Visuals for Trial: A Key To Success with a Jury

One of the foundations of a compelling presentation at trial is an attorney's ability to craft a story for the jury. Not only must litigators effectively communicate the condensed factual details of the case, but they also have to engage the jurors to care about and remember the information presented. George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”  If jurors are not interested, then they will not remember the facts of your case—especially numbers, dates, and other details. Voice modulation, the ability to simplify technical information for a non-technical audience, and an engaging story structure are all skills advocates need to effectively communicate their client’s case. However, since 65% of people are visual learners¹ and people are more apt to remember something they see or touch compared to something they hear,² effective visual aids are potentially the single most critical factor in the jurors’ understanding of your case.

In First Court's own mock trials and jury deliberations, we consistently see jurors better remember and use facts that were presented with a visual aid. And, if the presentations do not include visuals, jurors point out to the attorneys that a good visual would have helped them engage with their arguments. For this reason, we recommend that attorneys have a compelling visual for every main point in the case. Use storyboarding and work on developing, honing, and testing these visuals from the very start of your case—not as an afterthought on the eve of trial. High-quality visuals in the courtroom will likely be a powerful advantage for your case. 

What are some of the most effective uses of visual aids?

• Timelines

Most cases can benefit from the use of a visual timeline to guide the jury through the story of the case and to help the jury view events from your perspective. A timeline can help convey many dates that might easily be confused and can help the jury to place each fact within the entire arc of your presentation. In cases that involve a myriad of injuries, surgeries, and doctor appointments, the details, dates, and number of these medical interventions are easily missed or forgotten by jurors unless they are spelled out in a memorable way. A visual timeline can help the jurors see when and where this series of events occurred.  A timeline can visually separate pre-existing injuries from injuries caused by an accident in a memorable way for jurors.

In this sample timeline, the issue was the plaintiff’s potential exaggeration of injuries. The defense attorney used the timeline to show treatment for similar conditions before the accident and to stress how the Plaintiff’s treatment changed significantly after filing the lawsuit. 

• Bar Graphs
  

A great way to make numeric values appealing to the jury is the use of graphs. A bar graph conveys the values of numbers visually so they are easier to absorb and remember than numbers alone. It is also a great way to compare amounts by either showing the vast difference or closeness of the numbers. Humans are very bad at conceptualizing the differences between large numbers.³ Showing in picture form what the number really means, especially in comparison to another amount, can help. 

• Visual Representation of Objects or Scenes not Available in the Courtroom

The jury is not usually able to go to the scene of the accident or issue in the case—but our mock jurors often tell us that they wished they could and highly value visual aids from any party that help them to visualize what happened in the case or to “put themselves at the scene.” For example, in a motor vehicle accident, it is often difficult to understand the logistics and location of the incident from words and testimony alone.

Jurors typically really like animated recreations of accident scenes, which can now be accurately generated based on accurate 3D laser mapping of the scene. However, these are expensive and not possible to create in every case. Other ways of showing the jury the scene can be almost as effective: including diagrams, maps, or representation of relevant objects or scenes (using the framing for the issues you want them to use). These do not have to be expensive and do not require professional design graphs. 

Showing a large diagram of the incident gives the jurors a representation of the event. Use Google Maps or conduct a “drive through” of the scene with a cell phone camera to put the juror “on the relevant road.” For the example below, the driver, due to construction, was detoured to an unfamiliar and chaotic roadway.  Providing an aerial map of the incident, the scene diagram, and a Google street view, the jurors could better see just how easy it would be for an accident to occur.

• Unfamiliar Legal Concept

Visual aids can often be helpful when explaining “legalese.” Although terms such as “damages,” “proximate cause,” and “burden of proof” are normal to your ears, they are completely foreign to most lay jurors. Visual Aids can help jurors to understand and better apply unfamiliar legal concepts.

For instance, one visual aid that First Court created for jurors is the “Burden of Proof” Stairway video. This tool teaches jurors how the burden of proof is supposed to work in the deliberation room. It allows counsel to SHOW jurors what issues the plaintiff must prove in order to win a money verdict, one issue (‘step”) at a time. It allows counsel to control the building of a staircase as he or she summarizes the evidence, and to show the jurors how to weigh the evidence on each issue using the teeter-totters. If the weight of the evidence favors the defense on any issue, that “step” cracks apart and collapses. This tells the jurors that, under the law, the evidence shows plaintiffs haven’t proven their case. If the weight of the evidence favors the plaintiffs, this tells the jurors that the plaintiffs have met all of the necessary steps in proving their case. It is a powerful teaching tool and is especially effective in Closing. More information here: Burden of Proof Stairway (firstcourt.com)

Here are a few things to remember when preparing your visual aids:

• The visual should be visually appealing

Today’s jurors are surrounded by high-quality graphic design in their daily lives. Amateurish or poorly executed design can distract jurors from the point you are trying to make. Use designs that are simple, harmonious, and clearly convey the points being made without clutter. With PowerPoint slides, fewer words on each slide are usually better. Use a color palette that is easy on the eyes and allows for highlighting of key points helps the audience engage with the visual. Certain colors evoke certain feelings for the audience. For example, warmer colors like orange or red are often associated with bad or negative feelings. On the other hand, cooler colors like blue or purple are seen as calmer, more neutral colors, and green can be associated with good. 

• Literacy of U.S. Adults

The average US adult reads at a 7th to 8th-grade level,³ and 54% of adults are below a 6th-grade literacy level.⁴ This poses a challenge when presenting the complex details of a case. The presenter not only bears the weight of winning over the jury but also must use language and tools that the jury fully comprehends.   Visual aids remove the need for wordy presentations that might go over the jurors' heads. A simple pie chart can introduce a critical point that could have been missed or misunderstood if explained verbally alone. 

• Test & Refine

It can be helpful to test out key demonstratives in a focus group containing a panel of jurors from the trial venue to see how they would react to them. You can then refine your visuals and focus on the ones that best convey your message.

Conclusion 

Visual aids play a crucial role in presenting a case to a jury. With unsophisticated lay jurors, having a visual representation of complex information not only keeps the jury engaged but also ensures a grasp of the subject matter. Timelines can help the jury keep the story and events organized in their mind. Graphs can show a comparison of numbers to convey dramatic or small differences, and colors impact feelings and connotations about a certain statistic or numerical value. Visual advocacy should be a key part of your strategy in any jury trial.

References and Further Reading

1. Bradford, William C., Reaching the Visual Learner: Teaching Property Through Art (September 1, 2011). The Law Teacher Vol. 11, 2004.
2. Achilles’ Ear? Inferior Human Short-Term and Recognition Memory in the Auditory Modality
   Bigelow J, Poremba A (2014) Achilles’ Ear? Inferior Human Short-Term and Recognition Memory in the Auditory Modality. PLOS ONE 9(2).
3. Bourgeois, Mark., Your Brain’s “Law of Large Numbers” (June 14, 2019). Oratium.
4.  US Literacy Statistics and Average Reading Level. 
5. Literacy Statistics 2024- 2025 (Where we are now)

Recent Articles by Our First Court Team:

• Managing Your Greatest Asset: Time
• In Light of the Election: How Does Today’s Political Climate Affect the Jury?
• Exploring the Rewards of Mediation
• How Lawyers Can Start Building a Social Media Presence With Confidence
• Understanding Proximate Cause in Legal Defense
• A Trial Lawyer’s Guide to Serving Red Herring
• Two Things Can Be True Simultaneously: Learning to See Through the Eyes of a Juror