How to Create a Powerful, Persuasive Chart: KISS

Charts and graphs are among the most persuasive of the array of visuals you have available to you to bring your case home to jurors. As old-school as they may seem, well done charts/graphs can sometimes have more impact than hi-tech options.

Here’s a great example, created by the Prison Policy Organization.  

 

The chart explains itself. You hardly need any words to point out the higher USA incarceration rate. It’s a brilliant visual translation of a concept (“off the chart”).

What else is right with this chart?

- It only expresses one idea; the high USA incarceration rate.

- It is uncluttered; the bars and numbers tell the story, no need for icons.

- It follows the logical order people are used to; low numbers on the bottom to high numbers on the top.

- “Bold” font is used only for the title of the chart and the numbers, so people’s eyes are drawn to what is most relevant. They don’t have to figure out what’s the pertinent information, which happens most often when too many words/numbers are bolded.

- A single color is used for the bars, which highlights the importance of the longest bar. If different colors were used for the different countries, for example, the chart would lose some of its startling clarity.

Explain "Why" to Make Your Case Matter to the Jurors

In a courtroom, it isn't necessarily the attorney with the best facts who wins, but the attorney who best explains the relevance of those facts both to the case and to the jurors.

Certainly, you need solid evidence, but here we’re talking about what do you need to get the edge? What, given the usual state of affairs by the time a case gets to court where both sides believe their evidence is strong enough to prevail, can you do to give you the advantage over your opponent?

Explain why. Why does your interpretation of the facts make sense? Why should the jurors care that their verdict favor your client? Why should this matter to the jurors? How does it impact their lives (work, family, children, safety, etc.), preferably in an immediate and direct way?

Explain through your experts, your lay witnesses, and most importantly, your closing argument, and of course your opening to the degree allowed.

We invest in the personal, in that which strikes home. That's why stories have such impact, they touch the personal. So too with explanations - make your case matter, not just to your client, but to the jurors.

A Mind-Boggling Social Experiment Proves the Importance of First Impressions

If you ever wondered just how important the jurors’ first impressions of your client and witnesses are, here’s a mind-boggling social experiment, posted on youtube.

It shows people walking right past well-known and loved family members, not recognizing a single one of them, when the family members were dressed as homeless individuals, sitting as homeless often do, on the sidewalk by a building.

Now, if dress and body posture can fool a daughter into not recognizing her mother, parents into not recognizing their own children, imagine how critical the attire and body language of your client and witnesses are. The jurors can easily be misled as to the credibility and sincerity of your witnesses, strangers as they all are, at the beginning of trial.

A neurosurgeon, for example, who wore a black shirt under his expensive dark suit, was labeled “Mafia Doc” by the jurors, when nothing could have been farther from the truth. A handsome thirty year old CPA, who persisted in running his hand through his stylish somewhat long locks, was dubbed “Player” by the jurors, and his testimony deemed suspect: “Nobody who looks like that could ever be serious.”

First impressions matter. From the moment your client/witness steps into the courtroom, all juror eyes are upon him or her. And jurors judge everything they see according to stereotyped definitions which unfortunately hold great power. Even as the trial unfolds, failure to attend to your witnesses’ self-presentation can mar otherwise competent testimony.