Attorneys representing people charged with serious offenses must have an in-depth knowledge of digital discovery as well as access to an impressive team of experts, but they also need the ability to be humorous when appropriate.
Rod Ponton of Texas recently appeared as a cat during an online hearing due to an error by one of his children and the video went viral and taught everyone a valuable lesson.
Cat Filter
Rule #1 for professional conduct dictates that shenanigans and silliness in courtroom are generally unacceptable, yet this lawyer managed to disobey it in an incredible and hilarious fashion.
Rod Ponton of Big Bend Law in Alpine, Texas was set to present his case during a civil forfeiture hearing conducted via video-conferencing software Zoom at the 394th Judicial District Court.
But instead of appearing as himself, he was displayed with a cat filter instead. Evidently he had been using it throughout his livestream and wasn’t able to turn it off before entering his call.
The judge quickly identified and asked Ponton to explain what had transpired. Ponton stated he isn’t a cat and was trying to figure out how to disable his filter before proceeding with his case – then laughed, making everyone else laugh along with him.
Live Cam Avatar
Last week’s viral video showing software turning West Texas lawyer Rod Ponton into an animated feline during an online hearing made national news, but it has actually been plaguing many webcam users for some time now. According to Lawyer Cat, which explores this piece of technology that trapped him inside its feline filter was decades-old technology that would come back to haunt many webcam users later on.
Reallusion’s Live! Cam Avatar or Crazy Talk 4, as identified by the BBC, is designed and produced for digital content creation by Carsten Pedersen who helped uncover Ponton’s cat-astrophe in 2010. Carsten also discovered a 2010 blog post from someone complaining of similar problems using that same software.
This post offers instructions for uninstalling Dell Webcam Manager and its related program, Video Chat Avatar – which adds filters (Zoom refers to these lenses as filters) around or atop one’s face during video calls – from their computers.
Computer Software
Computer software is the driving force behind how computers function and complete tasks, from operating systems that manage hardware to applications that meet user needs, computer software is integral in making computers useful both personally and professionally. Recent examples such as county attorney Rod Ponton being rendered as a feline illustrate just how easily video call software can be misused; to avoid embarrassing mistakes it is wise to read reviews and obtain references before selecting software for your law firm.
Digital Discovery
Since 2006 when the Federal Rules underwent their comprehensive revision and electronic discovery became common practice, the amount of electronically stored information available for discovery has vastly expanded. What was once limited to paper (Redwelds or banker’s boxes), now includes every email thread, instant message thread and deleted spreadsheet ever created or lost during discovery proceedings.
Modern legal work runs on chaos management, strategy, and legalized snooping – this is how lawyers dig up digital receipts of misconduct such as that buried Slack thread someone swears didn’t exist or that email chain that should’ve ended three replies ago or metadata that doesn’t lie.
No matter if it be investigating a major breach, litigating a billion-dollar merger dispute, or fighting white-collar crime; data is at the core. That’s why you require a firm with deep technical knowledge and an army of real experts; not some free or unsanctioned tool which might come back to haunt you ethically speaking.