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In 2012, baseball star Roger Clemens was tried for perjury for allegedly lying to Congress in 2008 when testifying regarding accusations that he used anabolic steroids during his Major League Baseball career. In a celebrity-obsessed culture, one might think that serving jury duty for the trial of a famous person would be a fascinating experience. However, the Roger Clemens trial made the news not only because the defendant was a famous person, but also for the dismissal of two jurors who fell asleep during the trial. The judge presiding over the case warned the attorneys involved that they were boring the jurors with their unnecessary questions. The attorneys involved in the Clemens case could have engaged the jury with the help of presentation technology, such as charts, graphs, animations, and illustrations. Trials, particularly civil litigation and white collar criminal cases, are often driven by documents and timelines. News coverage of high-profile trials often show attorneys wheeling boxes of documents into the courtroom, even in an age when people prefer to be paperless. Rather than handing jurors stacks of documents and relying on them to recall the important information contained therein, presentation technology can put the document on a screen, zoom in on the important sections, and even highlight parts of the text. Another way in which presentation technology can be used during your trial is by creating timelines to show who knew what and when they knew. Animation can effectively illustrate gaps in time, or force the jurors to focus on only one event at a time. It is just as important to know when to use high-tech options. An effective delivery mixes an old-fashioned process with more high-tech elements. In addition to keeping jurors awake, it is also important to make sure that they are remembering the evidence presented. It is impossible for humans to remember all the information they encounter. Information is constantly competing for space in the human memory bank. Studies conducted in an academic setting confirm that after three days, people remember 65% of the information they both saw and heard, compared with only 10% of information they only heard, and 20% of information they only visualized. Trial presentation technology can play a role in making sure that jurors see and hear the vital points of your case. Consider breaking up long speeches, such as opening arguments, with charts or graphs to illustrate your points. When you prepare your closing arguments, revisit the charts and graphs illustrating the points the jurors latched on to, and use slides to condense the most critical testimony that illustrates your point. To effectively incorporate presentation technology into your trial strategy, make sure you know how to use it effectively. This means more than knowing how to power on and advance slides on the projector. You should practice giving your pitch, and ask for feedback from a mock jury of your peers to make sure they are engaged and retaining the salient points of your case. When considering presentation technology, visit Litigation Insights. Learn more about these services at http://www.litigationinsights.com/
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