The best presenters integrate their spoken words and visual images. To achieve this, the attorney delivering an opening or closing argument must know what slide comes up next, and what she should [...]
Excel spreadsheets are powerful tools for business and financial analysis, but spreadsheets can be difficult to understand and to explain. In trial, we often help litigators present spreadsheets [...]
The best trial attorneys quote liberally from the trial transcript in closing argument. Particularly in a long trial, you need to remind jurors of the key evidence they heard and how it leads to [...]
If you have not heard, California recently amended the California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2034.415 to read as follows: An expert described in subdivision (b) of Section 2034.210 whose [...]
Attorneys should avoid the need to apologize for unreadable text in their timelines by planning ahead, editing timelines carefully and presenting electronic versions of the timeline.
Many attorneys rely on Google Earth as the primary source for finding visual information for specific locations, all over the world, involved in litigation (see my prior post discussing how to [...]
Judge Grewal spoke of the importance of early and good graphics to help a court understand a patent case.
People often ask why I stopped litigating cases and created a litigation graphics firm specializing in visual communication for attorneys in mediation and trial. The answer is simple: the work is [...]
When you hear the word “drone,” it’s hard not to think about the unmanned attack drones flown from airbases and used to hunt down suspected terrorists. The term conjures up [...]
When you’re preparing a case for trial, a great deal of time goes into developing the major themes of your case. Sometimes the case is stunningly complicated, such as in a business dispute [...]
While a picture is surely worth a thousand words, there are times when photographs of a scene don’t cut it for case presentation. In many cases, the scene may have substantially changed [...]
Free webinar on PowerPoint Skills for Litigators: Animation, Video & Hyperlinks on Thursday, December 11, 2023 at noon Pacific. Join me in this free webinar and learn how to: Embed a [...]
Vector graphics allow you to expand and zoom in on details without pixelation and loss of clarity. This post has a video demonstration of a new free iPhone app, Adobe Shape, which makes it very [...]
This blog post uses video of a mock deposition and motion argument to review lessons including start thinking about your visual trial presentation before you take depositions; think of visual [...]
Trial graphics can go far beyond photographs to enhance juror understanding. This post discusses graphics used to display an unguarded chain-and-sprocket mechanism within a sugar silo. As the [...]
This post discusses how to avoid the problem of ugly pixelated blow-ups and projections by having images redrawn with vector graphics. Vector graphics like those used in Adobe Illustrator will [...]
Free Recording Available: PowerPoint Skills for the Litigator: Templates, Timelines and Tools Our webinar on PowerPoint Skills for Litigators last week had great attendance and [...]
At Cogent Legal, we often help litigators with PowerPoint, and now we plan to share some of our PowerPoint secrets for litigators in a free webinar. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, October [...]
At Cogent Legal, we often help litigators with PowerPoint, and now we plan to share some of our PowerPoint secrets for litigators in a free webinar. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, October [...]
Well-presented photographs are powerful tools for litigators. In this post, I'll share some samples that show how we've helped litigators use photographs in court, along with a number of tips for [...]
The Recorder has recognized Cogent Legal as “Best Courtroom Presentation Provider” in its 2014 Annual Survey. This is the second year in a row that Cogent received the honor.
Storyboards can be a great option for your case presentation. Storyboards can be as effective (and sometimes more effective) than an animation. Additionally, storyboards inevitably cost less than [...]
Numbers, and the interpretation of numbers, play a big role in litigation. Presenting numerical data in court often requires a good graph of the numbers to show changes and trends in the numbers. [...]
We all know the power of a well-done animation in front of a jury. Such animations can help visually explain concepts in moments instead of in hours. However, they can also be instrumental in [...]
Regardless of whether liability is an issue, visually explaining to the jury precisely how an injury occurred is a crucial part of a plaintiff’s case presentation. Often, plaintiff’s attorneys [...]
Civil jurors in a Los Angeles court are using special iPads to review admitted trial exhibits during the trial. As I observed in a KPCC interview about iPads in court, I expect to see more iPads [...]
At the 2014 annual meeting of the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association, SFIPLA, a panel of judges shared their experiences and reflections on what works and what doesn't work in a [...]
To master the presentation of numbers, attorneys should learn some basic skills in Microsoft Excel, the computer program most often used in business for calculations. Numerical evidence in [...]
This post tells the story of quick turn-around graphics used in copyright litigation.
Arbitrations are a great forum for the use of the graphics, animations and trial technologies. Depending on the arbitrator(s)' familiarity with technologies, attorneys can often submit briefs, [...]
The key to success in data-heavy litigation is developing a method to show the data in a way that effectively tells your story, ideally in a format that is interactive so the attorney can pick [...]
Graphics can be an important part of a successful mediation. Most mediators prefer that the parties exchange briefs, since it allows the other side to know where you are coming from. Good [...]
In my work at Cogent Legal, I have the opportunity to help attorneys develop their presentations and to create visuals that will help inform and persuade. In this post, I'll share some insights [...]
Looking through the Yahoo news feed yesterday, I came upon an article about a misleading graph used by a major news organization. With a little bit of additional research, I found many additional [...]
Three important lessons for visual aids: (1) Tie animations or other visual aids tightly to the evidence in the case; (2) Use simple visual aids to help jurors understand and track the evidence; [...]
A GIF illustrating the story of an email as it goes through litigation.
Cogent Legal offers webinars and live presentations about graphics and technology for litigation. This post announces webinars about case management databases and iPads for trial presentation.
After spending time, effort and money to produce an animation that will support a key point of your case (or disprove a key point of your opponents’ case), you want to make sure the jury [...]
Being able to make a presentation wirelessly is handy for use in court, in meeting rooms—really, anytime you want to use your iPad to present to an audience. Wireless presentation is better than [...]
Cogent Legal created plaintiffs' visual presentation of the PG&E; San Bruno fire cases for the key motion for summary judgment brought by defendant PG&E.;
Using examples adapted from a real case, this post discusses alternatives to present months of data about an employee's habitual tardiness that led to termination.
Trial courts have discretion to award costs for trial technology under the decision in Bender v. County of Los Angeles, Cal. App. 2d Dist. (July 9, 2023). The court held: "Almost 20 years have [...]
Yesterday for Christmas, I opened a box that contained my very own Google Glass, and I know I’ll spend a good chunk of time during this vacation week teaching myself how to use the device. [...]
I discovered a new app that has some exciting possibilities for use in trial or mediation, allowing attorneys to launch and deliver their presentations in a more professional manner. Most of us [...]
Legal visuals work. We thought so, and now we have the statistical rigor of a controlled experiment to prove it. In a study comparing opening arguments delivered with and without simple [...]
Professor Edward Tufte, the guru of information graphic design, advises his students to study the design of popular websites to learn techniques for conveying information quickly and efficiently. [...]
On this day before Thanksgiving, I just couldn’t come up with a lot to say about informational graphics or litigation. I thought it best simply to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and to [...]
Good visual presentations enhance juror attention, cognition and retention in the courtroom. By providing comparisons and reference points familiar to the juror, demonstratives can help [...]
In closing argument, it can be effective to show the jury the verdict form and tell them how you hope they fill it out. This technique is particularly important when the jury will face a [...]
A few weeks ago, I published a post based on my presentation at the Melvin Belli Seminar on Tort Practice, which focused on a three-step process for attorneys to develop graphics from the very [...]
