Electronic exhibits fail in predictable ways: the laptop won’t talk to the courtroom display, the video plays without sound, a screen share shows the firm’s inbox, or the witness on a video call can’t read a text message thread shrunk to fit the window. None of these are evidence problems, but each one costs time and credibility in front of the judge.

This playbook covers presenting electronic exhibits in a physical courtroom and in remote or hybrid hearings: what to confirm with the court, how to prepare files, screen-sharing discipline, video and audio playback, keeping the record clean, and backups. Court procedures differ, sometimes judge by judge, so every step starts with the court’s own instructions.

What should you confirm with the court before the hearing?

Call or email the courtroom deputy or clerk well before the hearing and get answers in writing. Equipment, formats and exhibit-delivery rules vary too much to assume. Ask about:

  • Display equipment: evidence presentation system, screens for the judge and witness, document camera
  • Connections: which cables or adapters the system takes, and whether counsel connects a laptop or uses court equipment
  • Audio: whether courtroom speakers carry laptop audio, and for remote hearings, how the platform handles shared sound
  • Internet access for counsel, if anything depends on it (ideally nothing does)
  • File formats the court can accept and play
  • How exhibits must be delivered before the hearing: portal, email, physical media or paper
  • For remote hearings: the platform, whether witnesses receive exhibit packets, and whether packets must stay sealed
  • Whether a test session or courtroom walk-through is available

For remote testimony in federal civil cases, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a) permits testimony by contemporaneous transmission from a different location for good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards. Many state courts have their own remote-hearing rules and standing orders. Those orders often contain the exhibit procedures, so read them in full.

How do you prepare electronic exhibits for presentation?

Prepare one file per exhibit, named to match the exhibit list, with the exhibit marking on the first page. A disciplined file set makes every later step faster.

Template: exhibit file naming

P-014_Text-messages_PartyA-PartyB_2025-03-03-to-2025-03-09.pdf

P-022_Audio-recording_2025-04-11_full.mp4

P-022.1_Audio-excerpt_03m10s-05m45s.mp4

D-001_Timeline-demonstrative_v3.pdf

  • PDF exhibits: exhibit stamp on page one, consistent page numbers or Bates numbers, and bookmarks for long exhibits so you can jump to a page on request.
  • Message logs: sized so timestamps and sender names are legible at screen resolution; test on a laptop screen, not just a large monitor.
  • Video and audio: clips cut from a preserved copy, with start and end times recorded and a transcript ready if the court accepts one.
  • Natives: originals preserved and hashed separately; never present from the only copy of a file.
  • Folder: one presentation folder containing only exhibits and demonstratives, in exhibit order.

Paper still matters. The hearing exhibit binder checklist covers the printed sets most courts want even when exhibits are shown on screen.

How do you share exhibits on Zoom or another video platform?

Share a single application window from a cleaned presentation profile, and narrate for the record what you are showing. The goal is that nothing appears on screen except the exhibit you intend to show.

  1. Use a separate presentation profile. A dedicated computer user account with no email, chat or synced files eliminates most accidental disclosures.
  2. Silence notifications. Turn on do-not-disturb at the operating-system level and quit messaging apps.
  3. Pre-open exhibits. Open the first several exhibits in one viewer before the hearing starts, at the zoom level you tested.
  4. Share the window, not the screen. Window sharing means a stray pop-up will not broadcast. Enable the platform’s shared-sound option before playing media.
  5. Announce each exhibit. Identify it by number and description before sharing, so the record reflects what was displayed.
  6. Stop sharing between exhibits. It prevents the court from watching you search for the next file.

Script

“Your Honor, with the court’s permission I’ll share my screen to show the witness what has been pre-marked as Petitioner’s Exhibit 14, text messages dated March 3 through 9, 2025. It is also at tab 14 of the packet delivered to chambers on [date].” Then, once displayed: “Can you see the document on your screen? Do you recognize it?”

How do you present exhibits in a physical courtroom?

Follow the same sequence whether the exhibit is paper or digital: mark it, show it to the witness, lay the foundation, offer it, get a ruling, and only then publish it to the factfinder. Displaying an exhibit to the jury before it is admitted, without the court’s permission or a stipulation, invites an objection and sometimes a curative instruction.

Practical points for in-person presentation:

  • Many courtroom systems let counsel display to the witness and bench only, before switching to all screens. Learn which switch does what during the walk-through.
  • Hand the witness a paper copy as well. Witnesses often read more accurately from paper than from a monitor across the stand.
  • Under Federal Rule of Evidence 611(a), the court controls the mode of presenting evidence, so follow the judge’s preferences on technology, which some judges state in their procedures.
  • Have one person run the display while the attorney examines. Attorneys who drive their own laptop lose eye contact and pacing.

How do you prepare a witness to use electronic exhibits?

Walk the witness through the mechanics before the hearing, without rehearsing the substance of testimony beyond what your jurisdiction’s rules permit. A witness who is surprised by the technology looks less certain than one who has seen it before.

  • Remote witnesses: run a short test call on the same device, network and room they will use. Check that a shared document is legible on their screen and that they know how to say “I can’t read that” and ask for a zoom.
  • Exhibit packets: if the court requires sealed packets, tell the witness not to open them until instructed on the record, and have them confirm on camera that the seal is intact.
  • In-person witnesses: show them where the monitor at the stand is and explain that they may also be handed paper copies.
  • Everyone: remind witnesses to refer to exhibits by number and page so the transcript reads clearly.

How do you handle video and audio exhibits?

Cue clips in advance, play them on the court’s system during a test, and state the exhibit number and time range on the record each time you play. Media exhibits fail more often than documents, usually because of audio routing.

  • Play the exact files from the presentation folder on the courtroom system or platform before the hearing
  • Confirm volume is audible at the bench and witness stand, and on remote participants’ end
  • Prepare a clip index: exhibit number, start and end times, and a one-line description
  • Bring transcripts for each clip if the court allows them as an aid
  • Have the full recording available in case a completeness request is made under Rule 106

Foundation and transcript issues for recordings deserve their own preparation; see audio recordings as evidence for that workflow.

How do you keep the record clean when exhibits are shown on screen?

What the factfinder sees on a screen is not automatically in the record. Make sure every exhibit and demonstrative shown has a corresponding copy lodged with the court, in the form the court requires.

  • Admitted exhibits: deliver clean copies to the clerk in the format the court specifies, including media files on whatever storage it accepts.
  • Annotated views: callouts, highlighting and zoomed excerpts are presentation. Keep the clean admitted version as the exhibit; if an annotated version matters to the record, ask to mark it separately as a demonstrative.
  • Demonstratives: in federal court, Federal Rule of Evidence 107 provides that an illustrative aid used at trial must be entered into the record when practicable. The timeline demonstratives guide covers labeling and preserving them.
  • Remote displays: state the exhibit number aloud before and after each share, since the transcript cannot capture what was on screen.

What should your backup plan look like?

Assume something will fail and make sure the hearing can continue without it. A good backup plan lets the attorney keep going without pausing to troubleshoot.

  • Printed copies of every exhibit, organized to match the electronic set
  • A second device with the presentation folder stored locally
  • The presentation folder on a separate storage device
  • Adapters and a power supply for every device
  • For remote hearings, a phone number for the clerk and a dial-in option if video drops
  • A plan to direct the court to exhibits by number and page in the packet it already has

How exhibits are presented can affect objections and the record, so the presentation plan should be approved by the attorney trying the matter and checked against the court’s orders. This article is general information, not legal advice; procedures vary by court and by judge, and the court’s instructions control.