Tips to illustrating your case with the right demonstratives.
Demonstratives can bring a lot to the table in terms of educating your audience. A visual aid can bridge the gap between highly educated experts and a jury with ease. Illustrating your theory of case events for mediation can be that extra incentive for the other side to settle. Here are a few of our best practice tips to help ensure that you’re sending the right message with your visual aids:
1 Planning.
Planning ahead can make all the difference in the world when it comes to acquiring the proper demonstrative aids. Many firms wait until they are preparing for trial to think about what type of visuals are needed. The drawback to this is you now have to rush to get all of the demonstratives completed at a crucial time, a time when you need to be focusing on the tedium of jury selection, last minute motions, and opening statements. The best visuals are developed over time. Allow time for an artist to submit a draft that can be reviewed by you and the qualifying witness. In many cases, the review process brings to light the best way to convey the more complex case facts.
2 Write it down.
Before ordering each demonstrative, get a clear idea of what you intend for it to accomplish. A good practice is to write a short, one or two paragraph statement that outlines the demonstratives main purpose. For example*, if you want an animation that addresses the liability issues of an auto accident case, your outline should list the key points that involve liability.
*The goal of the animation is to illustrate the elements of units one and three’s liability.
1. The driver of unit one’s view was obstructed by a large truck (unit 3) parked on the side of the road.
2. A second exit was available for unit one that would have allowed a clear view of the road way.
With even as little information as this, you can begin to get an idea of what the animation should show. This simple step reduces the time required to create the initial draft and the need for revisions.
When it’s time for the deposition of your qualifying witness, you can change the list of goals into questions. Because your witness knows what the intended goal of the demonstrative is, he or she will be able to answer the questions with confidence.
3 Practice.
Let’s face it, most cases end in mediation. The time to maximize your potential settlement amount is during that short presentation of your case. You will go to mediation ten times more often than you will go to trial, so why waste this opportunity to practice? Using demonstratives during mediation improves the impact of your presentation and affords you the opportunity to gain experience presenting an illustrated version of your case. Not only will this technique add value to your settlement offers, but it will give you insight into crafting demonstratives in the future. When it finally comes time for trial, you’ll be prepared and have confidence in the demonstratives you take with you.
Contact us by phone at 1-606-422-8098, or email us at Alex@HughesMultimediaGroup.com or Kristy@HughesMultimediaGroup.com, to learn more about our ground-breaking work with demonstrative aids and discuss the ways that we can help take your litigation work to a new level.