One of my first posts on this blog discussed all the complications involved with calculating a verdict in California for personal injury cases, especially when a workers’ compensation lien and/or prior settlement must be taken into account. Given my growing love of the iPad for litigation, I figured it was time
The ABA Journal publishes a “Blawg Directory” of more than 3500 law blogs (get it? blog + law = blawg), and each year the ABA accepts nominations to choose the 100 best. If you’ve appreciated the blog posts here, then I hope you will take a minute to vote for Cogent Legal
As regular readers of this blog know, my last post on a recent California Supreme Court decision addressed the issue of animations in trial. There is no question that I am a big fan of animations and their power for case presentation. However, I also believe that other methods for visualizing
[Update: The September 2012 issue of Plaintiff magazine features an article by me on this topic. For an expanded discussion, click here to read a PDF of the printed article.] On Monday, the California Supreme Court issued a thoughtful opinion that finally provides strong guidance on the use of animations
I’ve been giving a number of presentations at law firms on the use of iPads for attorneys, with a focus on new apps for the courtroom and mediation. I generally start the presentation by asking how many attorneys own an iPad, with about one-third saying they do. Of that group,
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
Most people don’t find data beautiful, but it really can be. I am definitely not talking about Excel sheets with endless pages of numbers, but rather about data that is visualized in an appealing manner, which actually can be an exciting and powerful work of art. Complex data, when arranged in
At the recent American Society of Trial Consultants convention in New Orleans, I was part of a wide-ranging panel discussion on social media and marketing that considered the benefits and effects of blogging and other social media. Since I’ve been developing this blog and using social media for professional networking to
At the American Society of Trial Consultants annual conference in New Orleans last week, I had the opportunity to be on a panel discussion about social media and blogging for the legal profession. One of my main pieces of advice was to avoid making blogging predominantly about “me-formation”—that is, self-promoting
Earlier this year, I embarked on a months-long process of building a new, more sophisticated and customized website, which I’m happy to unveil at cogentlegal.com. This post will share some of what I learned about website design and law marketing through the process. First, let me clear up confusion if you
The following post is by Dave Nugent, Cogent Legal’s Senior Producer At Cogent Legal, real estate and land use cases are among our favorite to support. They can offer up rich and tangible imagery to shape for jury scrutiny. We humans seem to be drawn to all things about “land.”
This weekend, I’m heading to Monterey to give a presentation on “New Technologies for Federal Litigation” for the Northern District of California 2012 Judicial Conference. Since I’m going to discuss the use of courtroom technology while using my iPad wirelessly through an Apple TV, I prepared a handout that lists all the
More often than not, litigating a case boils down to persuasively explaining your theory of what happened. You bring in experts and witnesses to testify. You show photographs, documents, charts and graphs to illustrate your point. That’s all good and important. But how do you bring all of that information together
Generally speaking, there are two ways to prevail at trial: (1) have better evidence and demonstratives than your opponent, and (2) keep your opponent’s evidence out. Cogent Legal worked on a couple of cases recently that demonstrated the power of superior demonstratives and excluding evidence.
I admit, I’m not the most consistent blogger. I try to publish a post at a minimum weekly, but work intervenes and makes blogging with regularity a challenge. I go for quality over quantity in blogging and respect the fact that I probably have 30 seconds or less to grab
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.
