Making Good Use of Trial Director & Demonstratives in an Arbitration
Posted by Ken Lopez on Thu, Jan 05, 2012 @ 06:26 AM
TrialDirector, a trial presentation software package produced by InData, is an indispensable aid to the presentation of electronic and other evidence at trial. There is a reason why this product has claimed the majority of the market share for trial presentation software for more than 10 years: It can actually make it interesting for a jury or other fact-finder to listen to a witness testify about corporate balance sheets, long-ago emails, and other documents that can be fatally boring and lose the attention of the fact-finder.
At A2L Consulting, we have been using TrialDirector to support our presentations and to help our clients win cases for more than a decade. The combination of this software and a well-trained “hot seat operator” makes presentations interesting and sprightly. We generally pair TrialDirector with PowerPoint, other specialty software, specially constructed scale models, and the occasional printed large-format foam core trial board to put together a full trial presentation. We use TrialDirector for more than half the cases we support.
For example, in the case of Railroad Development Corporation v. Republic of Guatemala, we worked with the Railroad Development Corporation and with the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig to make an arbitration case at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the leading international arbitration institution devoted to investor-State dispute settlement. This was a two-week arbitration.
The video here shows how closely integrated the witness’s testimony is with the document that he is describing (an excellent use of TrialDirector), as well as the use of a carefully designed PowerPoint to show the status of the Guatemalan railroad at issue and the work that was done to improve that railroad. Using Trial Director, our hot seat operator brings up documents in real time and highlights them in color to point out the key aspects that we want to emphasize.
The video also briefly shows part of the opposing side’s low-tech presentation (begins at 5:15), which is based on “sticky notes” and a PowerPoint template that is not tailored to the case at hand. Our presentation is much more likely to capture the attention of the fact finders in what otherwise might be seen as a dry-as-dust case.
The basic point is that all cases benefit from the thoughtful presentation of evidence. The more haphazard the presentation, the less credible the presenter will be. Our TrialDirector operators are specifically trained in the use of that powerful software – but the key to success for a trial technician is not just the software savvy but also the ability to work on the fly, to suggest creative ways of presenting evidence, and to work long hours for weeks at a time.
Below are some other resources about TrialDirector and Trial Technicians on our site:
Trial technicians using TrialDirector are normally responsible for the following at A2L:
- creating a trial exhibit and document database before trial starts;
- making deposition clips and syncing them with a transcript;
- helping the litigation team to prepare witnesses to build their comfort with an electronic presentation;
- setting up a war room and electronic courtroom with trial presentation technology;
- helping to finalize the case-in-chief and demonstrative evidence presentations;
- running the trial presentation technology in the courtroom so any document is accessible instantly;
- creating on-the-fly demonstrative evidence to be used with a witness on cross examination;
- running the entire trial presentation using Trial Director;
Some additional trial technology, trial graphics and trial technician articles that you may find useful include:
About A2L Consulting
A2L Consulting is a leading national litigation consulting firm founded in 1995. We have worked with all major law firms on more than 10,000 cases with trillions of dollars cumulatively at stake. A2L Consulting offers the following litigation support services:
- Trial Consulting: mock trials, jury consulting, shadow juries, jury selection and more;
- Litigation Graphics: legal graphics and trial graphics, animation, video, foam core trial exhibits, PowerPoint, simplifying the case story and more;
- Trial Technology: ebriefs, hot seat operators, trial technicians, courtroom presentations and more;
A2L Consulting has personnel or a presence in Washington, DC, New York, NY, Boston, MA, Alexandria, VA, Atlanta, GA, Miami, FL, Chicago, IL, Houston, Texas, Los Angeles, CA, and San Francisco, California. Our work frequently takes us to other locations such as Wilmington, DE, Philadelphia, PA, Phoenix, AZ, San Antonio, Palo Alto, Dallas, Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Salt Lake City, Denver, London, Brussels and many other cities and countries around the world. A2L Contact Information.
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