Demonstratives: Making Effective Graphics for Trial eBook

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then just imagine what an animated exhibit will tell jurors about your case. According to legal technologist John Cleaves, that is what PowerPoint does: it helps you design dramatic courtroom demonstratives that not only illustrate your point but creates memorable images and animations that will stay in the minds of jurors in the deliberation room and beyond. If slideshows of bulleted lists are all you ever do with PowerPoint, then you’re missing out on what puts the power in PowerPoint.

In the second edition of Demonstratives: Making Effective Graphics for Trial, you will learn, step by step, how to:

• Develop a consistent theme (or “brand”) throughout your demonstratives so they have their own “look and feel” that jurors can readily identify as your side of the case
• Create a variety of timelines that tell and “sell” your client’s story in the order it happened
• Make your important quotes, callouts, and “tear outs” look like they were created by a professional graphic artist
• Transform your data into graphs and charts that explain or analyze information in a clear way
• Insert photographs, videos, and animated GIFs into your slideshow to demonstrate who, what, where, and even how
• Add motion to the objects you create to bring to life traffic patterns, patent figures, equipment machination, and much more
• Design three-dimensional physical models, still lifes, and text that highlight volume, size, and spatial relationships among objects

The book closes with everything you need to know to share your demonstratives in the courtroom: from the Federal Rules of Evidence you must consider to a checklist of audio-visual equipment to bring and tasks to complete once you are finally in the courtroom.

Check out this video for a sample of what you’ll learn. With Demonstratives at your side, your exhibits will never be the same again.