A CLE Webinar Twenty-Five Years in the Making
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In preparation for a recent webinar, SHOW AND TELL: YOUR TRIAL’S STORY, I was reminded of a webinar I designed in partnership with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Cognistar (an early online CLE content creator now seemingly merged with Neuvanta) back in 2000. The memory made obvious the persistent and vital need to see a subject matter, especially one so familiar “with new eyes,” in order to understand it fully and perhaps even teach it.
It was immensely satisfying to bring together a great trial lawyer, Robert (Bob) Weigel, Esq. and a respected colleague in the jury consulting field, Charlotte (Charli) Morris, M.A. to dive into lesser discussed nuances like the importance of setting pen to paper. We successfully struck a conversational tone that seemed to resonate with many of the 650+ attendees, judging by the live Q&A session and comments that day. There are multiple successful solutions to any given legal problem, so it was a brave endeavor to provide a “peek through the keyhole” and share some of our processes.
Although I have worked with both Charli and Bob, since the early 2000s, they have not worked with each other. Despite that, we were able to explore our themes in such a way that our collective experiences supported each other’s conclusions.
There were moments throughout the session, that validated the themes we were espousing. For instance, how often do you hear that the use of visuals makes your case story memorable and persuasive? Watching Bob discuss the finer details of some charts used in a long ago civil trial, elicited a refreshed familiarity prompted by the well-conceived series of images, in which he played a central role. Charli’s juror sketches blew open the possibilities for understanding juror takeaways.
It may all seem a bit meta to reflect like this but the ideas that stem from our efforts are undeniable in their import and significance, despite the advancements in courtroom presentation technology, jury research methodology and the proliferation of companies that offer such services. The quality of the recall and how it informs current case challenges, all but proves our thesis that giving your attention to the “how” of a presentation is as important as the “what” along the path to successful verdicts.
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