Are you covering the Bill Cosby trial - or planning to?  I’m not - at least not unless a client calls and sends me a plane ticket up there and back plus agrees to a day rate.
   But here are some suggestions from the trial that provided my breakout work - the John Edwards trial:
   Work from a shot list - your before-arrival daily group of photos to take.  That’s what I did daily at the Edwards trial - and I didn’t write it down, but mentally recited it en route to the trial daily.  In that case, my shot list was: Edwards; Edwards and his eldest daughter Cate; Edwards’ parents; Edwards and his parents; Edwards’ mother; Edwards and his mother - particularly the first four.
   Use a 70-200 f/2.8 pro-grade lens if at all possible; 70-200 will be essential for many of the best photos.  And a pro-grade one will be weather-sealed.
   Sure, shoot photos of “other” things there that other shooters don’t seem interested in - like various cops of various agencies, other journalists, etc.  Easy way to identify a journalist, of course, is to shoot a zoomed-in photo of his press pass!
   No matter whether Cosby wins or is convicted, this trial is a great opportunity for someone in its vicinity wanting to shoot breakout work - even if without a client yet.

John Edwards walks his mother down the stairs at the end of his trial, May 25, 2012.
Six days later, the trial was over - and he’d won.