What Price Victory?
How Much??? Oh My!
Like many of my trial-tech cohorts I often receive calls from frazzled paralegals tasked with the last minute, unenvious challenge of locating someone to show up at court to present visual augmentation at a hearing generally scheduled about two days in the future.
Generally for a Monday hearing.
More often than not they're searching Google results and calling anyone with the slightest reference to courtroom capabilities. The results of their efforts are truly humbling; they have no idea what they need, and worse, no idea of what formant, if any, their presentation is prepared in.
I generally have them whimpering into tears about two minutes into the call when they realize they don't know what equipment is needed, if any, for the presentation. This leads to me assuming a "worse case scenario" based upon their spotty input and rapidly weighing whether or not to continue the inquisition or just beg off and let them proceed down their list of Google "hits".
If the matter sounds remotely possible to accomplish I'll continue with my list of questions and then attack my calculator with a number of known figures (based on prior experience) and rattle off a "ballpark figure" for our services.
How much? They gasp, with disbelief that there is no value in the fact that my team and I will most likely spend the the next 48 hours creating visuals and praying that the attorney presenting the case understands the basics of communication with me.. after all, I am now a member of his "team".
And, lest we lose sight of the fact that this needs to be presented with electronics, someone has to pay to have all the necessary equipment schlepped and set up to the court house.
If I've made it that far into my conversation I email the paralegal my estimate and put it out of my mind secure in knowing that if they're shopping price I'm not their man; if they're shopping talent they'll call back.
Next Blog: What's involved in prepping for presentation.
