I recently spoke at a CLE on things to think about when litigating a case from initial intake all the way through trial. My presentation on visuals was sandwiched between a presentation on voir dire and a presentation on opening statements. As I told the audience, that scheduling was ironically
Every day we become more and more accustomed to receiving important information in short doses punctuated by striking visuals. Almost all of us carry around smartphones that deliver information in quick and often visually beautiful digital soundbites, but the legal world has stubbornly remained mostly analog. There are many reasons
My goal is to never create an image for my clients that they cannot use. As a former litigator, I understand that creating a beautiful, concise, compelling image is only half the battle – you still have to be able to use it. And for that reason, we here at
My goal is to never create an image for my clients that they cannot use. As a former litigator, I understand that creating a beautiful, concise, compelling image is only half the battle – you still have to be able to use it. And for that reason, we here at
Experts, Summaries, and Using Visuals Early Here at Cogent Legal, we create visuals that help you tell your client’s story as clearly and persuasively as possible. But as former litigators, we also understand that creating the visuals is only part of the battle – you also need to be able
Relevance, Hearsay, and Foundation Here at Cogent Legal, we create visuals that help you tell your client’s story as clearly and persuasively as possible. But as former litigators, we also understand that creating the visuals is only part of the battle – you also need to be able to use
The General Rules Here at Cogent Legal, we create visuals that help you tell your client’s story as clearly and persuasively as possible. But as former litigators, we also understand that creating the visuals is only part of the battle – you also need to be able to use them.
Over the years, one of the most popular and well used items we have ever put out there is a simple, yet really helpful, net verdict calculator for personal injury cases under California law. This Excel sheet was originally created by my former law partner, Bob Arns, in the early
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 say before and with the slide. While PowerPoint has an area for entering presenter notes, I often work with attorneys who are more comfortable with a written script. That script becomes more powerful and useful when it includes images of the slides that will be coming up. This enhanced script is what I call a Visual Script.
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 and the underlying data. Here are some tips to think about for your next trial to make your data more digestible. Using
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 the verdict you want. For example, in a recent asbestos wrongful death trial in Alameda County
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 deposition is noticed pursuant to Section 2025.220 shall, no later than three business days before his or her deposition, produce
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.
For those of you interested in more information on the use of drones and laser scans for capturing scenes, I recommend you check out my recent article in Plaintiff Magazine, which can be found here.
Some sources estimate that as of 2009 there were over 30 million surveillance cameras in the United States recording over 4 billion hours of images per week — let alone the number of images/videos taken by a vast number of high-definition cameras, embedded within every modern-day smartphone! I certainly have no idea if such
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.
