"You Need a Timeline!"

Timelines are essential to just about any case. I’ve been teased by various attorneys I’ve worked with that I always recommend a timeline, and indeed it’s true.

But there is method to my repeated "You need a timeline!" Movement of events across time is how jurors anchor testimony in their minds. It’s how they create “story” for themselves.

And story is the single most compelling way to get facts and information across to the jurors in a coherent, persuasive manner.

The reason a timeline works so well, is it answers the fundamental question of story-telling: “And then what happened?” It ties together apparently disparate testimony or pieces of evidence. It grounds any narrative in logic, by assigning order to the events.

Timelines need to be designed around a horizontal axis representing time, with “flags” or “boxes” pegged at the appropriate moments in time. Timelines don’t need to be fancy, but different entities should have different colored “flags,” for example, to differentiate them easily. Beyond that, a graphics designer can help give a timeline more visual impact.

The temptation is often to put too much information on a timeline: it’s a tool meant to emphasize and support, not reiterate all the testimony. Several uncluttered, easy-to-read timelines are better than a single one crowded with too much for the eye to readily grasp.

Tell Your Story With Timelines

The more complex the case, the more important it is that you simplify and clarify events and circumstances for the jurors. A timeline is one of the most effective ways to organize facts in a way that makes them relevant to jurors. We are used to stories being presented chronologically – the chronology alone often will tell the story. Use a timeline, or several, whenever possible. You can create these yourself fairly easily with any decent graphics program, and there are also specialized trial software programs available for this purpose.

Timelines, whether on a board or projected onto a screen, should be presented with time on the horizontal axis whenever possible. It demonstrates the movement of time from left to right, a progression jurors are very familiar with. When presented with a timeline depicting time on a vertical axis, jurors are much more readily confused.

A horizontal timeline allows you to show events above and below the line representating time, be that in minutes, days or years. This is a very effective way to organize information, You can, for example, show the evidence that directly favors your case in fact “flags” above the date line, and show the inconsistencies in opposing counsel’s case in the fact flags below the date line. Or, for example, you can contrast plaintiff’s stated behavior at points in time on the above line fact flags, with the medical reports on the below the line fact flags. Timelines of any kind should be used creatively, not just as markers in time, but as ways to tell your story even more persuasively.