with my case.” Powell splits her book into various categories
— including court information, trial team members, witnesses and
opposing counsel’s contacts — and lists full contact information, work
schedules and any notes on availability or special commitments.
Once the war room is set
up, make sure every member of your trial team is aware of its location
and how files are organized. “If you have a large case, give a tour of
the room when it is pulled together so everyone can see where everything
is,” Powell said. “Ask for feedback from the trial team [and] keep an
open mind and implement their suggestions if everyone agrees.”
Organizational Secrets
“The most important thing
is that the room has to work; there must [be] a sense of control and
organization, and everything must be easily accessible,” Powell said.
“If your war room is disorganized, it creates visual and mental chaos
and confusion, which might translate in the minds of your trial team
that the paralegal is confused. Clients walking into your war room
should feel that they are getting their money’s worth.” A disorganized
war room might mean an unnecessary waste of time and your client’s
money, unhappy attorneys and even the possibility of losing important
files and materials.
Though methods of
organization might vary by attorney, paralegal or case, “a war room is
most functional when the materials are organized by party,” Sanguinetti
said. “You can go one step further and organize by source within the
parties.”
Sanguinetti calls her
organizational system the “library approach,” marking each document,
box, binder and file with a tracking number to easily identify the
document’s location. “Each item is then placed on a War Room Tracking
Inventory (WTI), which functions as an index of case materials,”
Sanguinetti added. “Keeping copies of the WTI handy in the war room
allows attorneys a way to quickly find an item without scanning over a
multitude of shelves.”
Color-coding different
types of items also works. Neatly label file folders and clearly mark
trial notebooks, Powell said. It makes sense to have the most frequently
accessed documents in a location that is most easily accessible.
“You will always need to
organize different types of cases differently, but you will still have
basic groups of documents in any type of case including pleadings,
discovery materials, exhibits, witness files, research files [and] trial
motions,” Price said. She Bates-numbers every document and double- or
even triple-checks each number before the files leave the firm for the
war room. Price also said it pays to keep materials in at least two
places. “I like to organize both hard copies and computer copies on CDs
and [in] separate folders,” she explained. “Sometimes it’s quicker to
find the document electronically, but most attorneys, particularly in
trial, like the comfort of the familiar hard copy that they can easily
highlight [or] mark up.”
Because it’s imperative
that the paralegal in charge of the war room be familiar with the
contents of each file, it might be necessary to rearrange those files’
contents, even if that means extra work. “Many trial paralegals tear
down and reassemble files when they put their war rooms together so they
are sure they know everything in the file,” Powell said. “Some might be
reluctant to take that step, but the five secretaries and five other
attorneys who have worked on that file are no longer responsible for its
organization and finding things — you are. Bite the bullet and do it.”
Finally, it’s essential
to organize any materials that need to be kept out of the war room or
trial. “Once I take one of our original files and have removed
everything I need into the trial file, I will put a rubber band around
[the office file],” Hunt said. “No one is allowed to remove that rubber
band without discussion and once we are headed into the courtroom,
everything with a rubber band on it stays out but nearby.”
Out-of-Towners: Setting up the War Room on Location
Special planning
considerations arise if you are setting up a war room on location,
outside of your firm’s offices. Trials can mean traveling, sometimes
across state lines, prompting the trial team to organize materials in
foreign territory. Your war room might wind up being a secure room in
co-counsel’s offices or in the hotel where you are staying.
When setting up the war
room on location, Price said the first issue is figuring out how to get
each document safely to its destination. Plan out transportation
logistics. Will you ship your documents to the location ahead of time,
rent a truck and drive them or carry them with you when you travel by
plane? In any case, Price said scanning the documents onto CDs that you
will take in your carry-on bag is essential. Organize and label all
documents at your firm before you leave, Powell said. It might also make
sense to leave extra copies of essential documents at a “home base” in
case something is lost or damaged during transit.
As for taking trial files
in to the courtroom, Hunt recommends clipping case boxes or Bindertek to
make transportation a cinch. (Binderteks are two-ring notebooks in
different colors with tabbed dividers; there also are cases with clips
on the back that attach to a two-wheel roller for easy transport of the
notebooks.)
Cost presents another
challenge when choosing an off-site war room location. “Cost
considerations will no doubt determine your choice of location for the
war room. Just go into it knowing there will be advantages and
disadvantages to any type of situation you will encounter and be ready
for them,” Price said. “The best paralegal is the one who is flexible
and has a plan A, plan B and plan C for every contingency.”
Also, pay attention to
the war room’s proximity to the courthouse, your offices (or your
opponent’s) and any other pertinent location. “It’s also important that
[the war room] not be the same location as the sleeping quarters, since
you [might] have some members sleeping while others are working,” Price
said.
If the war room must be
set up in a hotel room, you might have to take extra precautions,
including arrangements for emptying the trash and shredding documents to
make sure the hotel staff doesn’t have access to trial materials. On the
other hand, “If you are in a local counsel’s office, you have to worry
about others coming in and taking your supplies and moving your
documents around in an area where they normally would have access,”
Price added.
When possible, visit the
war room location ahead of time and check with your trial team members
to see if they have any requests or special expectations. Powell, for
example, recalls one trial where the original war room setup didn’t meet
the attorney’s expectations because he felt the space was too confined,
which left Powell scrambling for a backup.
“When we all got to the
trial city (several hours from our home office) the head attorney didn’t
like the location another person had made the arrangements for and
suddenly decided that he liked somewhere else better — and that was
where we were going,” Powell said. As a result, she spent considerable
time on the phone tracking down furniture and office machine vendors.
To avoid a repeat, Powell
said she secures a layout of the space so she can get approval from the
attorney ahead of time, and she spends time scoping out vendors and
resources on location before leaving for trial. Some of the vendors she
recommends having at your fingertips are:
-
a high-volume copying
service;
-
a service for
additional demonstrative exhibit preparation;
-
a local staffing
agency;
-
local eateries;
-
the closest 24-hour
pharmacy; and
-
the closest, fastest
dry cleaner.
Maintenance Is the Key to Trial Sanity
You could have the most
well-planned and organized war room on the block, but it will all be for
naught if you don’t take special care to maintain its integrity, safety
and organization.
For starters, pay
continued attention to space. One of the greatest challenges that can
arise with a war room is running out of space for your files. “It can be
hard sometimes to gauge the volume of case materials you are going to
wind up with as discovery progresses. What was once considered a small
matter document-wise can change to a huge one with a single document
production received by an opposing party,” Sanguinetti said. “You must
then make judgment calls as to whether you should relocate your entire
war room to a larger area, move certain materials into storage or split
materials into multiple war rooms.”
Staying organized is
another must. “Attorneys are often stressed and focused on a single
issue at trial. It’s the paralegal’s duty to keep a big picture
approach, and part of that is to keep the war room organized,” Price
said. A disorganized war room quickly can become an unpleasant place to
work, especially with trial team members taking documents out of the war
room to work on them elsewhere — those documents can become lost or
unavailable for the next person who needs to use them, Price added.
To keep order, paralegals
in charge of the war room need to make certain that documents are filed
in their proper places. “It’s imperative that the documents used are put
back into place so they can be found quickly the next time they are
needed,” Price said. “I recommend that the paralegal keep an eye out for
clutter, papers left out … and make it a priority to refile these as
soon as possible.”
Hunt has a color-coding
and numbering system for the notebooks, and due to this she can quickly
tell if a trial book is missing. “Normally, the trial attorney will not
remove items from the trial books, but will ask for his [or her] own
copies if he [or she] needs something, and those copies are clearly
stamped with [the attorney’s] initials so I know [they have] not been
removed from the trial book,” she said.
Sanguinetti said she
discusses the war room with the team as it’s being set up to help keep
it organized and intact. “I usually try to explain to the team … that
the materials in the war room are for community use, and if they want to
borrow something, to let myself or another paralegal on the team know.
We then note on the WTI who has the materials in question.”
One thing that Powell
keeps in mind is that she is there to support the attorneys.
“Realistically, everyone is under intense pressure to perform, and my
survival instinct on [maintenance] is to remember that I am there to
support my people,” she said. Recognizing that, Powell added, “one thing
that has been helpful is that we have PDFs of most of the important
documentation filed in our firm’s document management system. Often, the
attorneys don’t even need the physical files to print out a copy of a
motion, order, report or other exhibit. It’s just easier to pull it up
on the system at their desks and hit ‘print.’”
Safety also becomes an
issue with war room maintenance. Experienced litigation paralegals agree
that a simple lock on the door is sufficient protection, as long as keys
are only provided to authorized trial team members. Alternatively,
Sanguinetti said having a team member or other “war room librarian” on
location to guard the documents might also work.
“I once had to set up a
war room in the hospitality suite of a hotel,” Powell said. “The doors
had locks, of course, but it was such a large case that various
attorneys and some of the experts needed to have access during the days
when the rest of us were in court. We had a secretary with us and then
had another person who was hired to assist with all the logistics that
we more or less just stationed in and around that area to keep an eye on
everything.” Powell also keeps the security desk’s contact information
taped to her phone.
With plenty of planning, organization and thorough
maintenance, paralegals can make sure their war rooms provide
accessibility, security and efficiency to the entire trial team.
“Litigation paralegals should be familiar with setting up [a war room]
because we are the ones who most often field questions from attorneys
who are trying to locate a piece of information they know they saw but
can’t remember where,” Sanguinetti explained. “If a war room is properly
set up and maintained, a person will be able to locate whatever he or
she needs quickly and efficiently.”
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