Chris Hedican knows his way around a courtroom. As managing partner at Baird Holm in Omaha, Nebraska, member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a seasoned litigator, he splits his time between firm leadership and an active trial docket. Chris defends against discrimination and retaliation claims, while also prosecuting matters involving trade secret misappropriation, tortious interference, and non-compete violations. With a heavy litigation workload, Chris relies on precision, preparation, and presentation, and that’s where LIT SUITE comes in.
Though not a self-proclaimed Apple devotee, the intuitive nature of the iPad and LIT SUITE apps won him over. What started with TranscriptPad eventually expanded to TrialPad, and it became his exclusive courtroom companion. He said, "I think all of the LIT SUITE products are pretty intuitive. I started using TrialPad in trial, and I love it. We used Sanction for a long time and TrialPad was just so much better."
Chris recalls his most recent trial, two intense weeks in state court, battling through nearly 900 exhibits between both parties. “It was just a ridiculous number of exhibits,” he says. But TrialPad helped him stay organized, and cut through the clutter, efficiently presenting any exhibit he needed at a moment's notice.
During that trial, the ability to track admitted status of exhibits stood out as one of the most useful features of TrialPad. “I always knew what was admitted and what wasn’t. That feature alone saved time, helped me object when necessary, and made me look more prepared than anyone else in the room.”
“When I went to pull [an exhibit] up, the admitted status was right there,” Chris says, explaining how TrialPad helped him avoid confusion during objections and ensured smooth document flow.
He contrasted his presentation with that of his opposing counsel, saying “opposing counsel was using Trial Director and they had somebody else running it for them. At one point it stopped working. There were problems with its relay to the screen where it was grainy and hard to read. So they shifted to the Elmo and they really weren't prepared for it and the presentation using the Elmo was clunky. They couldn't find exhibits. It was slow. You could see the jury getting irritated.”
Chris also leverages Key Docs, organizing critical exhibits by witness, using TrialPad’s ability to duplicate and organize documents into folders. “Your ability to quickly interact with documents and present them shows credibility,” he explains. “The more prepared you appear, the more credible you are to a jury.”
He noted that TrialPad’s callout and annotation features make it easy to highlight key portions of exhibits during examinations, or to create snapshots for closing arguments. “It’s very easy to prepare slides for closing or opening if they’re admitted,” he says. “There were a couple of exhibits that turned out to be more important than I expected. I was able to use TrialPad to make slides the night before closing and just drop them into PowerPoint.”
He also appreciates TrialPad’s other powerful capabilities, like video playback, which he’s seen work effectively during video deposition presentations, a must-have in modern litigation. He said, “With TrialPad, what I found was there’s just so many features to it that it's really functionally more than just a presentation program.”
The ability to present wirelessly in any courtroom is a powerful tool on it's own. Chris said, “I think you are much more impressive with the iPad. Because of the Apple TV, I could take it anywhere. And I’ve used the iPad with the Apple TV to run PowerPoints for closing, and to run Excel on it if you have to show metadata or a spreadsheet.”
Beyond the TrialPad presentation, the LIT SOFTWARE support team also impressed Chris during his trial. “I had two questions during a weekend in trial and got answers within an hour,” he says. “I didn’t expect that, but I really appreciated it.”
For Chris Hedican, courtroom success hinges on precision, clarity, and credibility, and that’s exactly what the LIT SUITE delivers. From pretrial preparation in TranscriptPad to seamless in-court presentation with TrialPad, Chris trusts the LIT SUITE to elevate every phase of litigation. Whether organizing hundreds of exhibits, preparing overnight visuals for closing arguments, or wirelessly presenting from anywhere in the courtroom, LIT SUITE gives Chris the control and confidence that today’s trials demand. “It’s just so much better,” he says, and when your tools are that far ahead of the competition, so are you.
Learn more about Chris Hedican:
Firm website: https://www.bairdholm.com
Firm bio: https://www.bairdholm.com/attorneys/christopher-r-hedican/