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Home: Press:
Demonstrative Evidence and the Duty to Entertain at Trial
By Animators at Law
Part 1 of 3 (jump to part
2 here or part
3 here)
Your trial team is litigating a patent
case involving the complex inner workings of a massive piece of machinery,
or the detailed corporate structures of competing businesses making
antitrust allegations, or the interaction of chemicals unfamiliar to
the general public in a product liability matter. You know it is necessary
to transmit these concepts to your jury in a clear, persuasive manner.
You know that demonstrative evidence can be your best ally in the battle
to convey the strengths of your case. Will you choose to have your expert
witness testify aided only by an oversized pad of paper and a marker?
Or will you develop compelling demonstrative evidence or a short animation
that allows jurors to see the subject machinery in action and then dissects
each piece of the inner workings, or that lays out departments within
corporations in outlined, size- and color-coded fashion, or that simulates
the effects of the interaction of the chemicals?
Your demonstrative evidence presentations for trial can no longer be
an afterthought that simply mirrors your oral presentation. It is your
obligation to your client to entertain jurors, as they are accustomed
to being entertained in so many other aspects of their lives.
The legal community is generally aware of the importance of using demonstrative
evidence at trial to aid in explaining difficult concepts and helping
jurors retain information. Today, we live in a whirlwind world of 30-second
television sound bites, news summaries in convenient one-sentence formats
and information that has been distilled to its essence for our easy
absorption. We are becoming accustomed to an “experience economy”
in which the method of information delivery is as important as the substance
of the information being delivered. Because jurors are in the habit
of receiving information this way in every other aspect of their lives,
it is now the duty of the trial team to represent its client by ensuring
the jury is entertained as it is being informed.
Modern Television Viewing Practices
We increasingly rely on television rather than other mediums for both
information and entertainment. For those who do read, the newspaper
with the largest circulation in America (USA Today) makes the heaviest
use of color photographs and graphics. Jurors get their news, politics,
entertainment, and history from “people paid to arrange and rearrange
the truth in its most… convenient pose.” In the world outside
the courtroom, jurors’ ideas are being guided by talk show hosts,
captained by legal and political pundits, inspired by movie-of-the week
actors, and educated by public relations experts.
The consequence in the world of litigation is that if you expect to
jurors to pay attention to facts and be open to persuasion, your message
must be delivered in a format that is familiar, trustworthy and that
keeps their attention focused. You have an obligation to present your
case in a convenient, simple and entertaining fashion.
(continued here...)
End of Part 1 of 3 (jump to part
2 here or part
3 here)
To discuss upcoming litigation please
contact:
Sue Butler
sales@animators.com
1.800.337.7697 ext 121
703.548.1799 ext 121
703.548.5450 (fax)
Animators at Law is the nation's leading attorney owned and operated
producer of trial exhibits, jury research and animation. To date, Animators
has consulted on hundreds of significant national cases with cumulative
favorable decisions exceeding one trillion dollars. Our clients include
more than three quarters of the nation's top 20 law firms and hundreds
of others. While most of our team is based in our Washington, DC headquarters,
local offices and relationships allow us to easily work in New York,
Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Texas, Florida & Philadelphia.
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