(a) Juror note taking. – At the beginning of civil trials, the court shall instruct the jurors that they will be permitted to take notes during the trial if they wish to do so. The court shall provide each juror with appropriate materials for this purpose and shall give jurors appropriate instructions about procedures for note taking and restrictions on jurors’ use of their notes. The jurors may take their notes with them for use during court recesses and deliberations, but jurors shall not be permitted to take their notes out of the courthouse. The bailiff or clerk shall collect all jurors’ notes at the end of each day of trial and shall return jurors’ notes when trial resumes. After the trial has concluded and the jurors have completed their deliberations, the bailiff or clerk shall collect all jurors’ notes before the jurors are excused. The bailiff or clerk shall promptly destroy these notes.(b) Juror notebooks. – The court may provide all jurors with identical ”Juror Notebooks” to assist the jurors in organizing materials the jurors receive at trial. Typical contents of a juror notebook include blank paper for note taking, stipulations of the parties, lists or seating charts identifying counsel and their respective clients, general instructions for jurors, and pertinent case specific instructions. Notebooks may also include copies of important exhibits (which may be highlighted), glossaries of key technical terms, pictures of witnesses, and a copy of the court’s juror handbook, if one is available. During the trial, the materials in the juror notebooks may be supplemented with additional materials as they become relevant and are approved by the court for inclusion. Copies of any additional jury instructions given to jurors during trial or before closing arguments should also be included in juror notebooks before the jurors retire to deliberate. The trial court should generally resolve with counsel at a pretrial conference whether juror notebooks will be used and, if so, what contents will be included. The trial court may require that counsel meet in advance of the pretrial conference to confer and attempt to agree on the contents of the notebooks. The jurors may take their notebooks with them for use during court recesses and deliberations, but jurors shall not be permitted to take their notebooks out of the courthouse. The bailiff or clerk shall collect all jurors’ notebooks at the end of each day of trial and shall return jurors’ notebooks when trial resumes. After the trial has concluded and the jurors have completed their deliberations, the bailiff or clerk shall collect all jurors’ notebooks before the jurors are excused. The bailiff or clerk shall promptly destroy the contents of the notebooks, except that one copy of the contents of the juror notebooks, excluding jurors’ personal notes and annotations, shall be preserved and retained as part of the official trial record.
