Don't Leave It to Chance: Hire a Pro for Exhibits

Debunking the Myths of Litigation Exhibits & Presentations

I recently attended a legal conference where I discussed the services of our company – Med Art & Legal Graphics – with attorneys from across the country. It was good to see many old friends who have used our demonstrative evidence exhibits & trial presentations with much success. Still, I ran into a fair number who said, “I don’t use that kind of stuff.”

Granted, not all cases require exhibits. However, I feel I should address some…um…myths (for lack of a better term) I have heard from attorneys regarding the use of “that kind of stuff.”

This is the third in a 5-part series of the most common myths regarding the use of demonstrative exhibits and litigation presentation tools.

MYTH 3: Graphic exhibits won’t be admissible.

When exhibits are prepared by Certified Medical Illustrators, then reviewed and approved by the treating physician or other expert to be true, fair and accurate, they are always accepted into evidence.

A skilled attorney will have her/his exhibits prepared by a professional – like Med Art & Legal Graphics -- who works with experts to get the necessary approval every step of the way. This applies equally to crime scene exhibits, accident orientation depictions and all other illustrative mediums.

For those of you DIY folks, take note of what Ed Josiah of GREYHAWK North America has to say in his treatise, “Demonstrative Evidence Evidentiary Issues & Laying a Proper Foundation:”

“When casually measured and hastily prepared diagrams are used to pinpoint specific placement of crucial evidence, or to verify eyewitness visibility, they step over the boundary of their original intent and may create a false picture of the evidence.”

Don’t risk exhibit inadmissibility: Contact the professionals at Med Art & Legal Graphics Company – 888-715-0784. Or, visit our website at www.med-art.com.

Note: For statutory guidelines, see Federal Rules of Evidence 901, 902, and 1001-1004.evidence.

Day 2: Trial Exhibits Don't Have to Cost an Arm & a Leg

Day 2: Exhibits That Don't Cost an Arm & a Leg

Debunking the Myths of Litigation Exhibits & Presentations

I recently attended a legal conference in sunny Arizona where I discussed the services of our company – Med Art & Legal Graphics – with attorneys from across the country. It was good to see many old friends who have used our demonstrative evidence exhibits & trial presentations with much success. Still, I ran into a few who told me, “I don’t use that kind of stuff.”

Granted, not all cases require exhibits. However, I feel I should address these misconceptions I have heard from attorneys regarding the use of “that kind of stuff.”

This week, I will debunk the 5 most common myths. I will also provide hints to help you to clarify the facts & fortify your case through the use of demonstrative exhibits and litigation presentation tools…for all budgets.

MYTH 2: My case doesn’t warrant the expense.

Winning is the object, right? But if the jury (or settlement panel) can’t visualize the damages, why bother?

A picture’s worth a thousand words. The complexities of human anatomy escape most people – jurors & judges alike – unless they have a visual aid to guide them. A medically accurate drawing created by a Certified Medical Illustrator (CMI) and placed within the jury’s view throughout trial will have a dramatic impact… and generally for less than $1,000.

To see examples of exhibits depicting all types on anatomy, visit the “Gallery” section of our website – www.med-art.com.

Litigation Myths Debunked

Debunking the Myths of Litigation Exhibits & Presentations

I recently attended a legal conference in sunny Arizona where I discussed the services of our company – Med Art & Legal Graphics – with attorneys from across the country. It was good to see many old friends who have used our demonstrative evidence exhibits & trial presentations with much success. Still, I ran into a few who told me, “I don’t use that kind of stuff.”

Granted, not all cases require exhibits. However, I feel I should address some…um…myths (for lack of a better term) I have heard from attorneys regarding the use of “that kind of stuff.”

Over the next 5 days, I will debunk the 5 most common myths. I will also provide hints to help you to clarify the facts & fortify your case through the use of demonstrative exhibits and litigation presentation tools…for all budgets.

MYTH 1: We don’t go to trial, so we don’t need big, splashy graphics.

Splashy graphics? Probably not. However, you still need to present your case in a concise & compelling manner. Fumbling around with boxes of documents and MRI films in a manila folder is a red flag to opposing counsel: You might as well go to Kinkos & buy a banner saying “I am sooo not ready to go to trial!”

We offer many options that communicate the facts of the case in mediation/settlement while sending the clear message, “We’re ready, bring it on!” Briefly, in order of expense…

o Illustration (or “board”): We can take stock art and make minimal modifications, or enhance xrays/MRI films, to present a clear picture of the injury(s) in your case at a very modest price.

o Interactive PDF Presentation: These incorporate all case facts – depo clips, accident scene photos, before/after pix, photos, enhanced films, EFM strips, comprehensive depiction of injuries – in easy-to-use file that you can email, burn to disc or simply pull up with no special software. The PDFs are so easy to work with, they make TrialDirector look like quantum physics! And they’re surprisingly affordable.

o Day-In-the-Life/Wrongful Death Video: We take photos, video footage, family interviews, depo clips, medical records and all other relevant information… and put it together into a well-scripted, compelling presentation for display via video screen or laptop. And the price would surprise you: The benefits far outweigh the cost.

Many other options exist that fall in between these there basic levels of communication in terms of simplicity and cost. Med Art & Legal Graphics provides free, no-obligation quotes to determine the appropriate medium given your case facts and budget.

To see an example of an Interactive PDF Presentation, email me at lauraquine@med-art.com.

Save BOLD Fonts for Words That Need to POP!

Do Not Use BOLD fonts for all of your text. Keep the bold font for one or two word/phrases. That way they will stick out (which is the point of the BOLD font).

What to do as a presentation designer? Design your slide without bold fonts initially, and only add bold as a last resort. Your first tool of emphasis should be to increase the size of the font/

• To highlight a single word, rather than inflating a whole sentence
• To give more contrast to text written over an image as a background
• To highlight a label in 10pt font or smaller in a complex diagram such as an IT system architecture

Remember ALL is NOTHING. For more tips on how to create award winning presentations please feel free to contact Med Art & Legal Graphics or give me a call at 888-963-3278.

Tips For Creating a Good PowerPoint Slide

Powerpoint gives us infinite ways to be creative and infinite ways to create ineffective presentations ... if we are not careful. Here at Med Art & Legal Graphics we have been creating Clean, Concise and Effective presentations for over 20 years. Here are a few tips to keep in mind: 

• Don’t copy & paste slides from different sources. 
• Keep the design very basic and simple. It shall not distract. 
• Pick an easy to read font face. 
• Carefully select font sizes for headers and text. 
• Leave room for highlights, such as images or take home messages. 
• Decorate scarcely but well. 
• Restrict the room your design takes up and don’t ever let the design restrict your message. 

For more examples of effective Powerpoint presentations and many other types of visual communications please feel free to go to Med Art's webpage. www.med-art.com

Buying a Projector ...Where do I START!!

OK ...you got your PowerPoint presentation fine-tuned and ready for court, but how are the jurors going to see it? You're going to need a LCD Projector. Here are a few tips to make the process easier to deal with.

Projectors come in all sizes and shapes. Suitable projectors range from $500 to $5,000 and beyond. Beware, at the lower end of the price scale image quality generally suffers. If purchasing here are some factors to consider.

• Weight
  Consider a lighter model if you have to carry it to court often. If you have cooperative staff this may not be a worry. What you often gain in portability you may lose in brightness.
  
• Brightness
  Units of brightness are measured in ANSI (American National Standard Institute) lumens. Generally, projectors run between 500 and 2000 lumens. The more lumens the brighter your presentation will be. Above 2000 lumens is considered high-performance and can get you into expensive territory. Don’t go below 1000 lumens
  
• Contrast
  The higher the contrast ratio, the greater the projector's ability to show subtle colour detail and operate in a well lit courtroom. This may become important when showing photographs. Look for contrast ratios over 500:1. A ratio over 1200:1 is considered high contrast giving you crisp, vibrant colours.
  
• Resolution
  This refers to the clarity of the picture produced by your projector and is usually quoted using two numbers, i.e. 800 x 600, where the first number is the number of pixels from side to side across the screen, and the second the number of pixels from top to bottom.
  
  A pixel (a distorted shortening of picture element) is the most basic unit of an image – the dot. The more pixels the better – the more pixels the higher the price.
  
  Resolution is also quoted in letters i.e. SVGA – Super Video Graphics Array or XGA – eXtended Graphic Array.
  
  The resolution of your projector will be no better than your computer’s resolution. Therefore it’s best if the projector resolution matches your laptop screen resolution, which for newer models is XGA or 1024 x 768 and up. Unless you have an old laptop consider a projector with XGA resolution, which will give you clearer images, especially for small photographic details.
  
• Fan Noise
  Older and less expensive projectors have fans that make a lot of noise which can interfere with the court recording system and worse: the tier of fact’s hearing. Get a projector that’s quiet – this may be more costly but worth it. It’ll avoid the court recorder having to tell you to move the projector to the far and inconvenient side of the court room.

taken from:

Best of ABA TECHSHOW®: The Trial Tech Toolkit

By Tim Piganelli and Nils Jensen

Converting Color PDF to Greyscale PDF (An Update)

Why would you want to convert Color PDF to a Black and White PDF? Well, let's say you have a 6 inch stack of records you need to send to the expert TODAY!! Your default is color on the scanner .... so, the file is unnecessarily huge. Med Art & Legal Graphics will help you make that file considerably smaller making it easier to email to your expert ...saving the day.

Converting Color PDFs to Grayscale or Black and White in Acrobat 9

It's rare to find color printers or copiers widely deployed in law firms. When color documents appear in discovery, firms don't always know what to do with them. Examples include PPT files, images scanned in full color, etc.

Acrobat files can contain color and non-color elements:

• RGB: Red, Green, Blue color
• CMYK: Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black
• Greyscale: Shades of gray ranging from 0 (white) to to 256 (black) in value
• Monochrome: Black and White

RGB or CMYK image-only PDFs, in particular, can be quite large. Converting these PDFs to grayscale or black can reduce the size of the file and speed printing.

Other times, litigation support departments will have to satisfy the odd attorney who prefers to read grayscale documents.

Whatever the reason, it is fairly easy to convert RGB or CMYK PDFs to Greyscale. It's a bit more difficult to convert to monochrome, but I've included a workaround for that, too.

You'll need Acrobat Pro to make this work for you . . .

Converting PDFs from Color to Grayscale

To convert an RGB PDF to Grayscale

1. Open a color PDF.
2. Choose Advanced—> Preflight
3. Twirl open the PDF Fixups area
   
   
4. In the Preflight window
   A) Choose the Convert to grayscale fixup
   B) Click the Analyze and Fix button
   
   
5. Acrobat will ask you to name the file and allow you to choose a location to save it.
   
   

Converting many Color PDFs to Grayscale using a Preflight Droplet

A preflight droplet is an intelligent icon you can drag and drop files to for conversion.

Follow these steps to create a Preflight droplet:

1. Choose Advanced—> Preflight
2. Twirl open the PDF Fixups area and select Convert to Grayscale
3. Locate the Options button:
   
   
4. Click on the Options button and choose Create New Preflight Droplet
   
   
5. The Droplet Setup window appears. You can adjust many options:
   
   
   A) Choose a folder where you wish to place converted PDFs
   B) Choose a folder for any PDFs which do not convert
   
   
   
   
   

   Note: There are many other options here for reporting.

   
   
   
   
6. Click the Save . . . button and save the droplet file to your desktop. It looks like this:
   
    
   
   

Using the Convert to Grayscale Preflight Droplet

To use the droplet, you need to drag and drop files onto it.

Select the files you wish to convert and drag them on top of the preflight droplet:

Note: Preflight droplets cannot process folders. You can use Batch Processing to convert entire folders (and subfolders) to grayscale. Choose Advanced—> Document Processing—> Batch Processing . . . One of the Batch commands available is Preflight.

Converting to Monochrome

Unfortunately, Acrobat cannot convert documents to monochrome directly. The workaround is to convert to monochrome TIFF and then re-convert to Acrobat.

This process works well for image-only color PDFs. PDF Normal documents— containing vector fonts and text— will no longer be searchable unless OCR is performed after conversion.

To convert a PDF to Monochrome TIFF

1. Choose File—> Export—> Image —> TIFF
2. Click the Settings button
3. Set as below:
   
   

Acrobat will convert each page to an individual TIFF file numbered sequentially:

To recombine the files:

1. Click the Combine button in the Acrobat toolbar and chooseMerge Files into a single PDF . . .
   
   
2. The Combine Files window opens. Click the Add Files . . .button at the top of the window.
   
   
3. Locate the file or folder of files you wish to combine.
4. Click the Combine files button.

Originally posted by Rick Borstein on Acrobat for Legal Professionals. http://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/2009/10/converting_color_pdf_to_greyscal.html

If You Want Someone To Read It ...Give Visual Incentives!

Long gone is the day of boring black and white text booklets of endless facts. If you really want someone to read what you have so patiently prepared, give them something that will visually stimulate them ...draw them into your information. At Med Art & Legal Graphics this is our specialty, we will take your information and make it clear, concise, and visually interesting. 

Be as visual as possible.
written by: Joe Kashi  (attorney and litigator)

Don’t be sparing in your use of digital photography and video clips within pleadings, particularly summary judgment motions. We are now definitely living in a highly visual age. Grey text and long-winded testimony isn’t as effective as a few striking photos or drop-dead deposition video clips.

At this point, if a deposition is worth taking, it is worth taking as a videotaped deposition. The cost differential isn’t that high and a videotaped deposition, once it is digitized and the transcript text synchronized, is far more useful in pleadings and in court. If you need telling deposition testimony to make a point in a pleading, in opening or closing, in cross-examination or to present as direct testimony, it is far more powerful and far more useful as a video clip than as dry text. Over the past five or six years, I have almost always rued taking a text-only deposition - almost inevitably, something was said that would have been much more useful as video.

As a secondary aspect, consider altering your deposition style so that you will have more short “sound bites” that might make useful video clips at trial. I prefer short video clips on the order of 30 seconds to not more than two minutes.

Combine all related pleadings into a single sequential file. For example, if you are dealing with a summary judgment motion, then rather than storing all of the documents separately, which become more time-consuming and harder to finder, make a single summary judgment file, starting with the Motion, then appending the memo, affidavits, exhibits, and other supporting documents. When any opposition, Rule 56f motion, reply, orders, etc are filed, then append these documents as well, in consecutive order. At the conclusion, you will have a complete history of the entire motion in one file and in consecutive order.

The original copy of certain types of documents, particularly photographic and video files, should be stored unaltered and in their original format both for later ease of use in case you need to print clean copies without photographic compression distortions and also in case you need to authenticate the photographs. It’s handy to embed working copies of these sorts of files into Acrobat documents but you must save the originals in their original format as well. I didn’t do so in one case and that omission caused me a lot of grief.

For more on Adobe's Typewriter Tool, view Adobe Tips.

Scan in discovery that the other side sends to you and then use Acrobat 7's typewriter tool to fill in the responses directly into the blanks under each discovery item. When I first showed this feature to my secretary, she found this feature to be a real time saver.

For heaven’s sake, remember that your electronic files are now your entire office.

Do a complete backup every night and take it off premises.

About the Author

Joe Kashi is an attorney and litigator living in Soldotna, Alaska, who is active in the Law Practice Management Section and a technology editor for Law Practice Today. He has written regularly on legal technology for the Law Practice Management Section, Law Office Computing magazine and other publications since 1990. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from MIT in 1973 and his J.D. from Georgetown University in 1976, and is admitted to practice in Alaska, Pennsylvania, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Create a new Document which Summarizes Redactions (in Acrobat 9.0)

If you were headed to meeting with the other side, and you expected some challenges to your privileged and redacted documents, you might want to create a summarized version of your redacted documents to take with you.

This process creates a new, consolidated PDF. Redaction annotations are displayed as call-outs on the document:

To create a summarized document:

1. Open the document containing your redaction marks.
   (You need to run this step before you apply redactions.)
2. Choose Comments—> Summarize Comments
3. The Summarize Options window will appear. I suggest choosing the second option:
   
   
4. Click the Create PDF Comment Summary button.

Setting a Preference to automatically copy selected text into the Redaction Comment

One of the best aspects of how redaction works in Acrobat is that each redaction mark is a standard Acrobat comment. When you double-click on a redaction mark, a sticky note will pop into which you can add your own text:

In the sticky note you might add some information about why you are redacting the information, or even include the text that is to be redacted. Later, when the other side disputes privilege, you can refer to these notes.

Sometimes, it is simply helpful to copy the text you are going to redact into the note itself. That way, you'll know what you redacted when you summarize the document (the last tip!).

Here's how:

1. Choose Edit—> Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat—> Preferences (Mac)
2. Select the Commenting category from the list on the left:
   
   
3. Enable the check box labeled "Copy Selected Text into Highlight, Crossout, and Underline comment pop-ups
4. Click OK

When you select text using the Mark for Redaction tool, the text will automatically be copied into the sticky note:


taken from:
http://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/2009/07/redaction_tips_and_techniques_fo.html

How to SAFELY Redact Documents on Adobe Acrobat 9

OK ...we've all been there. A late night redacting hundreds of documents and at some point we go into zombie mode and we override a document instead of making a new one. The sun comes up and your boss rolls in and asks for that ONE document (unedited) that you overrode .....arrrrggggggggg! 

Med Art is here to help you avoid that altercation.

Automatically Rename Redacted Files

When Acrobat applies redactions, the text, image or data is permanently removed and cannot be recovered. For this reason, Acrobat will give you a stern warning when you apply redactions:

The operative message above is that when you apply redactions you will be prompted to rename your document the next time you save your document.

Let's say you ignore this warning and try to save over your original document. You'll receive another warning similar to the one below:

If you ignore this warning, you can save over your original file.

To protect against accidentally saving over a file, you can set a preference to automatically rename redacted documents.

Here's how:

1. Choose Edit—> Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat—> Preferences (Mac)
2. Select the Documents category from the list on the left:
   
   
3. At the bottom of the window, enable the check box labeled "Adjust filename when saving applied redaction marks"
   
   
4. Click OK

The next time you apply redaction marks and save your document, Acrobat will automatically include the _Redacted suffix in the Save dialog:

taken from:
http://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/2009/07/redaction_tips_and_techniques_fo.html

Checklist for Using Courtroom Technology: Summary

Keep Focus on Your Client’s Story…Not Technical Difficulties!

An attorney recently told me he would never use any form of technology in the courtroom: He always got a shiver of joy when he saw opposing counsel show up with a laptop, as he anticipated the myriad of technical difficulties that would ultimately and inevitably shift the verdict in his favor.

Used correctly, however, technology in the courtroom will fortify your client’s story and render your case far more compelling. Preparation is the key.

Over the next five days, I will unfold a checklist to ensure you keep the jury focused on your message!
__________________________________

The first item on the list involves the projector -- the tool that enables you to reinforce your verbal message with powerful visual images. Your ability to move seamlessly to the images you wish to display hinges on doing the groundwork in advance!

PROJECTOR

• COMPATIBILITY: Make sure your computer is compatible with the courtroom projector
• CABLES: Be sure to have all the necessary cables & connections
• CORDS: Where are the outlets you will need to plug into? Think of...
• ELECTRICAL OUTLET LOCATIONS – basic yet oh so critical!
• EXTENSION CORDS – an essential if outlets are limited
• DUCT TAPE – no need for undo embarrassment or an additional lawsuit because someone -- possibly you! -- trips over electrical cords

__________________________________

Positioning is critical: The impact of your visual message will be lost if the jurors can't see it, or if the audio you wish to play (911 call? heartbeats on an EFM?) can't be heard! Do the legwork beforehand to ensure your message is delivered clearly and efficiently.

POSITION

• CONFIGURE: Map out where every piece of equipment will go, with connection points and electrical outlets included
• CONSIDER LINES OF SIGHT: Is there a glare that will impede a juror’s view of the screen? These tasks seem simple in concept. However, old courtrooms can be quirky. Don’t be caught off guard!

Know how to:

• ADJUST THE SCREEN ANGLE
• DRAW THE BLINDS
• DIM THE LIGHTS
• ADJUST THE AUDIO: Always do this before the jury enters the room. Old courtrooms can have funky acoustics. What you hear at the podium may be unintelligible to those sitting in the jury box

__________________________________

Your visual message should fortify what you say, not repeat it. This is especially true if you are using PowerPoint. Keep your written slides broken up into easily digestible bites. Your presentation is intended to emphasize the facts -- it's not a script for you to follow. Keep it short and simple.

Consider a stop sign: It merely says, "STOP." Just think what would happen if the sign read "WILL YOU PLEASE DRAW YOUR CAR SLOWLY & STEADILY TO A HALT?"

EDIT

• Make sure type faces are no smaller than 24 pt
• Try to have your slides abide by my rule… No more than 14 bullets points of 7 words or 7 points of 4 word
• Know how your projector works
• If you are going to be putting a deposition or other text-intensive document onto the court-provided projector, make sure you know how to use its enlargement function or have a blown-up copy of the passage you plan to use
• Preview your presentation or visual aids in advance to make sure they are clearly visible at a distance comparable to the gulf between the screen and the jury box

_______________________________

You have invested time & effort developing your case. Don't skimp on the investment with a guaranteed payoff. Practice, practice, practice!

PREPARE

• CREATE LINKS FOR YOUR DESKTOP: Clearly label all files you might use and directly link them to icons on your desktop. Arrange them logically.
• CLEAN UP YOUR DESKTOP: The only icons on your desktop should be the ones you will potentially use. You don't need that off-color joke that your buddy emailed you last week accidently popping up on the screen!
• PRACTICE: Pull up each file, sub-file, etc. Make sure every link to every file works properly

HOWEVER, if you skipped a few prep steps & run into a snag in the courtroom, don't panic ...

• PREVARICATE: If you happen to be asked for a document you didn't anticipate using and aren’t sure if you are opening the right file…
• PLACE: Put a piece of paper over the projector to black out the screen until you are sure you have the correct document
• PAUSE: Cough, sneeze or yawn. You will be surprised at how many of the jurors follow suit… thus diverting their attention while you regroup
• PRODUCE: You have the file…simply say “Excuse me,” take a sip of water, then deliver your slam dunk!

In trial, a lot is on the line. If you wish to be sure that your case is presented effectively, give Med Art & Legal Graphics a call. Our team of dedicated trial specialists, certified medical illustrators and demonstrative exhibit professionals will make a winning case every time!!!

To learn more about effective courtroom techniques or the latest in trial presentation technology, contact Med Art & Legal Graphics Co. Visit us on our website at www.Med-Art.com, or call me, Laura Quine, at 770-891-3103.

Software to SAFELY DRIVE with Messaging Systems

Med Art & Legal Graphics knows how busy ALL our clients are and how connected they are into their clients. Here are a few bits of technology to help them stay safe.

Voice on the Go 

Speak Your Email - Listen to email and compose email and SMS by voice, all without typing.
Hands-free and eyes-free access to your email, SMS, calendar, contacts, Twitter, Facebook and more...from any mobile phone all by Voice.
Voice on the Go allows you to stay connected, easily, while driving or any other time.

DriveSafe.ly

DriveSafe.ly is a mobile application that reads text (SMS) messages and emails aloud in real time and automatically responds without drivers touching the mobile phone. DriveSafe.ly is the solution to texting while driving.

ZoomSafer

ZoomSafer is software and services for mobile phones to prevent distracted driving. It’s simple to download and easy to install.

ZoomSafer uses GPS in combination with client software installed on your phone to determine when you’re moving faster than 10 mph. When driving, we activate our safe driving services to minimize distractions and keep you focused on the road.

PowerPoint Slide Design ...KISS Principle

Design is not decoration. Design is about making conscious decisions about inclusion and exclusion. Simplicity is powerful. Simplicity “comes from an intelligent desire for clarity that gets to the essence of an issue, something which is not easy to do.”
Make your audience feel something. Example: You’re explaining the devastation of hurricane Katrina. Do you use bullet points, data, and talking points? Or do you show pictures of the wreckage and flooding and human suffering?

KISS Principle - Keep It Simple Stupid.

For more information on how to create attention catching (and holding) exhibits. Visit Med Art & Legal Graphics website.