RULES FOR ZOOM CONFERENCING
You must have an IPad/tablet or camera enabled laptop or telephone.
You must provide the Court with a proper email address to which the ZOOM invitation will be forwarded.
If you will be presenting testimony, it is your responsibility to ensure your witnesses have a good internet connection and know how to operate the Zoom controls. You must inform your witnesses and clients of the invitation and forward the invitation details to them.
If you have never used ZOOM before, contact the judge’s office for a test run.
You must wear proper attire as would be required in a courtroom.
Any recording of the ZOOM session by any participant is prohibited.
A court reporter will be present and will document the ZOOM session just as any other court session.
When the session takes place, make sure you have proper lighting. Do not have a light source behind you, such as a window, as this will prevent participants from seeing you.
Log into the session a few minutes before it is scheduled. You will be placed in a “waiting room”.
Witnesses will remain in the virtual waiting room until called to testify. Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, witnesses are only permitted in the virtual courtroom while they are testifying. Witnesses will not be permitted to have anyone else physically present with them or to have notes or paperwork in their immediate possession while testifying, unless expressly permitted by the court.
To be admitted to a ZOOM session from the waiting room, the Court must be able to identify you. Therefore when you sign into the session, name your device with your name. A device that shows only “IPhone” or “Galaxy phone” is not acceptable.
Do not interrupt or speak over others. If the judge directs you to mute your microphone, please follow those instructions. The judge will indicate when it is your turn to speak.
Make sure there is no source of unwanted noise in the location you are using, such as a ceiling fan or barking dog.
If you plan to introduce documents, they should be filed into the record in advance. If this is least be shared with opposing counsel or the opposing represented party as well as the judge’s law clerk.