San Diego trial technician & presentation services.

Preparation and courtroom support

Your San Diego trial support can include:

• Exhibit preparation. Build a new database or review an existing OnCue, TrialDirector or Sanction case against the current exhibit list.
• Deposition playback. Prepare page-line clips, check the cuts with counsel and keep revisions aligned with the current instructions.
• Live presentation. Retrieve documents, enlarge key passages, cue demonstratives and play cleared testimony during examination.
• Technical preparation. Plan the display and audio connections, setup access and agreed backup arrangements.

We serve San Diego from Southern California and travel to the courthouse; we do not maintain a San Diego office. Your specialist is identified before preparation begins. Founder Jolie Zajac holds the OnCue Advanced User Certification and has worked on 100+ trials nationwide since 2018.

Explore hot-seat operator services and OnCue trial technician support.

Plan preparation, setup and court days together

1. Tell us the schedule. Send the trial date, court or department, expected length and the presentation work you need.
2. Confirm the assignment. Agree on the named specialist, preparation time, travel and equipment before materials are transferred.
3. Check the presentation. Review exhibit references, approved clips and counsel’s cues, then test the agreed courtroom setup.

Check availability for your San Diego trial. No case files are needed to start. See scope and cost considerations before comparing proposals.

Where civil trials are heard in San Diego

Under Superior Court Local Rule 2.1.3, a ready case can be reassigned at trial call if the assigned judge will not try it, so plan the setup around the department that will actually try the case.

The East County (El Cajon) and South County (Chula Vista) regional centers are not on the court’s civil department list. Assignments change, so confirm the courtroom on the court’s current civil department list and again after trial call. The Hall of Justice and both federal courthouses are on West Broadway downtown (330, 333 and 221).

San Diego Superior Court: the exhibit list is set before trial

Trial presentation in San Diego Superior Court is shaped weeks before jury selection. Under Local Rule 2.1.15, the trial readiness conference is generally set three weeks before trial. The joint report, due five court days before it, must identify all trial exhibits and witnesses, and omitted items may be excluded or restricted at trial. At the conference, the judge signs or issues the department’s advance trial review order (ATRO). Motions in limine are due five court days before trial call under Local Rule 2.1.18, unless the court directs otherwise.

The ATROs on the court’s department policies page follow a pattern, with differences worth reading:

• Counsel meet in person in San Diego County at least three court days before trial call, where exhibits are displayed or exchanged.
• Exhibits go on one joint numerical index with no subparts. We build the database on those numbers.
• Page numbering varies: one order wants pages numbered 1-1, 1-2, another wants each page Bates numbered.
• Some orders want exhibits or the index on a thumb drive, and some require audiovisual presentations and electronic demonstratives to be disclosed in the joint report.
• Several departments bar publishing an exhibit to the jury before it is admitted.

Do not assume installed equipment. Department 75’s policies (rev. July 2026) say the courtroom “only has a projector screen” and that all other technology must come from the parties. Counsel decides how these rules apply; confirm the current ATRO for your department.

Deposition excerpts and recordings in state court

The same orders cover designated testimony. Excerpts of a deposition offered in lieu of live testimony go to opposing counsel at the pretrial meeting, and the proponent prepares clean copies showing beginning and ending page and line numbers. Original transcripts are lodged or made available before trial, and audio or video presentations need a written transcript.

Statewide, California Rules of Court, rule 2.1040(a) requires lodging the transcript before a recorded deposition is presented and identifying the page and line numbers on the record when it plays. So every clip we prepare carries its page-line range in its name and in the clip list, and clips are recut when rulings change a designation. See deposition video clips for trial and the trial presentation preparation checklist.

For a remote witness, Local Rule 2.5.8 requires a Notice of Remote Appearance (form RA-010) at least two court days before trial, unless a party has already given notice. Plan how that witness will see the exhibits.

Federal trials in the Southern District of California

The federal court expects electronic presentation. Civil Local Rule 79.1.a provides that, unless otherwise ordered, evidence must where possible be presented electronically through the courtroom’s presentation technology. The court’s courtroom technology page links its user guide and format requirements for electronic exhibits.

Per the user guide, district courtrooms in the Carter/Keep and Schwartz courthouses have HDMI and VGA inputs at the counsel tables and lectern, a document camera, a Blu-ray player and monitors for the jury box, counsel tables, bench and gallery. Annotation is enabled only from the courtroom deputy’s panel. There are projection screens but no projectors; bringing one is up to you.

The jury deliberation rooms have large displays with a computer. The format requirements call for a USB drive, common file types (such as PDF, JPG, MP4 or WAV), no file over 500MB and nothing that needs proprietary software. We plan the export of admitted exhibits early.

• With the courtroom deputy: a preview time, inputs and audio path, equipment the court does not provide, and setup times. Admitted attorneys can also request the court’s 45-minute technology training.
• At the entrance: screening requires removing all electronic devices and wires, including laptops, cords and flash drives.
• In the database: unless the judge orders otherwise, plaintiff’s exhibits are numbered and defendant’s lettered (CivLR 16.1.f.2.c), and the pretrial order lists deposition testimony by page and line or video by section (CivLR 16.1.f.6.c). Chambers rules vary by judge.

Traveling to San Diego for trial

San Diego is home ground, but a trial there is still planned as a traveling assignment. Preparation is done before arrival: file transfer agreed, database built against the joint exhibit list or pretrial order, clips checked against the current designations.

• Setup: confirm when the room is open for setup and testing, and whether equipment may stay overnight.
• Equipment: agree what the court provides, what we bring and what another vendor supplies. Courtroom technology planning lists the questions.
• Daily turnaround: the hot seat operator in San Diego closes each court day by reconciling admitted exhibits, logging rulings that affect clips or callouts, and loading the next witness’s approved materials.

Travel, lodging and equipment transport are set out in the engagement; see travel and equipment logistics.

Plan your San Diego trial

For trial support in San Diego, send the court, department if known, trial date, expected length and the work you need. Mention any existing OnCue or TrialDirector database. No case files are needed at first, and confidentiality terms are agreed before materials are transferred.

Check availability for your San Diego trial and get a personal reply within 24 hours.