CBA Bits & Bytes November 2018

Seven Tech Tips for Presenting Your Case Before a Jury By Legal Visual Services

Trial techs are the individuals sitting near the counsel table with the exhibit and deposition database neatly organized in our laptops. We follow the testimony, ready to display the evi- dence on everyone’s monitors in an instant. Our job is to make sure all eyes in the courtroom are looking exactly where the questioning attorney wants them to look. Most trial techs are not attorneys, but your typical tech has sat through more trials than the majority of trial attorneys. We’re in a unique position to observe and watch the jury at trial, so we don’t think like attorneys–we think like jurors. With that in mind, here are 7 tips from the trial tech you can use to be a better trial attorney. Avoid Hidden Exhibits in Video Depositions. Think about how you are going to display deposition exhibits at trial before you schedule your video deposition. You would never put a critical witness on the stand to testify about key exhibits while hiding the documents from the jurors’ view, right? If you schedule a standard video deposition, chances are you are doing just that, as most video depositions capture the witness and the back of the exhibits only. Consider instead scheduling a PIP (Picture-in-Picture) Video Deposition. PIP depositions capture the witness as in a typical video deposition but add a layer for the digital exhibits and live annotations. Utilizing document cameras, trial presen- tation software, or tablet apps, the document is recorded on-screen simultaneously with the witness. This mixed media format will help your jurors maintain attention and better absorb information. Show The Jury That You Value Their Time. Consider this situa- tion: you have a witness on the stand and you’re about to ask questions about a contract clause at issue in the case. You could provide the witness with a set of binders and instruct them to open binder #2 and turn to tab 120. From there, you ask them to flip to the end of the voluminous docu- ment and find Article 3, page 2, subsection e. Or, you could simply state, “I’m going to show you the performance clause in the contract. Do you see that on your screen?” The right page displays immediately, and the exact passage is enlarged for easy viewing. Which scenario do YOU think a jury prefers? Mix Up The Pace And Presentation Method . Our trial system sometimes burdens jurors with the tough task of sustaining constant mental attention for days on end. How do you ensure your jurors aren’t daydreaming during critical testimony at the end of a long day? During a trial, jurors grow accustomed to documents popping up on the screen lightning fast. So, imagine their surprise when suddenly you stop asking the tech to publish a document and instead pick up a piece of paper and a highlighter and walk

over to a contraption they haven’t noticed yet: the document camera. This physical act hits a pause button, giving jurors that much-needed mental siesta. Just don’t overdo it, as overuse of the document camera can create an equally slow pace that will annoy your jury all the same. Give The Jurors A Roadmap During Expert Testimony. T ake a flip board and a marker and share your outline with the jury. A short list of topics you plan on covering is a useful aid that tells them what to expect while making connections between topics. The testimony is no longer an endless train of seemingly unrelated topics, but a roadmap that makes sense. Build Complex Ideas Visually. Nothing loses a jury’s attention faster than a busy slide filled with bullet points and copious amounts of text. Skip the sentences and opt for graphical depictions and icons. After all, you don’t want the jury reading during opening statements or closing arguments. Graphics help keep their attention on what you are saying. Limit visuals to one concept per slide, with few words and simple graphical representations for quick understanding. It’s significantly easier to understand one complex concept if it’s broken down over 5 slides than it is to dissect one cumber- some slide overwhelmed with multiple ideas. Don’t Test Your Technology Just Before Opening Statements. Five minutes before the jury comes out is not the time to dis- cover your laptop cannot connect to the court’s HDMI system. Most clerks are happy to a schedule a time for you to test the equipment in advance. No two courtrooms are the same, even within the same courthouse. Some have no technology at all, some have VGA connections, and others have HDMI connec- tions. Cables go bad, and systems break down. Are your exhib- its better suited for a projector, a large monitor, or individual flat panel monitors? Consider any blind spots in the room. Are the screens visible from counsel’s table, or do you need to bring additional equipment? Does your laptop play audio through the court’s speakers? Testing all these details ahead of time will prevent any embarrassing gaffes. Legal Visual Services, Inc. (www.legalvisualservices.com) is Chicago’s only source for full service legal video documentation, editing, production, and trial presentation, from discovery through closing arguments.

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