THE BEST OF 2011: Top 10 Litigation Consulting Report Articles and Top 5 A2L Consulting Whitepapers

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10. Teaching Science to a Jury: A Trial Consulting Challenge

Monday, Aug 29, 2011 Ken Lopez
Very often, trial attorneys in complex cases need to explain extremely difficult and elusive scientific concepts to jurors who are not well versed in science. The lawyer’s job is to convey the science correctly to the jury so that they can make a rational decision – yet not to bury the jury under a blizzard of scientific terms and concepts that they will never understand. The answer...Read More
 
 
Tuesday, Sep 27, 2011 Ken Lopez
When most people think of courtroom presentations, they think of computer-aided graphics like PowerPoint presentations or movies – or of written guides such as charts, graphs, and timelines. They don’t usually think of physical, scale-model creations. In the appropriate cases, however, physical models or scale models can be extremely convincing to jurors, especially those...Read More
 
 
Friday, Sep 9, 2011 Ken Lopez
Electronic briefs (e-Briefs) made their first appearance on the legal stage in the 1990s, but today’s e-briefs are far ahead of their predecessors in terms of technology and usability. E-briefs are electronic versions of ordinary paper-based court filings. But instead of providing lengthy, thick and repetitive appendices and materials at the end of the brief, a lawyer...Read More
 
 
Monday, Jul 25, 2011 Ken Lopez
All good trial exhibits have one thing in common: They are able to appeal to juries by referring to ideas, principles, objects, or locations that jurors already know about in their daily lives. For example, a trial lawyer may need to show how large, or how small, something at issue in the litigation actually is. An effective way of doing this is to relate it to the size or scope of...Read More
 
 
Wednesday, Sep 14, 2011 Ken Lopez
In our 16 years in the trial presentation business , and after consulting on more than 10,000 cases, we still hear litigators concerned that their trial presentation/litigation graphics might somehow look “too slick” and will distract the jurors, or will somehow focus attention on the relative wealth of our client who is able to afford “fancy graphics.”   In the...Read More
 
 
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2011 Ken Lopez
Quite often, the subject matter at issue in a major trial is very complex and technical and is not intuitively obvious for a jury composed of laypersons, or even a judge, to understand. In fact, that’s why trial consulting companies like us emerged in the early 1990s – to help lawyers explain in a clear visual manner what’s at stake in a case, so that judges and jurors will...Read More
 
 
Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011 Ken Lopez
The courtroom is a forum where issue advocacy is enhanced by persuasive litigation graphics. However, other settings exist where attorneys, consultants, politicians, lobbyists and advocacy organizations must persuade skeptical audiences. This article focuses on the creation of advocacy graphics for a particular issue: hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking. Advocacy or lobbying...Read More
 
 
Wednesday, Sep 7, 2011 Ken Lopez
Although trial consultants prepare dozens of different types of exhibits that help judges and jurors understand a case, timelines are one of the oldest and most reliable. After all, most cases involve some sort of time sequence, and the order and timing of events can be crucial. Timelines give jurors an intuitive understanding of a case – if they are done well. While it seems...Read More
 
 
Monday, February 7, 2011 Theresa Villanueva
It is long established that the use of visuals and technology in the courtroom increases understanding and retention.  There are many attorneys across the country who will not even consider going to trial without being armed with creative and intuitive demonstrative exhibits to persuade and educate the jury.  Color is a fundamental component of creating and developing trial graphics...Read More
 
 
 
Thursday, June 23, 2011 Ken Lopez
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the judge in any trial, whether jury or bench or whether in state or federal court. At a minimum, the judge has the power to admit or exclude evidence of all sorts in his or her courtroom. The very best efforts of the trial lawyer, the trial technician, and the whole team can go for naught if their trial exhibits never reach the eyes of the jury or are never considered by the judge...Read More



Top 5 A2L Litigation Consulting Whitepapers of 2011


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