Demonstrative Evidence Use Pros and Cons
The main reason for using demonstrative evidence at trial is to present information in such a way that it becomes more comprehensible to a judge or jury. A2L Consulting transforms the complex and boring into the interesting and understandable.
Psychologists who have studied the way people communicate and learn have discovered that approximately 2/3 of the population (2/3 of any jury pool) are "visual learners." That is, people tend to process new information that is presented to them in a visual format much more effectively than when the same information is presented to them verbally. We studied this issue extensivily in a three year jury communication study with groundbreaking results.
Psychologists have also determined that a majority of lawyers are auditory or kinesthetic learning people. That is, they tend to process information more effectively by hearing information. Furthermore, studies have also shown that people tend to communicate information, or "teach," in the same way that they prefer to learn. Therefore, most lawyers prefer to communicate information, or teach, by speaking rather than by showing.
In the typical courtroom scenario, what one finds is a judge and a jury, comprised mostly of visual learners who are waiting to be shown the information, and lawyers, who are auditory learners and teachers, attempting to communicate the information by verbally explaining it. This common situation invariably creates a significant gap in communication between the lawyer and the judge and jury. The impact of this gap upon the success of a case cannot be overstated because if a judge or jury cannot visualize your argument, they typically will not understand it. A2L Consulting, by designing persuasive and creative trial graphics, helps to bridge the gap between the verbal communicator and the visual learner.
Other useful demonstrative evidence resources on our site include:
- Our main Demonstrative Evidence Page
- Our main animation page
- Examples of our demonstrative evidence (articles with samples throughout)
- A variety of press and scholarly articles about our demonstratives since 1995
- Free downloadable whitepapers about demonstrative evidence
- An Overview of Demonstrative Evidence at A2L Consulting
