Erie Times-News
11/13/2002

COMPANY HELPS DEVELOP MARKET
By Lisa Thompson
lisa.thompson@timesnews.com

Five years ago, the founders of the company that equipped Judge John A. Bozza's courtroom looked into the courts and saw both need and opportunity.

One of the founders of the company, Brent Sandstrom, worked for a company that sold litigation support software to law firms but found the technology had no outlet because courtrooms were not equipped to use it.

So he and partner Kevin Sandler launched an affiliate company, appropriately named ExhibitOne, to fill the niche.

In 1997, they conducted a survey that identified 1,200 federal courtrooms and 4,800 state courtrooms that held the kind of cases in which evidence presentation technology could be used, Sandler said. The study also identified more than 50,000 law firms that might take advantage of the equipment. At the time they launched the company, the courts were just waking up to the possible uses of technology in the courtroom.

But now awareness has spread - and not just to Erie, Sandler said. Three hundred pushpins bristling on a map of the United States mark the projects the Arizona-based company has under way. And Sandler said that represents just the tip of the market iceberg.

The federal courts, because they are centrally administered and generally better funded, are ahead of the curve when it comes to the implementation of technology, Sandler said. But state courts are starting to catch on, even in rural areas, he said, citing Georgia as an example.

There the state recognized the need for enhancement and made money available, he said.

Each project is tailored to meet the evidence presentation needs. The installation modes vary. In some cases, the technology is installed amid a new construction project, but other times it is installed in a major renovation, such as where a historical building is gutted then upgraded from the walls in. In a third scenario, they retrofit the equipment into an existing room, Sandler said. The equipment is placed in such a way to make it seem as though it belongs, he said. "There's a decorum we try to maintain," he said.

Lisa Thompson can be reached at 870-1802 or by e-mail.
Last changed: November 13. 2002 1:46PM