Avoid these Four Common eTrial Pitfalls
September 10, 2025 | Jack Dilweg & Jason Aoun
eTrials have become a cornerstone of modern litigation, enabling courts and parties to conduct matters with greater speed, efficiency, and flexibility than traditional paper-based methods. The transition to digital hearings is not, however, without its challenges. For the unprepared, common pitfalls await that can quickly frustrate advocacy and erode trust in the solution. This article examines four of the most frequent issues and provides practical guidance on how they can be avoided.
Lack of Pre-Trial Engagement
Impact
Failing to engage with the eTrial process early often leads to unnecessary costs, confusion, and delays. Counsel may be left juggling both electronic and hard copy systems, creating duplication rather than efficiency. Worse still, late engagement can lead to solutions being deployed that do not align with stakeholder expectations, and can undermine the quality of advocacy and leaving participants overall being disengaged from the eTrial during the hearing.
Why it happens
Parties often wait to engage an eTrial provider until only weeks before trial, typically when the final court book is due. By this point, much of the preparatory work has already been done outside the platform, leaving little opportunity for stakeholders to acclimate to the hearing book system. The absence of a formalised protocol can further exacerbate the problem.
How to Avoid it
Engage your eTrial provider one to two months before trial, even if the court book is not finalised. Early exposure to the hearing book platform streamlines preparation, reduces numbering and version control issues, and ensures all parties are comfortable with the technology. Collaborate with stakeholders to establish and adopt an eTrial protocol that meets the needs of the matter. Where possible, arrange training sessions and provide early access to the hearing book to foster engagement before the first sitting day.
Ensure that any printed bundles are printed directly from the data that is managed by your etrial provider in the online hearing book. This will ensure printed bundles inherit all the synchronised numbering that the eTrial is referencing, avoiding confusion between stakeholders who are on different systems.
Mismanaged Electronic Presentation of Evidence (EPE)
Impact
Poorly managed EPE can kill the momentum and effectiveness of an examination. Slow presentation, missing documents, or poor handling of complex native files prolong sitting times and interfere with advocacy. This can undermine confidence in the eTrial as a whole, prompting stakeholders to fall back on traditional workflows.
Why it happens
These issues commonly arise when operators lack familiarity with the case materials, relying only on unique document identifiers without being familiar with the structure and content of the court book as a whole. Referencing errors, overlooked discovered documents, and poor coordination between legal teams and eTrial providers also contribute.
How to Avoid it
Insist on an experienced operator who will attend the hearing throughout its entire duration. Continuity is essential to ensure familiarity with both the material and the dynamics of the trial. Encourage daily coordination between operators and counsel, testing the display of complex or proprietary evidence before court is in session. Finally, consider giving the provider access to all discovered documents, not just those in the court book, so that counsel is never left stranded when calling for material.
Technical Failures
Impact
Technology issues, whether they be equipment malfunctioning, connectivity issues, or virtual witnesses dropping out, can be a major source of frustration and a waste of court time. Repeated issues damage trust in the eTrial altogether, and parties may revert back to using hard copy.
Why it happens
Many failures stem from inadequate planning, insufficient testing, or reliance on outdated audio-visual infrastructure. That said, technology is never completely immune to glitches, and sometimes tech issues are unavoidable.
How to Avoid it
Allocate sufficient time for your provider to set up and test all systems in advance of the hearing. If in doubt, request confirmation that robust fallback systems are in place so that any disruption can be quickly managed. Providers who plan for contingencies will ensure that disruptions to a proceeding is minimal should technology falter.
With regards to virtual hearings and giving evidence remotely, it is often not the near-end technology (the court system) that fails, rather the far-end technology. Ensure your provider is testing with remote witnesses prior to giving of evidence to ensure their remote technology environment is suitable; this includes internet connectivity/stability, audio and video clarity and suitability of environment in which they are giving evidence from.
Impact
Client dissatisfaction, cost disputes, and erosion of goodwill between provider and the parties.
Why it happens
Costs can quickly escalate when pricing structures are not transparent or when scope creep occurs. Providers may quote based on unclear or low-ball assumptions—such as the number of users requiring access to the court book and undefined hourly rates—making it difficult to accurately forecast the cost of eTrial.
How to Avoid it
When requesting your quote, come prepared with estimates surrounding the data to be ingested in the court book, GB or volume of documents. This way your provider can commit to a fixed fee in uploading your initial data set, typically the bulk of the data. When seeking multiple quotes, provide uniform instructions and consider asking for a fixed fee for the purpose of comparison.
Unexpected Costs
Conclusion
eTrials offer clear advantages over traditional paper-based hearings. It is often claimed that they can reduce the time spent in trial by 25%; this however assumes the eTrial is executed correctly, which is not always the case. To get the most out of an eTrial and avoid the common pitfalls, we recommend planning early, communicating openly, and partnering with an experienced provider who can guide the process.
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