litigation - 2/6 - Cogent Legal Blog

How to Create an Opening Statement Using Graphic Immersion

July 3, 2023 By Morgan Smith 2 Comments

I recently had the pleasure of doing a presentation for the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association on technology in the courtroom. My co-presenters (Miles Cooper of Rouda, Feder, Tietjen & McGuinn and Jeff Smith from Abramson Smith Waldsmith, LLP) and I decided it would be more fun and inspiring to show the final results of a well-put-together visual case presentation using trial technology, rather than a step-by-step explanation of how to use that technology. That way we could show the power of the end result rather than the more technical steps to get there.

My part in the presentation concerned opening statements, and I wanted to share a highly graphically immersive style of opening that allows an attorney to persuasively convey a great deal of information in a short period of time. Since the focus of the presentation was partly on short matters like one-day trials or arbitration, the use of graphics in such settings can be tremendously valuable and helpful to the finder of fact. [Read more...]

Case In Point: How Animations Helped Attorneys in Patent Litigation

May 22, 2024 By Morgan Smith 3 Comments

Our firm recently worked on a patent case between two Internet software companies that required illustration of the various inner workings of the Internet. While most people use the Internet on a regular (if not constant) basis, far fewer actually know what goes on “behind the scenes,” so to speak. What actually happens when you open your browser and type in a web address? These animations provided the attorneys with visual aids to explain the step-by-step process—an example of how to visually explain complex, technical ideas to jurors in a way they can comprehend.

Here are a few of the Flash animations we made for the trial. One reason I’m sharing them here is to show how we recommend breaking down a process into parts to explain to a jury. This can involve static images or animations or a combination of both. The key is to take the complex and walk the viewer through the process. [Read more...]

Two iPad Apps for Attorneys to Present in Court or in Meetings

May 7, 2024 By Morgan Smith 5 Comments

When the iPad first came out and attorneys began using it as a tool to help present their cases visually, I thought how great it would be if a presentation could be seen by all participants on their own tablet as opposed to projected on a screen. This personal contact with the tablet in their hands would resolve a major limitation on presentations given on a screen, which is a lack of resolution. When you project a presentation, you lose 60 to 70 percent of the resolution you get from your computer screen, and the viewer has to look across a room, which is why you need to make fonts quite big and images quite bold. iPads with retina display have better resolution and can be viewed close up, which means that detailed charts and diagrams are possible to show in a way they would not be if projected.

Wouldn’t it be great if every juror in a jury trial were provided a tablet to view an attorney’s presentation in high resolution? Or, if a group of attorneys could each view a presentation on a tablet during a meeting?

With this idea of presenting directly to other tablets in the back of my mind, I was interested when I recently received an email notice from SlideShark advertising you can “broadcast your slides over the web for FREE this month!” As one who is easily distracted and likes playing with new things, I couldn’t resist trying it out. [Read more...]

The Stories Behind Outstanding Verdicts: SFTLA Trial Lawyer of the Year 2013

April 26, 2024 By Morgan Smith 1 Comment

Last night I attended the Trial Lawyer of the Year Gala hosted by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (SFTLA), and as always, it was fun to reconnect with so many great attorneys. I always enjoy this event not only because it showcases outstanding legal advocacy, but also because I volunteer to create the video that introduces the nominees and their cases.

This assignment to produce SFTLA’s video feels really gratifying since it gives me a chance to delve into the cases and summarize them by interviewing the nominees for Trial Lawyer of the Year. While I don’t try cases anymore—having done so for many years—I still have a litigator’s mindset, and I find the tactical issues that arise out of difficult cases intriguing.

What is notable to me is the great lawyering that occurred on all four cases that were up for the big award. I hope you’ll watch this video that features the attorneys talking about the challenges they overcame on the way to successful verdicts. [Read more...]

How Graphics Helped a Trial Team Show Complex Data and Win

April 12, 2024 By Morgan Smith Leave a Comment

I love hearing the news that one of our clients had a great result using the work we did for them. The most recent big win I’m happy to report is Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, won a major lender liability/wrongful foreclosure action, obtaining a complete defense verdict in favor of its clients. Cogent Legal was hired to assist the Manatt trial team by creating graphics that helped bring order and understanding to this complex case.

The case involved Rincon Towers in San Francisco, which coincidentally is where I used to work; that’s where The Arns Law Firm set up shop when Bob Arns and I opened the firm in 1997. In 2007 Rincon Towers was purchased by the plaintiff in the case, who ultimately lost the property in foreclosure and sued multiple parties, seeking the property back and $40 million in damages. The case was a complex one involving many layers of parties, accountings on the properties and events over time. (For details on the case and the defense victory, read Manatt’s press release here).

Any complex transactional case such as this, which involves a great deal of accounting, lends itself to Excel spreadsheets that, by themselves, are not very helpful and make one’s eyes glaze over. We needed to help the trial team show a chronology of events and economic data based on the facts of the case and the experts’ opinions, so that the team could make their case to the judge as understandable and persuasive as possible. This was a bench trial, not a jury trial, which lends itself to more sophisticated or complex graphics, which are handed off to the judge and clerks so they can refer to them later as they’re writing the opinion.

Below are a few “sanitized” samples in which we changed the names of the witnesses and case information for the purpose of this blog post, but the samples illustrate the nature of the work Cogent Legal did on the case. [Read more...]

A “Recovering Lawyer” on Creating Good Presentations and Being a Good Attorney

March 26, 2024 By Morgan Smith Leave a Comment

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 attorney” who gives presentations for a living, and it shows.

His presentation, embedded below, covers “Ten Ways to Build a Better Firm.” Thanks to the images and selective use of text, it’s both inspirational and practical, conveying so much more than words alone could.

In the first place, I love the humor that comes across. However, the main take-away is the simple concept of lots of pictures and only a few words per slide. While graphics for trial obviously have to be a bit less humorous and more staid, the example of using full-frame photos with a partially transparent bar on the bottom for the titles is a good lesson to learn. If you cannot fit your thought on the slide in that small of a space, then you either need another slide, or need to figure out how to edit your concept down. The fact that this presentation has 77 slides means that he would be moving through slides at more than one per minute, which helps keep an audience’s attention.

Think real BIG: Building an Innovative Law Firm. from Matthew Homann

Secondly, I like the message for attorneys on how to make their practices more innovative by networking, finding mentors and recognizing the inherent stresses of the legal life. I recommend checking it out.

Do you have a Slideshare presentation you’d recommend for attorneys? Please let me know through email or in a comment below because I’d like to spotlight more of them.

Getting a Brain Injury Animation Admitted the Hard Way

March 20, 2024 By Morgan Smith 1 Comment

brain-injury-125x125 The great thing about trials is you never know what’s going to happen. I certainly never heard of an attorney offering to place herself into potential physical harm in order to get an animation admitted into trial, but that’s exactly how Julie K. Parker got an animation done by this office into her recent trial Hoopfer v. Fry’s Electronics.

First, a little bit of background information on this case: Ms. Parker of La Mesa (San Diego County) and her co-counsel Cassandra Thorson represented Kevin Hoopfer who shoplifted a $35 item from a Fry’s Electronic Store in San Diego. When the security personal saw his shoplifting, one of them followed him out of the store, confronted him and manhandled him to the ground. [Read more...]

How Interactive Timelines Build and Strengthen Opening Statements

March 14, 2024 By Morgan Smith 2 Comments

Timelines are probably one of the most common things we create at Cogent Legal for clients in all types of cases. Employment, business and personal injury cases are ideally suited for laying out the facts in chronological order to enhance jury understanding. When discussing the various options of timelines with clients, there are basically two main types to consider: Static and Interactive.

A static timeline can be done on a blow-up board and shown to the jury during any key moment of the case. The downside of a static timeline is that, unless it is really simple with only a few entries, you risk overwhelming the audience with so much information at once that it can be hard for them to understand.

For this reason, we generally recommend attorneys start with an interactive timeline that shows events one at a time so that the jury focuses on a single point as the attorney makes it. The interactive format also allows for document treatments so you can choose a button to reveal key documents that relate to the timeline entry. The following example is from a case (where all the names and dates were modified), and it shows the strong functionality possible with the interactive format. My clients realized that when we finished the timeline with all the dates, entries and documents, not only did they have an engaging, effective tool to present their case; they also had their entire opening statement finished! They could simply go through each entry with the jury in opening and discuss the issues. [Read more...]

A PowerPoint Sample for Business Trial Lawyers

March 6, 2024 By Morgan Smith Leave a Comment

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 of the key issues that attorneys should keep in mind regarding the proper use of mock trials in developing your case.

The presentation had three parts, with the first part handled by Karen Jo discussing what type of focus group or mock trial you may need depending on what information you seek to obtain. Beth and Andy then followed up with a discussion on issues of confidentiality and how to keep any process as confidential as possible. Lastly, Ron and Andy shared insights on how you take the information you learned from the mock trial and apply it to the actual trial. Attorney Doug Young did a great job moderating.

This terrific panel discussion gave my firm a chance to do a fun slide-based presentation for the jury consultants, which is often not possible in the serious world of litigation. While this presentation (embedded below) was intended to be playful, it provides a good example of some of the techniques I blog about concerning do’s and don’ts for PowerPoint or Keynote presentations. [Read more...]

The Litigation Graphics Lesson in the “Wealth Inequality in America” Video

March 4, 2024 By Morgan Smith Leave a Comment

I always like to share examples of what I consider powerful graphics to give attorneys ideas on what’s possible to create for use in litigation. This morning, I was struck by a video going viral that describes economic inequality in the United States.

Regardless of your politics, and whether you believe that the widening gulf between the poor and super-rich is a serious problem or mere propaganda of the Occupy Movement, I hope you’ll watch this video because it’s a fantastic example of how to show data in an effective and engaging way. In particular, if you’re an attorney who presents cases with large amounts of economic facts and figures, you’ll want to see how this video combines storytelling with clean, simple and powerful data visualization techniques.

One thing I appreciated immediately is the power of the narrator, enhanced by the pacing that he uses. His technique is similar to that of a good attorney giving a closing statement. [Read more...]