This post is co-written by Michael Kelleher and Morgan Smith At Cogent Legal, we create presentations for a wide variety of cases. In each case, design plays into everything we do, from color choice to placement of images and text. These factors subtly influence a jury or judge and their perceptions of the evidence
One of the most common items attorneys will put into a brief or a case presentation is an overhead map of the relevant area. Since the dawn of Google, attorneys have grown accustomed to copying and pasting the image of a Google map into a document or a PowerPoint presentation.
One of my new year’s resolutions is to become a more thoughtful, consistent and “cogent” blogger. Not only do I want to write better posts for my audience’s sake, but I also hope to help my own practice as an attorney and litigation presentation specialist by taking time to blog.
This post is written by Michael Kelleher, Esq. Before I recently joined as a litigation consultant here at Cogent Legal, “Words” was my nickname at a previous job. Ironic, isn’t it, that “Words” is now working at a legal graphics provider? I earned the nickname because I often dealt with
I definitely have a love/hate relationship with the dominant program out there for creating and showing presentations: PowerPoint. I love PowerPoint because it’s generally easy for anyone to create something for a presentation, and with a little bit of work, create something quite useful. It also is so prevalent in
I never expected to work with a former nuclear submarine officer in the litigation field, but it turns out that we’re bringing such a person “on board” at Cogent Legal. I’m pleased to announce that attorney Michael Kelleher is joining our firm as an intellectual property and business litigation consultant.
I remember distinctly the day I got my first-generation iPhone in 2007. I was the first in my law office to get one, and when I figured out how the phone’s email system worked with our internal system, then I realized I could have my assistant send documents to me
I recently had the opportunity to do something quite fun. My torts professor from law school asked me to teach a class on “the real practice” of tort law. I got the opportunity to lecture, to show some examples of demonstrative evidence to prove a case, and to call on
This post is by Martha Pettit Design & Administration Associate We are in the midst of a big data explosion. E-discovery, metadata, black box data, cell phone records, social media … the list goes on and on. Last Friday at the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Masters in Trial in San
Yesterday was one of those days that reminded me of the value of visiting a site for a construction-related case to see and feel firsthand what is involved. Couldn’t I simply hire a photographer to take pictures of it for me instead? Perhaps, but that’s a poor substitute. It’s much more
At the Legal Marketing Technology Conference/West in San Francisco Thursday, I spoke on a panel about blogging, social media and online marketing for small firms and solo attorneys. As a self-proclaimed “reluctant blogger” who used to cringe at marketing, I was happy to share some of the reasons why I’ve
Apple’s recent victory over Samsung in their patent infringement case had to be one of the most closely watched intellectual property cases ever, and trial graphics played a decisive role in shaping juror and public opinion. In fact, juror post-trial interviews revealed that two key Apple demonstratives, out of many weeks
[UPDATE: We uploaded the webinar on SlideShare and embedded it below so you can watch the whole thing if you like.] Yesterday, I co-presented a CLE webinar on “Technology for Better Mediation” along with two San Francisco trial attorneys, Miles Cooper of Rouda Feder Tietjen & McGuinn, and Jeff Smith
When it comes to construction issues, I feel like the actor in that old ad on TV who says, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.” I’m not in the construction field, but I litigated construction cases for over a decade and consequently couldn’t help but develop
This is an abridged version of an article I wrote for the September 2012 issue of the California Labor & Employment Law Review. Reprinted with permission of the State Bar of California and the California Labor & Employment Law Review. It’s a simple fact that if you face a high likelihood
Morgan C. Smith, president and founder of Cogent Legal, is an attorney who litigated complex, high-value cases for almost two decades.
Michael Kelleher is a registered patent attorney and former partner at the firm of Folger Levin & Kahn where he litigated IP and complex business cases for 16 years.
Andrew Walker is the Co-Executive Director of the Sacramento office, and an attorney with many years' experience in mock trial work.
Deep Athwal is Co-Executive Director in Sacramento, and also an attorney with extensive mock trial experience.
Please note: Cogent Legal provides litigation consulting services to attorneys. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice on any matters.
