2019 Unsung Legal Heroes: U.S. Attorney’s Office ALS team

Barbara L. Jones//September 12, 2019//

Listen to this article

There are about 120 people in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, and about half of them are lawyers who schedule about 30 trials per year. Those numbers make it clear why the office’s Automated Litigation Support Team is a hero.

The team, consisting of Mark Zeitz, Randy Harriman, Bryan Kur pierz, Dan Czapko and Ben Zimmerman, manages the mountains of evidence that come in and out of the office during discovery and organizes it for trial. They process the evidence and put it into the office’s document review tool, and they prepare the visual exhibits for trial. They make the process of using the evidence so smooth that even the most tech-averse lawyer can manage it. And if the lawyer can’t, they’re standing by.

The critically important piece of implementing automated litigation support is a standard product for each lawyer — consistent quality and a united product, Zeitz explains.

But attorneys naturally get personally involved with their trial prep. The team will take the lawyers’ instructions for exhibits and attend to the look and feel of the evidence, including its format and any patterns that it may reveal. They set up the evidence for trial, teach the attorney how to use it and remain on standby in case of glitches.

Zeitz said his team’s objective is to have the digital part of the case readily available so the attorneys don’t have to ask for anything. “The attorneys don’t have to think about it, we’re there and supportive,” Zeitz said.

Like this article? Gain access to all of our great content with a month-to-month subscription. Start your subscription here.