by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting How many slides should a world-class trial lawyer or trial presentation consultant create for use in a typical trial? That’s an interesting question that I hadn’t thought of until recently, when I had a fascinating debate with some litigators about this topic. One took the view that a trial with twice as many issues should require twice as many slides, even if the two trials are of equal length. I disagreed, and I think these litigators found my position confusing at first. I told them that the presumption for any trial team should be to use as few slides as possible to make a point. More slides just create more complexity. And that inhibits persuasion. There's a famous quote that has been attributed to many people, but it is correctly attributed to French mathematician Blaise Pascal: “I would have written a shorter letter if I had more time.” I think this sums up in many ways the goals of effective trial presentation. If you find yourself going to trial with 500 slides that you plan to use in a five-day trial, you are probably overdoing it. But people do that all the time. I wrote about this topic in an article discussing how the PowerPoint slides that you do use are informed by the ones you don't. I think of it like a sculptor and Michelangelo’s famous saying how he could see the finished piece in the block of stone, he just needed to chip away the extraneous stones. I do think trial presentation should work something like that. That's why it takes a long time to make a good presentation and why you should not find yourself at the end of the trial apologizing for not having written that shorter letter. Here are a handful of best practices for any PowerPoint slide presentation with additional reading incorporated throughout:
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting Today, we are publishing our latest free book -- A Trial Lawyer's Guide to Jury Consulting and Mock Trials. This free 328-page book is based on the idea that even after some decades in which jury consulting has grown and established itself as a business, many lawyers still don’t necessarily understand what jury consultants do and how valuable they can be. Many lawyers probably still harbor the old idea that a jury consultant is just someone who sits next to a lawyer and uses a “gut feeling” based on a potential juror’s occupation, body language or appearance to ask the lawyer to exclude the juror or keep the juror. If that stereotype were ever true, it’s certainly not true today. We’re about as far now from the O.J. Simpson days 20 years ago as we are from the Perry Mason days. This book is dedicated to bridging whatever conceptual gap may remain between trial lawyers and jury consultants. It pulls together many of the lessons that jury consultants have learned, so that any lawyer who reads the book can get up to speed quickly and save herself a good deal of money and time. We have been dismayed at times at the disconnection between long-held myths held even by seasoned litigators and what the data show. Excellent trial strategies are the product of balancing art and science, data and wisdom, confidence and humility. Among the topics in this book are: 14 Places Your Colleagues Are Using Persuasive Graphics That Maybe You’re Not, Is Hiring a Jury Consultant Really Worth It?, Why Do I Need a Mock Trial If There Is No Real Voir Dire, 21 Ingenious Ways to Research Your Judge, 7 Videos About Body Language Our Litigation Consultants Recommend, 15 Things Everyone Should Know About Jury Selection and 6 Good Reasons to Conduct a Mock Trial. A good lawyer knows the law. A great lawyer knows the jury and how it works. Read this book and reflect on its contents to know more than most trial lawyers do. This book is based on hundreds of trials and years of data, not mere theory or presumption. We hope you enjoy it and share it. Please send us your feedback and let us know if you have any questions or comments, any time. If you have any questions about a case, a witness, a jury pool, a venue, strategic options or dilemmas, or think your case is unwinnable, we’re only a phone call/email away and would love to hear from you.
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting As trials become more and more complex – just think of the intellectual property cases worth billions of dollars that have rooted the attention of Silicon Valley and the world – litigation consulting has become more and more important. There may be fewer jury trials now than there used to be, but many of the cases that go to trial can shake up an industry. “Litigation consulting” is a broad term that describes a broad variety of services that help lawyers try and win cases. They include jury and bench trial consulting, litigation graphics consulting, on-site courtroom technology support and similar services. In a given case, a trial team may need all the services that A2L provides, or just a subset of those services. In order to show how far the litigation consulting industry has come in a relatively short time, we are issuing a free --- page book, The Value of Litigation Consulting. The book explains why even the best trial lawyers can benefit from the services of top-notch litigation consultants. It’s a handbook that shows where the industry has been and where it’s heading. The book is full of useful, hard-hitting articles on these topics, including 11 Things Your Colleagues Pay Litigation Consultants to Do, 6 Secrets of the Jury Consulting Business You Should Know, 12 Reasons Litigation Graphics Are More Complicated Than You Think, How Long Before Trial Should I Begin Preparing My Trial Graphics?, 11 Traits of Great Courtroom Trial Technicians. You can download the book here - completely free - no strings attached.
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting In 20 years in the litigation consulting business, I've seen a lot of successful trial teams and some that are not so successful. A team that is successful needs good leadership. In fact, good leadership and good preparation are the best predictors of a trial team's success. We've written before about effective trial team leadership and even released an e-book on good litigation leadership skills. Good leaders force timely preparation, they delegate effectively, and they put their egos aside in the interests of a successful outcome. One important challenge for good trial team leaders is knowing when to make changes to the team. These changes can amount to anything from adding new lawyers to the team, removing lawyers and support staff, or even releasing vendors and hiring new ones. I have seen a fair number of litigation consulting firms removed at various stages of the litigation. Many times, we are the firm that is brought in to replace the removed firm. An important part of the work of a good trial team leader is to ensure that a good litigation consultant is chosen. This is not an easy decision. Many companies that claim to be top litigation consulting firms are actually nothing more than trial technology firms or everyday graphic arts firms. The list of high-quality providers can be counted on one hand. So, unless you have first-hand knowledge about a firm and the people you'll be working with, there are plenty of ways to make mistakes. Fortunately, these can be corrected if you have a good reason and the courage to make the change. By far the biggest reason I have seen firms removed from their roles in jury consulting or litigation graphics consulting is a lack of creativity. This is understandable because creativity is a hard thing to judge before you work with someone. Often these removals occur after one phase of the litigation and before the next. For example, in patent litigation, we are often brought in for the trial after another firm provided no meaningful suggestions or advice to counsel in the pretrial phases of the case. I've also seen many examples where we are brought in after remand for the second bite at the trial apple. Sometimes a trial team says they just didn't get any value from their litigation consultants. There are many reasons a trial team would need to switch litigation consultants as they prepare for a mock trial or litigation graphics. It must not be forgotten that this type of switch is an extreme outcome that runs the risk of doing harm. It shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. Yes people: I actually had the CEO of a competitor once ask me, “Why would I give litigators advice?” I indicated politely that his instincts were correct. HE shouldn’t do so. There are many like him in the industry. They can be a source of support if you’ve simply hired them to run your PowerPoint during an opening statement. Some just have no business taking the extra step and adding value, because bad advice is worse than no advice. Missed deadlines: On my first day of law school, my criminal law professor stopped a student trying to enter class late. He said, “You are attempting to enter the only profession in the world for which you can go to jail for being late.” There is never an excuse for being late. The creatively challenged: It’s common for technology people to masquerade as visual persuasion consultants. They should be pretty easy to detect. See Why Trial Tech ≠ Litigation Graphics, 16 PowerPoint Litigation Graphics You Won't Believe Are PowerPoint, and 21 Reasons a Litigator Is Your Best Litigation Graphics Consultant. The jury hack: As a top jury consultant wrote, there is no license required to become a jury consultant. So there are many “consultants” who are simply not qualified to gather data in a sophisticated way. Some trial technicians try to offer advice on a jury during voir dire. This is litigation consulting malpractice in my view. See, 6 Secrets of the Jury Consulting Business You Should Know and No Advice is Better Than Bad Advice in Litigation.
by Tony B. Klapper Managing Director, Litigation Consulting & General Counsel A2L Consulting I’ve recently joined the litigation consulting team at A2L as its Managing Director. This means that I will be working closely with top litigators to help them craft persuasive themes and stories, assist in the testing of a case during a mock trial exercise, and develop powerful demonstrative exhibits. In my 20+ years working at Kirkland & Ellis and then Reed Smith, I have participated in many trials, arbitrations, evidentiary hearings, mediations, and board presentations. Almost without fail, I have been the attorney responsible for coordinating and developing the litigation graphics for these events. That did not mean putting mouse to screen in a graphics program or PowerPoint. Instead, I would put pencil to paper and sketch out a great idea that someone else transformed into a powerful litigation graphic. It is work that I have always been passionate about. As I transition from working on graphics two or three times a year to developing them every week, I want to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve observed about trial graphics as a litigation partner at two major law firms. Janus-like slides. Janus is the Roman god of gates and doorways. He is depicted as having two faces and typically represents beginnings and endings or contrasting experiences, such as war and peace. Although not one of your sexier Roman gods – clearly no Jupiter or Venus – Janus does inspire some effective litigation graphics: A split-screen slide that reflects a cause on the left and an effect on the right, or a representation or claim on the left and visual proof that the representation or claim is false on the right. A single, simple split-screen slide can instantaneously convey a powerful message without resorting to a series of dull, ineffective bullet-point assertions. The Timeline. Effective stories are not simply recitations of chronological events. But “when” something happens and how that something relates to “when” something else happens is almost always a central feature in litigation and part of a good story. Stories have beginnings, middles and endings. They transport us through a maze of actors and activities, all anchored in time. Instead of vertically listing from top to bottom a series of events -- as many fond of the easel and flip chart will do -- a well-crafted and visually appealing timeline allows you to elegantly develop your narrative in linear fashion. But it’s not just the narrative. A timeline that is chock full of entries may tell a completely different story than one with wide gaps of time, even without needing to read the fine print.
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a fascinating cognitive bias that can have significant implications for the justice system, particularly when it comes to juries. This effect refers to the tendency of individuals to overestimate their own abilities and knowledge in a particular area, leading them to believe that they are more competent than they actually are.
As the largest and most diverse generation in American history, millennials are having a significant impact on many aspects of society, including the legal system. One area where this impact is particularly noticeable is in the jury pool. As more and more millennials enter the pool of potential jurors, they are bringing with them a unique set of experiences, values, and attitudes that can influence the outcome of trials and the way that juries function.
Confirmation bias is a pervasive cognitive bias that affects individuals in all areas of life, including the court system. It is crucial to understand the nature and effects of confirmation bias in order to mitigate its impact in jury trials. By recognizing and addressing confirmation bias, we can work towards a fairer and more just legal system.
Jury selection is a critical part of the legal process, and the jury summons form plays a significant role in this process. While many may overlook this form, it actually holds valuable information that can greatly influence the outcome of a trial.
One of the key considerations in data-driven jury selection is the identification of favorable jurors based on their background and beliefs. This involves analyzing a wide range of data, such as demographic information, voting history, social media activity, and even purchasing habits. By delving into these details, lawyers can gain valuable insights into potential jurors' decision-making processes and biases.
In today's rapidly evolving society, the composition of juries is constantly changing, mirroring the shifts in social dynamics. The advent of social media and its pervasive influence on our daily lives has brought about significant transformations in both jury selection and the conduct of voir dire.
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting Every year, our firm receives awards in a variety of litigation consulting and blogging categories. I don't often promote those achievements in this blog, as I regard the blog as primarily educational in nature. However, I do believe that there is real value in knowing which firms your peers are rating highest in the industry. Not only does this help you save time and energy when you want to engage a litigation support firm, it helps you know the up-and-coming firms and what the market trends look like. Recently, Legal Times, one of a few elite legal publications remaining, asked its readership to identify the best consultants in a variety of categories including e-discovery, legal banking, legal recruiting, and many more. I'm happy to announce that A2L Consulting was voted the number one jury consultant ahead of other industry giants FTI Consulting and DecisionQuest. I've always admired those firms and the work that they do. We are friendly competitors, and I congratulate them on their achievements. The leader of our jury consulting practice is jury consulting industry veteran Dr. Laurie Kuslansky. Coincidentally, she has held leadership positions with both of the other two top-ranked firms. Her record and reputation in the industry are excellent, and her bio/CV/references can be viewed or downloaded here. Dr. Kuslansky shares my view that jury consultants alone are not to be relied upon as gospel for advice on jury selection, theme development, and storytelling. This method of jury consulting is antiquated, but still practiced by many jury consultants. The preferred method for assisting top trial teams is, rather, to listen to the data developed by conducting well-designed mock trials and focus groups. The data is in the form of feedback from mock jurors or mock judges. Any jury consultant can offer a gut instinct (no matter how suspect that instinct is). However, it takes a great jury consultant and jury consulting firm to show restraint and properly interpret the data and feedback from mock jurors and focus group members and know how to blend art and science. The magic comes when a jury consultant can properly obtain good data, interpret it, wisely season it with insightful judgment, and taking in the input of the trial team. Blindly applying data or narrowly focusing on instinct each has its perils. Likewise, asserting oneself as the smartest person in the room is hardly the team approach clients prefer.
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting We have been publishing this blog for almost five years now, and we keep finding new and better ways to share our insights. Our free e-books are downloaded thousands of times per month, our webinars are viewed by hundreds, and every month, more than 200 new people subscribe to our blog. Today, we're announcing a new way for you to benefit from our valuable free content about litigation and persuasion — podcasts. As technology has advanced over the past 10 years, podcasts have moved from obscurity to mainstream. Briefly, a podcast is a type of digital media that is essentially a radio show that can be streamed online to a computer or mobile device. The term was invented in 2004 as a combination of the word “pod” for the iPod and the word “broadcast,” but podcasts can be accessed on any capable device, not just on the iPod. Here at A2L, we are kicking of our new Trial Tips Podcast by introducing three long-format podcasts. Each is an audio version of one of our webinars. These are not just any webinars, but our three most popular webinars. Storytelling in Litigation 12 Things Every Mock Juror Ever Has Said 5 Ways to Maximize Persuasion During Opening Statements You can start enjoying this content right now for free by clicking here to access our podcast directory.
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