Trial Presentation Blog : Courtroom Presentation, Litigation Software : Charles Perez : Trial Presentation Blog

OK- First - a short story: Often times I'll go into a law firm and discuss their upcoming cases and the best way that their exhibits should be displayed. Naturally, I'm hoping to leverage the skills of our presentation department together with our litigation assistance and our presentation rental facilities at VR Legal Resources. Typically, if we're brought in from the beginning, we'll design the presentation around my software program of choice "Visionary" since, in my opinion, it encompasses the best features of  CTSummation, Trial Director and Sanction which are all excellent programs in their own right but possess one commonality : a very steep learning curve.

While demonstrating our trial presentation prowess to a large firm here in Orange County I asked if they had ever considered using visual demonstratives other than PowerPoint  to simplify their presentation in court. One of the junior partners quipped "we have a program called Trial Director" and then he kind of trailed off.  "That's a terrific program" I replied, "how do you like it?" Cold silence followed. Finally, the same junior partner said "Well, we've never used it; we bought it and installed it but no one had the time to figure it out".

Moral of my short story: If you aren't using it, it isn't any good!

Last month I stumbled upon a new program called ExhibitView making bold and brash claims that it was "The most powerful presentation software..allows users to present with ease, using multiple integrated technologies,( yada, yada, yada). In my line of work you hear a lot of this so I watched their 2 minute video intro and downloaded a 30 day demo from their website and proceeded to pick it apart and see what all the ranting was about......

(Oh - Full Disclosure - let me add right here that my opinion is based solely on the trial version of the product.. I have not received any compensation for what I'm about to state.)

 

  Simply put: "WOW!"

  You've Gotta Try This!

 

If your firm has ever balked at using a software presentation program my advice is to go download ExhibitView and try it now. Granted, I have the advantage of working with several different programs in our line of work and I'd have to admit that I'm fairly well versed in the different applications they all have to offer - but - this is probably the easiest program I've ever used. Read the info on their website and see all of its impressive capabilities.

"Learning Curve"? This one is FLAT ; if you can work a word processing program and know the basics of "drag and drop" you're home free.

The program downloads all the tools you need to get started and then actually configures your computer to prepare it for your presentation; it really does support multiple integrated technologies - practically ANY document or image type as well as supporting an arsenal of audio and video formats.

The program is one of the most intuitive programs I've ever used - truly "Idiot Friendly" (and I mean that in a nice way) - I can safely say that you will not be overwhelmed with techno-babble, just concise, easy to understand, simple instructions. (Additionally they (ExhibitView) appears to have fast, online tech support however, I didn't have any issues so I didn't test that part out).

I imported a text synchronized video deposition created with another application (Visionary - but, it could just as well been from YesLaw , Trial Director, etc) and it imported seamlessly into the control pane. From there I discovered that I could easily "edit on the fly" the video if needed.

I then imported a variety of documents (PDFs, Excel Spreadsheets, Word Docs) and found that I could easily enlarge any portion of the document, create annotations (again "on the fly"), highlight and then print  them out. The same could be said for JPEGS, GIFS, BMPs or PNGs.

I didn't get the opportunity to see how many documents I could squeeze into a presentation, the most I've accomplished with Visionary is something in the 300,000 range, but I was told that the program could hold as much as a hard drive would allow and I don't see any reason to doubt that claim.

Obviously the other presentation programs all have their places - each has applications which may be similar or unique to a situation and each of them will have their "fans". They all have additional features that you may or may not need and all of the existing programs perform incredibly well - if you use them.

(NOTE: If you're happy and content with your exisitng solution by all means stick to the familiar, every program has its "comfort level" (even PowerPoint!) -but,  if you're technically challenged this is worth a try.)

For those of you who are still contemplating wading into the 21st Century but still reluctant to because of some old horror story you heard about some poor attorneys presentation "melting down" in front of the jury and the panic and woe that followed - GET OVER IT!

This is the program you should at least try. If you can't master ExhibitView  in 30 minutes give me a call so our firm can create your presentation for you!

To my fellow presenters: keep your eye on this program. In fact, go and download a trial copy and let me know what you think - I believe you'll be quite impressed but I'd like to get your thoughts and comparisons in the next few weeks and maybe revisit the topic.

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We're a busy little crew here at Video Resources (as evidenced by my long overdue blog-sorry!)

When we're not saving lives and reputations we make it a practice to keep up on as many subjects, programs or products which will have a positive impact on our services.

With the goal of being "all things to all clients" I undertook a three day "Power User" course which explored the complexity and versatility of CT Summation, probably the best litigation support program in the known legal universe (for those who know how to tap into its incredible power).

Although CT summation isn't exactly the first choice to use for trial presentation (it lacks many of the robust features of say, Sanction or Visionary) it is probably the best known litigation program in the legal community. Many of our clients rely heavily on CT Summation and it's imperative in "our world" to know how to adapt, capture and present data, regardless of its native format.

So, with my time at a premium, I jumped at the chance to participate in a three day course taught by Henry Alonso , owner of Alonso Consulting & Training. Henry has over 16 years of hands-on experience working with CT Summation and has several years under his belt providing litigation support to a variety of top level law firms - it was a no-brainer of a decision to learn from Henry and well worth the investment.

The course was a non-stop, hands on adventure that allowed me to perform, in a real-time, legal environment; Henry taught us tricks and shortcuts that even many seasoned users of the program aren't aware of ; after 24 hours of immersion into every aspect of the program I and my fellow "Boot Camp Power Users" came away with a solid understanding of just how powerful the program is. (We got a really cool certificate to boot!)

Two weeks later I discovered just how useful this training would be..... 

Most of us who work in this techno-arena don't really blink twice when a new computer appears on the scene, or a new program is intruduced into system; it's just a given - it's what we do.

We've been working on an extended lawsuit for the past two years; we've gone through a couple of law firms along the way so it was no surprise to hear that a law firm we were expecting to work with on the matter suddenly (to us anyway) resigned the case leaving their client flailing about to get new representation.

Now - this is a unique situation for us. We're actually presenting the exhibits for BOTH sides (it was their idea) since we had the equipment and there are something in the neighborhood of 50,000 pages of exhibits that we're presenting using the Visionary program. So, here we are, a few days from trial (no continuance) and no documents to present.

The new counsel came into the scene woefully unprepared. No, that's being too kind; they came into this mess like lambs to the slaughter; they're an "old school" lawfirm - they didn't have much use for these new fangled computers and such. They were in WAY over their heads  (that's not an exagerration - I've seen the "deer in the headlights" look - this was the deers carcass, it didn't know it had already been hit).

Well - this tale has a happy ending, sort of... (we're still in trial as I type this and probably will still be through 2009). The former counsel supplied the new firm with a brand spanking new laptop with all the exhibits they were planning on using in their presentation- all contained in a program called..drumroll please.. CT Summation!

I quickly donned my CT Summation Power User cape and rubbed my secret CT Summation Power User decoder ring and, summoning up all my willing brain cells was able to ascertain that there were 500 exhibits totalling 36,000 pages in the program. We converted the pages to work with our Visionary program in record time (well, in enough time to show up at trial ready to go!) and were hailed as miracle workers. Okay.. maybe that's an exagerration; but, everyone WAS REAL HAPPY.

So -long story short - the payoff from the course was having the knowledge to not only know where the files/exhibits were stored in the program but also how to safely extricate them all with meta tags and doc ids, etc intact.

Just another day performing the expected miracle for our clients!

(And another job well-billed!)

 

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Due to the nature of our litigation support servces here at Video Resources I've had the opportunity to test out a variety of courtroom presentation software; The two most popular (in constant use) being Adobe Acrobat Professional and Microsoft's PowerPoint.

These two excellent programs embody what I consider the "base" technology for what has developed into today's advanced presentation software like CT Summation, Visionary, Trial Director and Trial Max. The latter named programs have taken the "basics" (again, my interpretation) of these two "core" programs expanding upon their features and delivering the rock 'em, sock 'em, boffo presentations we've all come to love and, (for our clients at least) expect.

As fantastic as each of these advanced presentation programs are they come with a learning curve and, in a couple of cases, a hefty price tag.

So - let's look at the an alternative - something for those firms who don't need to rip through 16,000+ exhibits, photos and videos. (You know who you are).

What about the smaller case that has a few documents, some photos and maybe even a video deposition coupled with a budget that prohibits outsourcing at any cost?  

If you're a small firm (or even a paralegal in a moderate firm) I'm sure you've been exposed to and made use of PowerPoint at some time or another. If you've had the opportuniuty to study any of my previous posts you'll also note that in the wrong hands I firmly beleive that the mis-use (or over use) of elements of this program can be a real crowd snoozer.

So - what to do? Here's a terrific, affordable alternative for novice and PowerPoint sage alike: PowerPoint For Court created by award winning graphic design artist Herb Rubinstein.

 

At just $149.00 PowerPoint for Court isn't a lightweight entry by any means. In Herb Rubinsstein's own words: "Just about everyone is familiar with PowerPoint and it is eminently capable of displaying absolutely anything. So why go out and look for Legal Presentation programs that can cost a lot of money and take hours of valuable time to learn when you already have the perfect software package?

The answer is Don’t!

Using PowerPoint for Court and the software and material found on the Resource CD, you will be on the cutting edge of Courtroom Presentation Technology and will have the winning edge over the opposing side."

Personally, I think this would be $149.00 well spent for any law firm. The whole package comes on one CD and is chock full of useful apps as well as extremely useful advice not only on PowerPoint but also on audio recording, embedding video and courtroom technique.

Herb claims his motivation for creating the program was due to his involvement working with law firms who just didn't grasp the mechanics of PowerPoint or else lacked any expertise (or motivation) in exploiting its true potential.

Check out his web site: www.PowerPointForCourt.com - all the info is there and I'm beginning to sound like an infomercial for the product so I'll let you read up on the particulars for yourself. This is a "must have" for every firm (or at least the poor paralegal tasked with creating the court room presentation).

One final point: I haven't been compensated in any way for this; I enjoy using programs that simplify  the argument with clarity and accuracy and anything that will make your presentation a success is my goal!

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