Courtroom does not have a printer. Is this a typical problem? Do lawyers carry portable printers?

[pickaname]

What is the name of your state? OH

The court does not have a printer for public use. So it seems litigants must anticipate all documents that will be needed and print them in advance. Normally a copy is needed for the court plus 1 for each party. My local court is relaxed enough that if I have only one copy of something the court will copy it on the spot.

However, I cannot always anticipate the direction things will go. The other party brought up something for which I had counter evidence for. But the document was on my laptop. The laptop was with me and I also had a USB stick, but this was useless. The court would not print docs off my USB stick (which is fair enough, they shouldn't trust it). The judge half-seriously said "would you like to submit your laptop as evidence?" At the same time, I printed hundreds of pages that didn't even get distributed.

I would think this would not be an issue in 2020. I hate to kill trees, but the system seems set up such that we have to print documents for everything that might arise.

So I started looking at portable thermal printers. Thermal printers make sense because there is no risk of running out of ink/toner and fewer moving parts means it's more quiet and less likely to break. Yet only Brother seems to be making portable thermal printers for standard sizes of paper (as opposed to receipt printers). If all lawyers are encountering the same problem as me, surely there would be high demand for these printers, and there would be more makes and models than just a couple Brother printers. I don't have a problem with Brother, but I must be missing something. How are most lawyers dealing with this?

 

[FlyingRon]

The court does not have a printer for public use. So it seems litigants must anticipate all documents that will be needed and print them in advance.

This is standard legal preparation. I've never seen an attorney bring a printer to court. I've seen them carry them around (or at least have them in their cars) when doing prep work, as sometimes it's handy to be able to type out someone's statement and have them sign it before they change their mind (I've seen attorneys even have notaries cooling their heels in the car while they got such done).

I'm involved in a lot of financial stuff. I get it all electronically and that's how I prefer to read it, but when it comes to the actual hearings, yeah they kill a lot of trees dumping that stuff (much of which never gets even looked at) on the panel and the parties.

I've not seen thermal printers these days other than to print mailing labels and the like. Most portable printers are inkjets these days. If you want really tiny you can get some real nice ones but they are pricey. If you want something you can stuff into a decent sized brief case (the large kind that you used to tote legal books around in or airline pilots used to carry their charts in), you can get a inkjet for under $100 that will work.

 

[FarmerJ]

So in the county government center there should be a law library ( since they make tax payers pay for it ) in in that law library they may have a per page fee copier , most of the counties here do that and last time I did I think it was 25 cents a page, when I needed to print my states laws pertaining to bad checks , which was fine with me.

 

[quincy]

So in the county government center there should be a law library ( since they make tax payers pay for it ) in in that law library they may have a per page fee copier , most of the counties here do that and last time I did I think it was 25 cents a page, when I needed to print my states laws pertaining to bad checks , which was fine with me.

The issue is not printing off papers. pickaname has printed off papers for distribution in court already. The problem is printing off papers in court when the court doesn’t have a printer that will print from a USB stick.

Other than anticipating in advance what documents need to be copied, carrying around a portable printer as pickaname considered and FlyingRon mentioned, there is not much a litigant can do. Preparation is key for any case.

 

[pickaname]

Indeed, to be clear I just changed the subject from "court does not have a printer.." to "courtroom does not have a printer". In my case there was no publicly accessible printer in the building - but even if there was I would have also needed a sympathetic and patient judge. The law library was in another building down the street. My case was nearly dismissed because I did not have a hardcopy that I needed to show. Luckily other circumstances lead to a recess, incidentally enabling me to run down the street and get a printout.

 

[quincy]

I am glad you were able to get the document copied for use in court.

 

[Taxing Matters]

What is the name of your state? OH

The court does not have a printer for public use. So it seems litigants must anticipate all documents that will be needed and print them in advance.

Even when courts have printers, the parties appearing in court (or their lawyers) are expected to have all the documents they need in hand. The courts don't want to hold up the trial while you print off several copies of some document on a printer that may not be right in the courtroom, that may take several minutes to print each document, and that might jam, run out of paper, etc. Moreover, printer ink and paper costs money and the courts are not going to subsidize litigants for those costs. You're expected to come prepared for every contingency. You'll see lawyers coming to trial with very large trial cases that have all the stuff they need for the particular court they are appearing in and the case they are trying. The reason for that is they are prepared for everything that might occur during their trial. If you represent yourself, you need to think the same way and be prepared for every contingency.

Portable printers would not be an option in the courts in which I practice. Such printers are notoriously slow, and the judges don't want to hold up the proceedings while you take the time to print stuff off.

 

[HighwayMan]

I've not seen thermal printers these days other than to print mailing labels and the like.

We use thermal printers in our vehicles for the issuance of traffic tickets and printing supporting depositions when necessary. I believe Brother is the main supplier but there is at least one other manufacturer out there.

The problem with thermal paper is the printing fades in a relatively short amount of time, not exactly a good characteristic for documents that will be filed with a court.

 

[quincy]

Even when courts have printers, the parties appearing in court (or their lawyers) are expected to have all the documents they need in hand. The courts don't want to hold up the trial while you print off several copies of some document on a printer that may not be right in the courtroom, that may take several minutes to print each document, and that might jam, run out of paper, etc. Moreover, printer ink and paper costs money and the courts are not going to subsidize litigants for those costs. You're expected to come prepared for every contingency. You'll see lawyers coming to trial with very large trial cases that have all the stuff they need for the particular court they are appearing in and the case they are trying. The reason for that is they are prepared for everything that might occur during their trial. If you represent yourself, you need to think the same way and be prepared for every contingency.

Portable printers would not be an option in the courts in which I practice. Such printers are notoriously slow, and the judges don't want to hold up the proceedings while you take the time to print stuff off.

Both time and cost are certainly considerations. The courts I am familiar with around here, though, have printers in the building for use by litigants. But they must pay for copies.

 

[HighwayMan]

How are most lawyers dealing with this?

By having all the documents they need printed, copied as needed and brought to court.

IF there is something additional needed it can usually either be submitted later or a continuance can be requested. But the attorneys I know of know what to bring and if in doubt they bring it anyway.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Both time and cost are certainly considerations. The courts I am familiar with around here, though, have printers for use by litigants.

And the judges tolerate litigants using them in the courtroom in the middle of a trial or hearing? If so, in my experience that would make your courts unusual.

 

[quincy]

And the judges tolerate litigants using them in the courtroom in the middle of a trial or hearing? If so, in my experience that would make your courts unusual.

No. I didn’t say that.

I said that the courts I am familiar with have copiers in the building. I also said that preparation is anticipating what might be needed and having it with you.

 

[Taxing Matters]

No. I didn’t say that.

I said that the courts I am familiar with have copiers in the building. I also said that preparation is anticipating what might be needed and having it with you.

Which brings us back to the problem that the OP had — he or she needed to print it off during the trial or hearing itself, and judges aren't generally going to allow the interruption in the proceedings to allow the litigant time to print off stuff even if a printer is close by. At best if the trial or hearing is a lengthy one the litigant might ask the court for a brief recess and use that time to print it off. But you never want to rely on that and furthermore you don't want to appear the judge (and jury if there is one) that you are not prepared. Have copies of everything you might need with you.

 

[pickaname]

The problem with thermal paper is the printing fades in a relatively short amount of time, not exactly a good characteristic for documents that will be filed with a court.

I think thermal is ideal in terms of reliability, never running out of ink, and quietness. I could see the fading as a problem, but the use-case I have in mind is printing ~1-3 pages in a pinch just to get through the day. My local small claims court tolerates people only having one copy of something, so a thermal page could be copied by the clerk and the copy of the thermal print wouldn't fade. The judge always asks small claims litigants if they have more than one copy and the answer is often no, and the court is forgiving about it.

 

[quincy]

Small claims courts generally have relaxed rules.