With the introduction of larger screens for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus, attorneys now have another powerful tool in the world of presentation equipment. Whether planning a presentation for court or mediation, it’s worth trying to use your iPhone while presenting. Having your phone in the palm of your hand, and using it […]
This article won the LitigationWorld Pick of the Week award. The editors of LitigationWorld, a free weekly email newsletter for litigators and others who work in litigation, give this award to one article every week that they feel is a must-read for this audience. “Good on her feet”—you’ll often hear that phrase used to describe skilled trial […]
I’ve been thinking a great deal about PowerPoint recently, and not in a good way. At Cogent Legal, we have been working hard on a number of cases that involve extensive use of PowerPoint for the client, and I often feel that getting PowerPoint to do anything involving multimedia is like trying to make a […]
In my continuing effort to point out effective presentations that attorneys can learn lessons from for case presentations, I came across one that teaches on two different fronts. I saw a Slideshare presentation by Matt Homann, the founder of LexThink, which is a firm dedicated to helping attorneys collaborate and work better. Matt is a self-described “recovering […]
The Association of Business Trial Lawyers asked Cogent Legal to prepare the graphics for a presentation last night on mock trials. The panel consisted of some of the best jury consultants in the country exploring the factors that make successful and worthwhile mock trials. Beth Bonora, Karen Jo Koonan, Andy Sheldon and Ron Beaton all touched on some […]
One of the things I love about the work we do at Cogent Legal is having what I like to call “play time.” By that I mean time to sit and play with a new design-related app or product without any specific goal in mind beyond exploring its functionality and seeing what it will do, […]
I just finished reading Walter Isaacson’s remarkable biography of Steve Jobs, which I highly recommend. It’s a great read, and it inspired me to develop this post on how to use Keynote for Macs. Keynote is a program that Steve Jobs demanded his team create for his product unveilings because he was so frustrated with […]
This post is written by Dave Nugent, Cogent Legal’s Senior Producer. Remember those childhood days of grade school innocence and the excitement generated when it was “Show & Tell” day? Presenters would stand before you, hold something up and then speak to it. That object was iconic. It immediately conveyed value, meaning and context to […]
The other day an attorney from the state of Illinois contacted me out of the blue because he had seen my blog and wanted advice on preparing presentations for his jury trial. He asked, “Do you have problems with the other side objecting to your presentations? If so, what’s the basis of those objections, and […]
As much as my ego hopes that Cogent Legal Blog is read by attorneys far and wide who eagerly await each update, I’m well aware that busy attorneys have limited time to read blogs and that thousands of law-related blogs vie for your attention. For all of you who might have missed my most practical […]
Last week, the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) put on a full one-day mock trial in San Francisco in front of a large gathering of attorneys to show how the masters of trial do their trade. The mock trial turned out to be a fascinating study in contrasts between the plaintiff and defense in […]
I finally joined the ranks of iPad owners. Better late than never, right? I’m normally one of the first to run out and get a new toy, especially if it has the name Apple on it. The iPad was different, though. My initial thought when Apple released the iPad was that it looks really cool, […]
My last post on how to avoid “Death by PowerPoint” covered three main points to help attorneys make compelling visual presentations. Now I’ll follow up with three more. Remember, “Death by PowerPoint” is shorthand for any confusing, complicated or downright dull graphics that kill rather than spark the audience’s attention. Often they happen on PowerPoint […]
