Employees and visitors to Baltimore County Circuit Court may have to wait longer than usual for elevators in the weeks to come – but this time it’s for a good reason.

Four of the eight public elevators in the Towson courthouse are now being modernized, including the infamous elevator No. 10, which last month suddenly dropped less than two feet after letting passengers off on the first floor. County officials later determined the cause was a door malfunction.

Elevator No. 10 is being upgraded at the same time as adjacent elevator No. 9 on the north side of the building. On the south side, one set of elevators already has been modernized, while the other set already was being worked on when the incident with elevator No. 10 occurred.

No word yet on when the four disabled elevators will be up (or down) and working again.

DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer

I was walking down Charles Street just now and saw a pickup truck parked in an alley. It was empty — well, sort of. (It sort of reminded me of the town on Long Island where police used to set up “Officer Manny Quinn” in a police car and park the car near spots notorious for speeding.)

In the grand tradition of my colleague Christina Doran, who stumbled upon a police horse at a phone booth several months ago and snapped a picture, I’d like to propose a caption contest. If we get enough responses, we’ll pick a winner.

And by all means, if you know the real story behind the dummy riding shotgun, post it here.

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

The term “hot tubbing” doesn’t just apply to time spent in a warm tub with a few of your closest friends anymore. It is also a way to present expert testimony at trial.

According to a New York Times article — one in a series on the American legal system — the U.S. is one of the few countries in the world that uses “partisan” experts, hired by each side, in criminal and civil trials.

Australians, by contrast, have developed a procedure dubbed “hot tubbing.” Partisan experts are still used, but they testify together at trial. They discuss the case and answer questions from the judge and lawyers, as well as questions posed to each other.

Justice Peter McClellan of the Land and Environmental Court of New South Wales says that when experts are hot tubbing, “[y]ou can feel the release of the tension which normally infects the evidence-gathering process.”

Same goes for that bubbly tub experience.

CHRISTINA DORAN, Assistant Legal Editor