I’m getting ready to head to Vegas for the annual American Society of Trial Consultants conference. I appreciate networking with this group because their members are full of ideas and new information on trial research, strategy and technology. Check out ASTC’s publication The Jury Expert and their blog aggregator, The
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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,
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
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
I am constantly amazed at how the world of litigation has changed so much in such a short period of time since I started practicing almost 20 years ago. OK, I accept that some of you don’t think 20 years is a short period of time, but it sure seems
Last week, Ken Broda-Bahm wrote a great piece about the recent State of the Union Address (“Check Your Alignment in Multiparty Litigation“), commenting on how the dueling responses by the Republican Party (Mark Rubio) and the Tea Party (Rand Paul) exposed the similar difficulties co-defendants in a trial face while trying to keep
In this blog, we occasionally like to share stories of how legal graphics can change the course of litigation. The following war story comes courtesy of Roger Mead, an accomplished litigator at Folger Levin LLP in San Francisco. The story involves civil litigation against the Hunt brothers in the 1980s claiming
One of the things that has changed the most since I started practicing law two decades ago is the prevalence of surveillance video in tort cases. Twenty years ago, surveillance was still primarily captured on videotape and was expensive and difficult to use and store as evidence. It was unusual for our litigation team
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
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.
