how to do law presentation

6 Tips to Make Your Legal Presentations Pop

No legal presentation is ever like another..

Sometimes attorneys handle dry, complicated intellectual property matters; other times, emotional personal injury cases.

But in many years of making dynamic presentations for all kinds of hearings and audiences, our team has learned that there are a few important steps that will ensure your slides have the weight and power they deserve.

1. Don’t Be Generic

Ugh. You know that jurors have seen a standard-issue PowerPoint template a bazillion times.

When using generic templates with little personality, you risk losing your audience’s attention. Instead, try some simple customization and color to make them stand out and hold attention. Curved edges, color contrast,  gradients, and better fonts for more readable slides are a few simple ways you can customize your presentation.

…Don’t Worry, You Can Still Print Them

I know what you may be thinking – if you’re worried about printing slides with a dark background, PowerPoint does let you print in pure black and white, which is great for markups and saves on toner.

2. Make Images That Stand Out

If you’re not sure whether to go with a dark or light background, consider your content. For example, photos stand out more on a dark background.

In a bright room, text tends to be easier to read on a light background.

And if your content varies throughout the presentation and includes both text and images, consider using what we call an “accent box” – basically a block of white on a darker background. This works best for the text-heavy slides.

3. It Starts With a Great Title

Another important consideration for templates is the slide title. Aligning titles to the left margin ensures that they will start in the same spot every time, which makes them much easier to follow for readers than center aligning. Try to keep titles on one line, but if you must go onto a second line, make sure the top line is shorter than the bottom. Putting a soft return (shift+return) where you want the title to break onto the next line makes a big difference in readability.

4. Better Typography = More Readable Text

A presentation full of text slides can definitely get boring for audiences. But even the best presenters need the occasional bulleted list slide.

To keep your bullet point slides readable, be as concise as possible. One line per bullet is preferable, but if you must go onto two lines, it helps to have proper line spacing (leading) set up so that your ideas do not blur into a mass of text. Also be sure to avoid leaving a single word on the second line (we call that a widow).

Keep your font size large enough to read, but not too large. A good rule to follow is 46-52 characters per line (1.5 to 2 full alphabets). If you only have a couple bullet slides, consider using icons instead of plain circle or square bullets for additional visual impact.

5. No More Boring Icons and Stock Photos!

If you are struggling to find imagery for your presentation, don’t default to using cheesy clipart! Websites like the Noun Project , Vecteezy , Creative Commons , and Brands of the World can help you find great icons, stock photos and logos without licensing fees. (Pay attention to licensing – some icons and photos may require attribution.)

6. Test the Equipment

Our last, but perhaps most important tip – take a test run. It’s devastating to slave away on a presentation only to see it completely washed out and unreadable on the courtroom projector. Try to get into the courtroom during set up to test your slides on the equipment that will be used during your presentation.

If you can’t use the actual machine, test it on the worst projector or monitor you can find, just to be safe. This is especially true if your usual computer has a high quality monitor. For example, there is always a big difference between what we see on our MacBook screens versus typical projector screens.

We’re Here to Help With Trial Presentation

Most of these are simple tips, but taken together, they deliver professional, polished presentations that make sure your audience hears what you’re trying to tell them. For more help with your presentation, schedule a consultation with our services team . We can make compelling graphics, videos, and more. We can even come to your trial to run the slides and manage the technical aspects of presentation , so that you can focus on delivering a winning argument.

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Trial Presentation 101: Impactful Courtroom Demonstratives

Trial preparation 101: strategies for building winning arguments, why the cloud is the only answer for multi district litigation.

Mastering the Art of Legal Presentations: Essential Tips and Tricks

Table of contents.

Navigating through law school and legal careers, budding attorneys realize that mastering the art of presentation is as crucial as knowing the letter of the law. Whether it's arguing a mock trial, presenting a case in court, or persuading peers during a seminar, effective presentation skills can set you apart in the competitive field of law. This Q&A post delves into some of the most commonly asked questions about law presentations and offers presentation hacks aimed at making you a more compelling legal communicator.

Do Presentation Skills Really Matter for Lawyers?

Absolutely! In the legal profession, presenting ideas and arguments clearly and persuasively is critical to success. The American Bar Association emphasizes the importance of honing presentation skills from law school onwards; being persuasive and articulate is a part of your toolkit as an attorney.

What Are Some Effective Presentation Hacks for Legal Professionals?

Start With a Clear Message : Know the core message of your presentation and keep it concise. A clear thesis helps you stay on track and makes your argument more digestible for your audience.

Understand Your Audience : Gauge the level of understanding your audience has about the topic. Presenting to peers might require a different approach than speaking to a jury or a judge.

Use Storytelling : A legal case is essentially a story with a problem and a resolution. Tapping into the power of storytelling can make your presentation more engaging and memorable.

Practice, Practice, Practice : Rehearse your presentation multiple times. This helps reduce nervousness and ensures you're comfortable with the material.

Seek Feedback : Before your presentation, practice in front of colleagues or mentors and ask for constructive criticism to sharpen your delivery.

How Can I Overcome Public Speaking Anxiety Before a Legal Presentation?

Facing a courtroom or an auditorium can be intimidating, but there are strategies to combat this anxiety. Preparing thoroughly is a start; being familiar with every aspect of your presentation can alleviate fear. Additionally, techniques like deep breathing, visualization, and positive self-talk can be beneficial. Moreover, watching inspiring TED Talks on public speaking can provide valuable insights into overcoming fears and delivering impactful messages.

For those looking for a comprehensive solution to enhance their presentation skills, we suggest exploring various features of presentation-focused tools and platforms. While not a substitute for personal practice, these tools can offer unique insights and aid in your delivery. For instance, the features section on College Tools may provide some interesting avenues to explore.

What Role Does Body Language Play in Legal Presentations?

Your physical presence can be as compelling as the words you speak. A poised stance, eye contact, and intentional gestures can convey confidence and help underscore your points. Posture and movement can non-verbally communicate passion for your subject matter and connect with your audience on a more profound level.

Can Technology Help in Improving my Presentations?

Definitely! Technology and AI-powered tools can assist in fine-tuning your presentations. They can help in organizing content, providing cues, and even analyzing your pace and tone. Embracing technology can also make your presentations more dynamic, engaging audiences with multimedia elements that might not be possible with traditional methods.

How Important Is the Quality of Visual Aids in Legal Presentations?

Visual aids should not distract from the message but rather support it. High-quality, pertinent visuals can reinforce your argument or help to clarify complex concepts. Carefully consider your choice of visuals, whether they're diagrams, timelines, or other graphical elements; they should be professionally rendered and easy to understand.

Becoming an effective legal presenter takes time, practice, and a willingness to learn from each experience. Employing the right presentation hacks , understanding the significance of effective communication , and continuing to build upon public speaking skills will prove invaluable throughout your legal career. Strive for clarity, conciseness, and connection with your audience, and you'll be better equipped to make your case, inside and outside the courtroom.

Conclusion: Strong presentation skills are a foundational element of a successful legal career. This Q&A has addressed critical aspects of delivering compelling legal presentations, offering insights and hacks to help you polish your communication prowess. Remember, the journey to becoming an articulate legal professional is ongoing; continue learning, practicing, and adapting to become the best presenter you can be.

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The Art and Science of Powerful Legal Presentations

Why is it hard to make captivating presentations? The basic problem is that many times, presenters fail to consider their audience. As an attorney or litigation support professional, you can spend hours and hours digging through the minutia of a matter to find the most important or damning pieces of evidence. After all of that hard work, it’s tempting to want to show a jury, judge, arbitrator, regulator, or other audience everything you have found. However, behavior scientists have found that in compelling presentations, nothing turns an audience off like too much information.

The Trial Presentation Blues

Research has shown that that immediately after a 10-minute presentation, listeners only remembered 50 percent of what was said. By the next day that had dropped to 25 percent, and a week later it was 10 percent. But you can’t blame your audience if they fail to absorb information. It just means you haven’t been able to make your presentation compelling. So what does work? To start, a multi-media presentation is going to be more effective than a lecture. Science has found that very little information is retained if it is only heard. The same is true if it’s only seen. However, anywhere from 50 percent all the way to 2/3 of content is remembered if the information is contained in an audio AND visual presentation. Things that science has proven increase retention:

And, of course, repetition. And repetition…. you get the point. Things science has shown does not increase retention:

• Raw information

When bullet points are necessary, keep them short and punchy, like this:

• Have excellent visual aids
• Repeat core themes
• Simple, simple, simple

So, what does this mean in practice? How can you put these insights into practice and win your audience’s attention?

Keep it Simple

Your presentation is for the benefit of the audience. But boring an audience with bullet point after bullet point is of little benefit to them and some of your best slides may have no text at all. It is ok to add some bullet point slides throughout your presentation, but keep the bullets simple and limit the number of bullets to no more than six per slide.

Use Powerful Images

You should also use high-quality quality images, such as simple icons or high resolution photo images. (The Nextpoint Client Success team can always assist with directing you to online resources for finding high-quality images.)

Make it Pop

Consider how you use color and movement. When using color to highlight key text, it is important that you don’t go overboard on one slide and have too many highlights. Also some animation is a good thing, but stick to the most subtle and professional animations. A simple Wipe Left-to-Right from the Animations menu in PowerPoint is good for a bullet point, but a Move or Fly, for example, can be too tedious and slow.

How to Start Wowing Your Legal Audience

The first rule of legal presentations is Don’t Be Generic . For example, you know that jurors have seen a standard-issue template like the one below about a bazillion times.

When using generic templates with little personality, you risk losing your audience’s attention. Instead, try some simple customization and color to make them stand out and hold attention. Some simple customization including curved edges, color contrast, gradients, and better fonts for more readable slides. One important first step to ensuring your presentations are not generic is simply to have good Master slides. This is the foundation of a good visual presentation.

One Slide to Rule Them All

Anything you’d like to appear on ALL slides should be placed onto the top level master slide. Usually this will be your background color or image, slide title placeholder, footer placeholder and page number. Anything you’d like to appear on a specific slide type layout should be placed on the corresponding master layout slide. This may include text placeholders, image placeholders and/or accent boxes. Custom color palettes can also be created within Master View. Once your master slide layouts are in place, exit Master View to return to slide edit mode. See the images below for instructions on how to use your layouts to start building slides.

However, once you have a good master slide, don’t rely on it too heavily or your audience will get bored quickly. As I mentioned, good stock images (NOT cheap clip art), simple icons, and short punchy text will go a long way to making your presentation memorable. If you only have a couple bullet slides, consider using icons instead of plain circle or square bullets for additional visual impact.

These are the basic outlines of a smart presentation strategy. You can find a lot more tips on the Nextpoint blog . Most of these are simple tips, but when taken together, they deliver professional, polished presentations that make sure your audience understands and retains what you’re trying to tell them. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Erinn Lawber is the Art Director for Nextpoint’s Client Success team. She has been with Nextpoint since 2006 and has contributed quality presentation design to countless trials, arbitrations, hearings over the past 8 years.

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8 Top Tips to Give the Perfect Presentation

We’ve all had to present at some time in our lives, whether for a class project or at an interview yet are we ever sure how to improve? How to adapt it for each situation? How exactly do you keep eye-contact when you’re sweating up a storm of nerves?

I’ve put together some great advice on presenting to make your lives a bit easier.

Top Tip #1: Prepare Your Information

This is the research stage. You’ve just been given your assignment, or just been told you need to speak for five minutes about why the company you’re interviewing for should hire you.

Get all that core information together, keeping it short or tidy doesn’t matter at this stage. If you’re talking about a case, gather all the main ratio and dicta, journals, where it’s been followed or overruled, find out which court it was heard in etc. Keep all of your references somewhere!

If you’re presenting for interview, research the company thoroughly. You’re not going to be saying very much about them, but you need to know the company’s aims and how they’re set to achieve them.

You need to know who their customers/clients and competitors are.

You need to know their main practice areas, if they promote diversity, do they care about the environment? What charitable efforts have they made? Why do you want to work for them?

Collect everything that you would put on your CV relevant to the position you’ve applied for. Gather any pictures you have of volunteering, society events, etc, because as mentioned later, pictures make a world of difference.

Top Tip #2: Bullet Points

Now you’ve got all of your information, it’s time to pick out what is core. From there, you need to put the very key points on the slide and nothing else.

You don’t want to overwhelm your tutor/interviewer or take their attention away from you when you’re speaking, which will happen if they are reading paragraphs of info on your slides.

Top Tip #3: Pictures

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures. They create interest in your audience, especially if they don’t seem to link to your topic at first. For example, if you’re telling a company why they should hire you, stick a big photo of you and your teams/achievements in there. If you’re at university and your case involves theft, put a big picture of a duck dressed as a prisoner on your slide! It’ll give life to your slides, keeping the audience interested.

In my recent interview for my placement, I ONLY used pictures.

Top Tip #4: Tell Them Something New

This one applies more to interviews.

As I said,  interviewers already know about their own companies.  Don’t go on about it. Make your point, and then link it into why you’d fit in well there.

For example: “I can see that you have great pro bono schemes to increase accessibility; I volunteer in the local mediation service because I too care very much about equal access, so I’m very glad to see this company has similar values”. Do this for every point!

Top Tip #5: Do Not Script it

The temptation to write down what you want to say line-by-line is strong, but it comes across as droll and boring. Have you ever had a lecture where it seems the lecturer is reading word-for-word off their slides? It’s annoying and hard to listen to.

It’s the same for an interviewer, if you are standing and read out your achievements from a sheet of paper. The same for a tutor. If you really know your subject, then you don’t need a script. Use your bullet points as a guide, and let it flow.

Perhaps keep some key facts on a prompt card if it’s an assignment, or some directional info for an interview, but nothing more.

Top Tip #6: Practice

Scripting and practicing are different.

Have your bullet points and time yourself speaking so that you know you’re keeping to good time. Honestly, it’s unlikely the company will tell you how long you have been speaking for or stop you if you speak for too long, so try and get a feel for your own pace.

Otherwise, get someone to listen to you!  You just might find you have an annoying verbal habit, such using like or um whenever you can’t remember what you’re saying, or licking your lips a lot because you have a dry mouth. If this is the case, your friend can tell you.

You can fix this by learning to pause where you can’t remember what you’re saying, or sipping at a cup of water whilst you think.

Top Tip #7: Make Eye Contact

This one is tricky, I know, but I’ve picked up some great tricks.

Make it a conversation. If you speak like you are explaining it to any of your friends, you will find eye contact much easier.

Sweep your eyes across the room as you talk, you don’t need to make direct eye contact with your audience at all if you feel you cannot. Looking just above their heads can give the illusion of eye contact.

Make eye contact in breaks when you are not speaking if it is easier for you.

Top Tip #8: Relax

Don’t work yourself up too much. You got this far, you’ve practised, you know what you need to say. Your job now is to take a few deep breaths and tell yourself that nothing bad is happening, I find this helps keep my heart beat down and my stomach calm. Take a moment to look around you. If it is a class presentation, then you already know everyone there. It’s just like any day!

If it’s an interview, make sure you try and talk to everyone before your presentation. They are often done in front of other candidates, and only halfway through the day, so try and get comfortable with them.  

You’re there, and there isn’t any more you can do, so try and enjoy yourself.

Published: 15/03/18       Author: Sarah Wilkinson

More Interview Help:

• 4 Hardest Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
• 3 Things I Wish I’d Known Before my Training Contract Interview
• 5 Interview Red Flags You Should Definitely Avoid

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Home » Thought Leadership » 5 TIPS FOR A GREAT TRIAL PRESENTATION

• July 6, 2021

5 TIPS FOR A GREAT TRIAL PRESENTATION

When you enter a courtroom, you want to believe that the person with the best argument will walk away with a verdict on their side. Although this is generally true, a great trial presentation can help sway the outcome of a case. There are a plethora of psychological studies that demonstrate that people think in pictures. So what does that mean for your trial presentation?Most importantly, it means that people will conjure up their own images unless you can provide one for them. It’s important for jurors to come away with the same information, even when your presentation has been filtered through personal beliefs and biases. Modern television has also influenced the way jurors think about the court system, and many come into court expecting photographic evidence and 3D recreations. Of course, each case is different, but the following tips can help you present compelling visual evidence at trial:

1. Be the person who does the simplification

Don’t give your audience room to draw incorrect conclusions. Although you can leave some room for interpretation when necessary, especially when you are legally unable to spell things out for the jurors, it’s still important that you are the person who connects the dots for your audience. This ensures that everyone is on the same page, and can help bring people together in agreement with you when the jury retires for deliberation.

2. Reinforce specific themes

There will be places in your presentation where you have the opportunity to make important points through your use of titles. Slide and presentation titles are much more interesting when they pose a question, make a statement, or reinforce a theme.  For example, “Timeline” and “Personal History” are weak titles and underutilize one of your best opportunity for imprinting themes and posing questions. Instead, consider using a title such as “What Were John Doe’s Motivations?”, which poses a question that your audience knows you will answer. Luckily, because titles are easy to change, you’ll be able to swap things out on the fly, even if a judge objects to a title you’ve chosen.

3. Enhance your presentation by cutting the copy

Keep your bullet points short and your slides sparse. Although visual impact is an important part of your overall presentation, you should have minimal words on the page. You don’t want your audience to be distracted as they try to read ahead or catch up. Don’t read verbatim from the slides. When you keep your sentences short and simple, you also remove the temptation for yourself!

4. Assume a short attention span

Plan to lose everyone’s attention. Of course, ideally your audience would be rapt the whole time and hanging on your every point. However, it’s best to assume that you need descriptive graphics to keep people tuned in. Graphs, 3D animation, photos, sketches and other visual elements, are much more interesting than plain text.

5. Play to your audience

Finally, you should always try to play to your audience. Consider who they are, and their interests, beliefs and biases. Craft your argument with a specific type of person in mind. The jury is not made up of blank slates. You must consider what kind of evidence your audience can grasp, and provide visual images and contexts familiar to them.

When your presentation is well practiced and well structured, you’ll deliver a common visual experience for those in the courtroom. When you control the visuals, you can guide and shape the narrative to better bolster your own case. Visuals also enhance the ability of your jury to retain case facts and essential information. A great trial presentation can turn the tide of a case by crafting an overarching story that is most beneficial to your client.

For more information on trial presentations, or for help creating some of the compelling visuals we’ve discussed above, reach out to our Trial Presentation department at (800) 889-0111.

If you have questions on any of our services, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

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• Apr 20, 2021

Creating an Effective PowerPoint Presentation for a Legal Proceeding

PowerPoint presentations have long been used in the courtroom to deliver important arguments to a judge and jury. Although this technology is not new, many attorneys still struggle to use the software effectively. Without the right tools, even the strongest legal arguments may be lost on the audience.

The Basics: Know Your Screen

The type of screen on which your presentation will be displayed makes a significant difference in its visual clarity. An older pull-down screen in a courtroom may not be as easy to view as a large high-definition monitor. The lighting in the presentation environment also has a large impact on the screen.

At TrialSpectrum, Inc., our team of professionals carefully studies the location of your presentation, whether it is a large courtroom or a small conference room. This allows us to create a PowerPoint presentation that is tailored to the specific environment in which you will be presenting.

Fonts and Colors

The font type and font colors you select for your PowerPoint presentation determine whether your audience is able to read the information you are delivering. For example, did you know that sans serif fonts are usually easier on the eyes? Capitalizing every word in a block of text is also generally ineffective, and many background colors can cause many viewers’ eyes to strain. At TrialSpectrum, Inc., we know the best types of fonts and font colors to use to ensure your audience is able to read text, regardless of their age or visual acuity.

Do Not Read from the Screen

A PowerPoint presentation is a visual aid . A visual aid should support an attorney’s presentation—not be the entire presentation itself. An attorney should use a PowerPoint presentation to drive home important facts and legal arguments. If the attorney simply stands in front of a judge and jury and reads from a slide, the attorney risks these individuals becoming bored and unimpressed.

At TrialSpectrum, Inc., we will work with you to help you use a PowerPoint presentation as a supplemental tool to strengthen your legal arguments. We will help you practice and will provide tips to you to increase the effectiveness of your delivery.

Plan Your Position

Where you stand during a PowerPoint presentation is important. You want to be able to address your audience while tying your statements to the slides that are displayed. Stand too close to your audience and they may focus on you instead of the PowerPoint. If you stand too far away, the audience may become distracted.

The team of professionals at TrialSpectrum, Inc., will help you determine where you should stand to deliver your message effectively. We will also discuss body language and whether you should move about the room at all during your presentation.

A Variety of Visual Elements

One of the greatest advantages of using PowerPoint software is its ability to include a variety of visual elements into a single presentation. Attorneys are able to incorporate photos, audio clips, videos, graphics, animations, and a variety of other pieces of evidence into a single presentation. Because everyone learns information differently, a PowerPoint presentation is an excellent tool to use to ensure the audience understands both the facts of a case and the laws and regulations that may affect them.

Contact TrialSpectrum, Inc. Today to Begin Creating a PowerPoint Presentation

The team of litigation consultants and trial technology experts at TrialSpectrum, Inc., has the tools you need to elevate your legal arguments. We not only create effective PowerPoint presentations, but we also work with you to ensure you are comfortable using the software. We are available the day of your presentation as well to assist with any technological issues you may have. To learn more about our company and the services we offer, call 800-789-0084 or visit www.trialspectrum.com.

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A Tool for Litigation Success: Easily Make Timelines in PowerPoint

May 1, 2013 By Law School Toolbox Team 3 Comments

If you’re thinking about being a litigator — whether in moot court or for real — you’ll want to pay attention to this guest post. Why? Because it talks about two things that are critical to success at trial:

• A solid, easily understood, timeline of the case
• Compelling visuals

Now, I know a lot of legal types aren’t very visual, but — guess what — your jurors are. Learning how to make compelling trial graphics will give you a leg up in any litigation-related employment context.

So, stay tuned for info about a freeware timeline maker that integrates with PowerPoint, explained by its creator, Jordan Summers!

Office Timeline templates + PowerPoint = litigation timelines that are easy to make and effective for judge and jurors

Half my family are attorneys so how I became a software developer is a bit of an oddity. Regardless, since my focus is on presentation software, it didn’t take long for me to think about trial software and their presentation needs. I started to wonder about software that could help make their legal presentations, particularly their openings/closing statements, much easier to create and more persuasive.

Although I don’t know much about legal presentation strategies, I do understand how people process information and therefore how important it would be for litigators to properly present the foundations of a case. I also understand that litigators need an easier way to put together a clearly outlined and logical timeline of events. They tell me it would help judges, juries and mediators not only understand their cases better, but also remember the important facts they have laid out for them.

Why PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is the gold-standard for creating powerful and effective presentations. But since PowerPoint is a blank slate, a law student or new attorney may not have the time to create a superior litigation timeline from scratch — or even to learn how. With Office Timeline you can use templates designed for the task of preparing a clear timeline — powerful evidence in litigation.

How Office Timeline Works

Office Timeline is a freeware timeline maker that is embedded into PowerPoint so using it to create, manage, and present easily understood litigation timelines is intuitive and quick. It starts with a simple wizard for entering chronological data or copying those events directly from Excel.

Push a button and this chronology is turned into a beautifully laid out timeline slide in PowerPoint. Once created, it is easy to control and format the timeline so presenters can test various ways to emphasize key events. It frees litigators from having to design and gives them an effective vehicle with which to persuade.

Does It Work?

An expert in the field, Sherry Wirth, President of  The Exhibit Company , a Texas litigation design and trial support specialist firm, says they have been doing this kind of thing for a long time; she told me that judge and juror “retention can be increased a whole bunch when visuals are used” in conjunction with oral argument. Creating over 800 litigation timelines in the past 18 years has proven timelines to be an effective road map for the jury — a visual that’s clear to follow and reinforces the key facts, evidence, and testimony.

Sherry said they use PowerPoint because of its flexibility and most of their clients use it. She also said that it is a painstaking process even for experienced PowerPoint designers to create timeline slides in PowerPoint. She gave Office Timeline a try to see if it would be valuable in the litigation world. She said,

It is a game changer; its simple and elegant interface lets you literally  copy and paste your information from Excel  and with the push of a button, create a beautiful timeline.

— – —

Thanks Jordan! If you have any questions about Office Timeline, please leave them in the comments.

Check out these other helpful posts:

• Catapult 2013 — Let’s Talk About Career Paths
• How Can you Position Yourself for a Clerkship?
• Thinking of Becoming a Solo Practitioner ?

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Reader Interactions

We are learning that many of our users are seeing a similar application of time visualization platform in the legal space. Researching the topic brought me to this site. Thanks in advance for any consideration in learning more about http://www.whenhub.com . We are an early stage start up in Silicon Valley.

[…] it is in the corporate world and on campus, PowerPoint seems also to be ubiquitous in the legal world.  It is optimized for delivering really […]

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Jun 23, 2014

Tips and tricks for lawyers using powerpoint in trial presentations.

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Sharon D. Nelson

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. is president of the digital forensics, managed information technology and cybersecurity firm Sensei...

Jim Calloway

Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Management Assistance Program, Jim Calloway is a recognized speaker on legal...

This Episode

Episode Notes

Many attorneys now use PowerPoint in trial to preview, highlight, and sum up the evidence for their arguments and organize their presentations. Effective PowerPoints garner the attention of court personnel and jury members and enhance their overall presentation. However, ineffective PowerPoints can be confusing, difficult to read, or distract the audience from the presentation’s overall objective. Attorney and legal technology consultant Paul Unger argues that only with the proper skills and learning can a lawyer create an informative and engaging PowerPoint presentation that will be a useful tool in the courtroom.

In this episode of The Digital Edge , Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview Unger about the best practices in using PowerPoint in the courtroom. Unger emphasizes simplicity, professionalism, and making PowerPoint a tool that reinforces the content rather than providing it. According to research Unger has done, audiences who are distracted by bullet points and excess text are unlikely to remember much of the slide’s content or even the presenting lawyer’s main point. He recommends that the PowerPoint slides provide only headlines and pictures that are held together by the attorney’s narrative.

Unger’s experience in PowerPoint and legal technology comes from being an attorney and founding principal of Affinity Consulting Group, a nationwide consulting company providing legal technology consulting, continuing legal education, and training. He specializes in trial presentation and litigation technology, document and case management, and paperless office strategies. To learn more, pick up a copy of his book, PowerPoint in One Hour for Lawyers, at the ABA bookstore.

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Resources and information all Self-reps need.

15 skills for effective presentations in court.

Representing yourself requires a certain skill set. We’re providing you with a set of 15 skills that you need to be persuasive in presenting your case. Keep these in the back of your mind throughout the process and you’ll be ready to rock the courtroom.

Part of the benefit of working with The Family Law Coach is that we can provide you with the assistance you need to gain these skills before and during the process. When you’ve gone through this list, check out the Services offered by The Family Law Coach to see how we can help you help yourself.

Skill 1. Telling the judge why you’re in court, and what you want, in just one or two sentences.

Many self-reps feel that finally being in front of a judge gives them the chance to “tell my story” and get a whole lot of grievances and complaints off their chest. They want to vent about all of the injustices and wrongs done to them and how bad the other party is. The judge may look interested, but is this effective? No.

Just because a judge is being patient, and waiting until you get to the point, doesn’t mean he or she is agreeing with you. They’re working hard to pull out the relevant details to help them make a decision. The harder the judge has to concentrate to get the information he or she needs, the more difficult it is to make a decision in your favour.

You need to be concise and practice the skill to put your complaints aside and deal with only 2 questions: Why are you here? What result do you want?

Make sure to take the time to rehearse the answers to each question so you can state your position in a loud and intelligible voice. Here are some concrete examples.

“Judge, I’m here to change the access arrangements from the existing order to the terms set out in the schedule attached to my notice of motion. Essentially I’m asking for a more flexible arrangement than the one now in place.”

“Your Honour, I’m here because In lost my job 6 months ago and the best new job I could get pays less than what I was earning when I agreed to child support of $879 per month. I need an order for reduced support payments, but my former wife won’t agree.”

“Judge, my former wife is asking that she be allowed to move to a different city because she’s planning to marry her boyfriend who lives there. But that will have a disastrous effect on the time the children and I have together and the nature of our time together, and I’m opposing her request for that reason.”

“Your Honour, my former partner has been interfering with my access to our children by making last minute changes in arrangements to suit her/his convenience without consulting me, cancelling visits unilaterally, and generally refusing to comply with the terms of our access order. I’m asking that she/he be found in contempt and that the order require that the terms be complied with or the residential arrangements for the children are to be changed to me.”

In each case it took only 2 sentences to give the court a good idea of what the matter is about, both side’s positions, and your suggested solution.

This is called the Tim Horton’s Pitch: what you tell the person in line for morning coffee when they ask what you’re doing today so you can be finished before it’s their turn to order.

But more than simply being brief, it shows that you respect the system and the court’s time by being clear and to the point. So long as what you say is truthful and supported by the evidence, it shows that you’re a trustworthy person to whom the judge should pay attention. It’s a terrific way to be effective.

Skill 2. Practice, practice, practice

It’s not easy to get the reason you’re in court into just a few, clear, sentences. It takes practice. Thinking that you can ad lib this when the judge looks at you to speak is a big mistake. Good lawyers take lots of time to get their case into the important first few sentences. They try doing it different ways. And they practice saying it out loud.

Some of us convince ourselves that we know our case so well that we don’t need to practice anything. Others convince ourselves that our matter is so complex and involves so many details that we can’t get it into a couple of sentences. We think the judge needs to hear everything in order to understand what the case is about. And some of us convince ourselves we’re just no good at talking on our feet and we won’t be able to tell the court what we want it to know.

That sort of thinking creates mental blocks that hold us back. One trick to overcoming this is practice.

Write down what you want to say. Read it over and change it to what the judge needs to know. Try different ways to present your case to see what works best for you. Then shorten it until you get what the judge needs to know into 2 -3 sentences.

Write down whatever you want to say in point form. Make each point only one or two sentences. Re-arrange the points into a logical sequence. Look at what you’ve written for each point and see if it can be shortened. Then practice saying it out loud in front of a mirror or to someone you trust and can give you feedback.

The more you practice the easier it will be to tell the judge, and the more comfortable you’ll be in court. Pro athletes practice before every game. So should you.

Skill 3. Avoid the nasty

Personal attacks hurt your case. You may be tempted to put negative things about the other party in your material or presentation, but you need to be able to resist that temptation.

Spending time to complain about the other person and all the nasty things that they did hurts your case. If it’s not relevant, you’re wasting the judge’s time and making it harder for him or her to understand the important information. If you turn off the judge with your whining and complaining, he or she might miss hearing the important things you have to say.

If, however, the conduct of the other party is really relevant to the issue, make it clear why the information is important to the judge’s decision. For example, if the behaviour shows that the other party says inappropriate things front of the children, or if he or she acts without judgement.

Making things relevant to the issues the judge has to decide, instead of leaving them as a personal attack on the other person, makes your comments far more powerful and effective. Judges don’t like hearing negative personal attacks.

Skill 4. Writing in an clear and logical way

Much of the key work in creating an effective case is done before you stand up to speak. It’s in the written material the judge reads in the file. What you write and how you write it is the first step in showing the judge why the court should give you what you want.

Are you able to set out your story, what you want, and why you should get it, in a clear and understandable way? You need to be able to organize what you need to say in a way that makes sense to the judge. Just like what you say to the judge when you’re speaking, what you say to the judge in your writing needs to be clear and easy to understand.

The key to good legal writing is re-writing. Go over what you’ve written and then ask yourself: “If a stranger didn’t know anything about my case would they get a good idea of what it’s about and why they should agree with me, or would they find parts of what I’ve written confusing? Will they get my point? Is what I’ve written difficult to read or easy?”

Then start over and re-write everything. Show it to someone. Ask them to help you be more clear and focussed. Remember why you’re writing the document – it’s not to get everything of your chest, it’s to give the judge the information he or she needs to understand what you’re asking for and to encourage them to give it to you.

If you can do this, you’ll find your written material to be a really effective way of getting a judge to want to help you, even before your case is called.

Skill 5. Gathering the relevant information and staying on top of the materials you need

You may have to gather information as part of your case. You may need to get correct bank statements to show what money was in different bank accounts, or account statements to show the value of investments or RRSPs, at key dates. You may need copies of Insurance policies or property ownership papers, or tax and utility bills. Perhaps you’ll need information from your employer or doctor.

They key to gathering information effectively is to create a list and check it off as it’s collected. Keep it in one place and keep it organized and you’ll be good to go.

Skill 6. Being Organized

It’s important to be able to organize your material. Do you have the various exhibits and supporting material you need to support your story? Can you collect the documents and evidence you need to support your position? Can you put your material into a sensible and organized structure?

If you can do this, great. If that’s not what you do well, ask a friend or family member to help you organizing everything. Taking the time to organize your materials helps you to organize your case and present it to the judge in an effective way.

Skill 7. Being a good researcher

In some cases a bit of research is needed to collect the information and evidence that supports your story. You may also need to gather legal information. Will you be able to do your own research? Do you know how to do it?

Skill 8. Being on time and knowing how to wait

Court matters are filled with deadlines. Are you able to get your papers filed on time and show up in court when scheduled?

Do you have the time to get to the court office and to get the information you need? Are you able to explain what you want and do you have the patience, if needed, to go from one court office to another until you get it?

If you’re late submitting documents or in showing up to court, this could have a very serious impact on your outcome.

It’s not uncommon for a self-rep to find that they’ve gone to the wrong counter or wrong office are in the wrong line or have the wrong papers with them. It’s important that you recognize this at the beginning, give yourself lots of time and have patience.

And patience is an important thing to bring with you whenever you have to deal with the court offices. Often the lines are long. Give yourself lots of time. The family court process is going to have a long-term impact on your life and it’s worth taking extra time so you can avoid being late.

Skill 9. Paying attention to detail

Are you able to pay attention to detail? For example, before beginning to fill in a blank on a form do you read the instructions to be sure you’re filling it out properly? Have you attached all the documents you refer to in your materials? When you refer to a section of some legislation, have you checked to be sure you’ve got the right number and reference?

If you’re missing any details or fill out a form wrong, it will be harder for the judge to rule in your favour. So it helps your case if you’ve been careful about everything before you file it with the court office.

Skill 10. Understanding the appropriate Guidelines that affect your case

Have you looked at the Child Support Guidelines or the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines to be sure that what you’re saying about them is accurate? Have you checked out the sections you’ll be referring to and do you understand them?

There are guides available for each the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines and the Child Support Guidelines. Read and understand them. It will help you be effective in presenting your case.

Skill 11. Distancing yourself

There’s a phrase in legal circles: “A lawyer who acts for himself has a fool for a client.” It means that the best person to represent you is someone who isn’t emotionally connected to your case. As a self-rep, you’re acting for yourself, so of course you’re emotionally connected.

So the skill here is to be as objective and realistic as possible. Be practical and rational instead of emotional. You can only be effective if you’re not all worked up about the case. This isn’t easy. But it’s important. Can you do it?

Try to look at the case from the perspective of a person who doesn’t know you and doesn’t know the other party.

Acting rationally includes recognizing the weak parts of your case and dropping them. This will help you maintain realistic expectations and help you focus your presentation. Think about what stranger would need to know to give you what you want, and if that person would think you deserve it.

You need to be objective about the case and your positions.

Skill 12. Knowing your motivation and remove the destructive elements from your position

Are you motivated to fight so that the other person doesn’t “win,” or get an “easy victory”? Are you motivated by jealousy or revenge? Do you want to punish the other person for what they did to you or your family? Tough. Those aren’t reasons to fight in court and won’t get you anywhere. Do you have the skill to remove these factors from your thinking?

Knowing why you’re really taking your positions will help you shape a more effective presentation. If your positions are motivated by one of the factors mentioned above – re-think your approach. At least, re-frame it so that you can present a more positive position that will get you the results you want.

Skill 13. Separating money issues from the kids

Do you have the skill to consider what’s best for the kids even if that means getting less money, or paying more money, than you wanted?

Not everyone is able to admit when continuing the fight will be harmful to the children. Can you put their interests ahead of yours?

Very often that’s what the case comes down to, and you’ll do better if you recognize this before a judge does.

Skill 14. Standing up to a bully

Are you able to stake out a reasonable position and stick to it despite threats and bullying from the other party? First, you have to recognize when you’re dealing with a bully. A bully is someone who uses:

• manipulation
• personal attacks

You may have given in lots of times in the past to keep things together, but do you have the skill now to say enough is enough? A bully knows what sort of tactics worked well in the past and will try to use them against you in court. Can you stand your ground now? That doesn’t mean you need to retaliate. It means maintaining your position and clearly stating that position to the judge.

The interesting thing about bullies is that they get away with their conduct so often that they assume you’ll give in again. If you stand up to a bully, a judge can usually see what’s happening and put that bully in their place.

Often, standing up to a bully starts with just saying “No. Enough. I’m not giving in again.”

Skill 15. Knowing what you’re good at

The truth is that not everyone is terrific at each of these things. Not even lawyers. The trick is to recognize which skills you have and are good at and which ones you need to work on. Keep in mind that that all of us can use some help from time to time and don’t hesitate to ask for it. You may have a family member or a friend who is better at one of these skills than you. See if they’ll help you out. If they can’t, maybe they know someone who can.

Use your strengths as best you can and don’t pretend to be good at something you’re not. Get the help you need so you can present your case as effectively and persuasively as possible.

Unbundled services

If you need help with one of the skills listed above, it’s a smart move to get some assistance – to seek out someone to offer coaching about how to handle yourself, or to get advice about strategy, or some help with preparing the documents you need, or to give you the legal advice you’re missing.

If you can’t afford, or don’t want, to hire a lawyer to take over your case in the traditional full retainer model, then seeking out fixed fee services, also known as “unbundled services” could be the solution you need.

With unbundled services, a lawyer will agree to help you with part of your matter but not take over all of your case. It might be to prepare documents for you or to appear in court for you. Or it might be to spend time with you going over your documents and discussing strategy.

The Family Law Coach

The Family Law Coach provides self-reps with support through a menu of fixed fee services that you can access from anywhere. You can pick and choose the service that makes the most sense to you. You will know what you’re getting and the cost in advance so you can stay within your budget.

No up-front retainer. No need to travel to a lawyer’s office. No uncertainty about the cost.

With just a computer or a phone you access to a lawyer who can provide coaching in the skills you need to succeed in the courtroom.

Check out our Services and choose the one that’s right for you.

See our Directory for a list of other service providers that are providing unbundled services.

We apologize but we are at capacity right now and will be taking new clients September 30th.

How to write a case brief for law school: Excerpt reproduced from Introduction to the Study of Law: Cases and Materials,

Third Edition (LexisNexis 2009) by Michael Makdisi & John Makdisi

C. HOW TO BRIEF

The previous section described the parts of a case in order to make it easier to read and identify the pertinent information that you will use to create your briefs. This section will describe the parts of a brief in order to give you an idea about what a brief is, what is helpful to include in a brief, and what purpose it serves. Case briefs are a necessary study aid in law school that helps to encapsulate and analyze the mountainous mass of material that law students must digest. The case brief represents a final product after reading a case, rereading it, taking it apart, and putting it back together again. In addition to its function as a tool for self-instruction and referencing, the case brief also provides a valuable “cheat sheet” for class participation.

Who will read your brief? Most professors will espouse the value of briefing but will never ask to see that you have, in fact, briefed. As a practicing lawyer, your client doesn’t care if you brief, so long as you win the case. The judges certainly don’t care if you brief, so long as you competently practice the law. You are the person that the brief will serve! Keep this in mind when deciding what elements to include as part of your brief and when deciding what information to include under those elements.

What are the elements of a brief? Different people will tell you to include different things in your brief. Most likely, upon entering law school, this will happen with one or more of your instructors. While opinions may vary, four elements that are essential to any useful brief are the following:

(a) Facts (name of the case and its parties, what happened factually and procedurally, and the judgment)

(b) Issues (what is in dispute)

(c) Holding (the applied rule of law)

(d) Rationale (reasons for the holding)

If you include nothing but these four elements, you should have everything you need in order to recall effectively the information from the case during class or several months later when studying for exams.

Because briefs are made for yourself, you may want to include other elements that expand the four elements listed above. Depending on the case, the inclusion of additional elements may be useful. For example, a case that has a long and important section expounding dicta might call for a separate section in your brief labeled: Dicta. Whatever elements you decide to include, however, remember that the brief is a tool intended for personal use. To the extent that more elements will help with organization and use of the brief, include them. On the other hand, if you find that having more elements makes your brief cumbersome and hard to use, cut back on the number of elements. At a minimum, however, make sure you include the four elements listed above.

Elements that you may want to consider including in addition to the four basic elements are:

(e) Dicta (commentary about the decision that was not the basis for the decision)

(f) Dissent (if a valuable dissenting opinion exits, the dissent’s opinion)

(g) Party’s Arguments (each party’s opposing argument concerning the ultimate issue)

(h) Comments (personal commentary)

Personal comments can be useful if you have a thought that does not fit elsewhere. In the personal experience of one of the authors, this element was used to label cases as specific kinds (e.g., as a case of vicarious liability) or make mental notes about what he found peculiar or puzzling about cases. This element allowed him to release his thoughts (without losing them) so that he could move on to other cases.

In addition to these elements, it may help you to organize your thoughts, as some people do, by dividing Facts into separate elements:

(1) Facts of the case (what actually happened, the controversy)

(2) Procedural History (what events within the court system led to the present case)

(3) Judgment (what the court actually decided)

Procedural History is usually minimal and most of the time irrelevant to the ultimate importance of a case; however, this is not always true. One subject in which Procedure History is virtually always relevant is Civil Procedure.

When describing the Judgment of the case, distinguish it from the Holding. The Judgment is the factual determination by the court, in favor of one party, such as “affirmed,” “reversed,” or “remanded.” In contrast, the Holding is the applied rule of law that serves as the basis for the ultimate judgment.

Remember that the purpose of a brief is to remind you of the important details that make the case significant in terms of the law. It will be a reference tool when you are drilled by a professor and will be a study aid when you prepare for exams. A brief is also like a puzzle piece.

The elements of the brief create the unique shape and colors of the piece, and, when combined with other pieces, the picture of the common law takes form. A well-constructed brief will save you lots of time by removing the need to return to the case to remember the important details and also by making it easier to put together the pieces of the common law puzzle.

D. EXTRACTING THE RELEVANT INFORMATION: ANNOTATING AND HIGHLIGHTING

So now that you know the basic elements of a brief, what information is important to include under each element? The simple answer is: whatever is relevant. But what parts of a case are relevant? When you read your first few cases, you may think that everything that the judge said was relevant to his ultimate conclusion. Even if this were true, what is relevant for the judge to make his decision is not always relevant for you to include in your brief. Remember, the reason to make a brief is not to persuade the world that the ultimate decision in the case is a sound one, but rather to aid in refreshing your memory concerning the most important parts of the case.

What facts are relevant to include in a brief? You should include the facts that are necessary to remind you of the story. If you forget the story, you will not remember how the law in the case was applied. You should also include the facts that are dispositive to the decision in the case. For instance, if the fact that a car is white is a determining factor in the case, the brief should note that the case involves a white car and not simply a car. To the extent that the procedural history either helps you to remember the case or plays an important role in the ultimate outcome, you should include these facts as well.

What issues and conclusions are relevant to include in a brief? There is usually one main issue on which the court rests its decision. This may seem simple, but the court may talk about multiple issues, and may discuss multiple arguments from both sides of the case. Be sure to distinguish the issues from the arguments made by the parties. The relevant issue or issues, and corresponding conclusions, are the ones for which the court made a final decision and which are binding. The court may discuss intermediate conclusions or issues, but stay focused on the main issue and conclusion which binds future courts.

What rationale is important to include in a brief? This is probably the most difficult aspect of the case to determine. Remember that everything that is discussed may have been relevant to the judge, but it is not necessarily relevant to the rationale of the decision. The goal is to remind yourself of the basic reasoning that the court used to come to its decision and the key factors that made the decision favor one side or the other.

A brief should be brief! Overly long or cumbersome briefs are not very helpful because you will not be able to skim them easily when you review your notes or when the professor drills you. On the other hand, a brief that is too short will be equally unhelpful because it lacks sufficient information to refresh your memory. Try to keep your briefs to one page in length. This will make it easy for you to organize and reference them.

Do not get discouraged. Learning to brief and figuring out exactly what to include will take time and practice. The more you brief, the easier it will become to extract the relevant information.

While a brief is an extremely helpful and important study aid, annotating and highlighting are other tools for breaking down the mass of material in your casebook. The remainder of this section will discuss these different techniques and show how they complement and enhance the briefing process.

Annotating Cases

Many of you probably already read with a pencil or pen, but if you do not, now is the time to get in the habit. Cases are so dense and full of information that you will find yourself spending considerable amounts of time rereading cases to find what you need. An effective way to reduce this time is to annotate the margins of the casebook. Your pencil (or pen) will be one of your best friends while reading a case. It will allow you to mark off the different sections (such as facts, procedural history, or conclusions), thus allowing you to clear your mind of thoughts and providing an invaluable resource when briefing and reviewing.

You might be wondering why annotating is important if you make an adequate, well-constructed brief. By their very nature briefs cannot cover everything in a case. Even with a thorough, well-constructed brief you may want to reference the original case in order to reread dicta that might not have seemed important at the time, to review the complete procedural history or set of facts, or to scour the rationale for a better understanding of the case; annotating makes these tasks easier. Whether you return to a case after a few hours or a few months, annotations will swiftly guide you to the pertinent parts of the case by providing a roadmap of the important sections. Your textual markings and margin notes will refresh your memory and restore specific thoughts you might have had about either the case in general or an individual passage.

Annotations will also remind you of forgotten thoughts and random ideas by providing a medium for personal comments.

In addition to making it easier to review an original case, annotating cases during the first review of a case makes the briefing process easier. With adequate annotations, the important details needed for your brief will be much easier to retrieve. Without annotations, you will likely have difficulty locating the information you seek even in the short cases. It might seem strange that it would be hard to reference a short case, but even a short case will likely take you at least fifteen to twenty-five minutes to read, while longer cases may take as much as thirty minutes to an hour to complete. No matter how long it takes, the dense material of all cases makes it difficult to remember all your thoughts, and trying to locate specific sections of the analysis may feel like you are trying to locate a needle in a haystack. An annotation in the margin, however, will not only swiftly guide you to a pertinent section, but will also refresh the thoughts that you had while reading that section.

When you read a case for the first time, read for the story and for a basic understanding of the dispute, the issues, the rationale, and the decision. As you hit these elements (or what you think are these elements) make a mark in the margins. Your markings can be as simple as “facts” (with a bracket that indicates the relevant part of the paragraph). When you spot an issue, you may simply mark “issue” or instead provide a synopsis in your own words. When a case sparks an idea — write that idea in the margin as well — you never know when a seemingly irrelevant idea might turn into something more.

Finally, when you spot a particularly important part of the text, underline it (or highlight it as described below).

With a basic understanding of the case, and with annotations in the margin, the second read-through of the case should be much easier. You can direct your reading to the most important sections and will have an easier time identifying what is and is not important. Continue rereading the case until you have identified all the relevant information that you need to make your brief, including the issue(s), the facts, the holding, and the relevant parts of the analysis.

Pencil or pen — which is better to use when annotating? Our recommendation is a mechanical pencil. Mechanical pencils make finer markings than regular pencils, and also than ballpoint pens. Although you might think a pencil might smear more than a pen, with its sharp point a mechanical pencil uses very little excess lead and will not smear as much as you might imagine. A mechanical pencil will also give you the freedom to make mistakes without consequences. When you first start annotating, you may think that some passages are more important than they really are, and therefore you may resist the urge to make a mark in order to preserve your book and prevent false guideposts. With a pencil, however, the ability to erase and rewrite removes this problem.

Highlighting

Why highlight? Like annotating, highlighting may seem unimportant if you create thorough, well-constructed briefs, but highlighting directly helps you to brief. It makes cases, especially the more complicated ones, easy to digest, review and use to extract information.

Highlighting takes advantage of colors to provide a uniquely effective method for reviewing and referencing a case. If you prefer a visual approach to learning, you may find highlighting to be a very effective tool.

If annotating and highlighting are so effective, why brief? Because the process of summarizing a case and putting it into your own words within a brief provides an understanding of the law and of the case that you cannot gain through the process of highlighting or annotating.

The process of putting the case into your own words forces you to digest the material, while annotating and highlighting can be accomplished in a much more passive manner.

What should you highlight? Similar to annotating, the best parts of the case to highlight are those that represent the needed information for your brief such as the facts, the issue, the holding and the rationale.

Unlike annotating, highlighting provides an effective way to color code, which makes referring to the case even easier. In addition, Highlighters are particularly useful in marking off entire sections by using brackets. These brackets will allow you to color-code the case without highlighting all the text, leaving the most important phrases untouched for a more detailed highlight marking or underlining.

Highlighting is a personal tool, and therefore should be used to the extent that highlighting helps, but should be modified in a way that makes it personally time efficient and beneficial. For instance, you might combine the use of annotations in the margins with the visual benefit of highlighting the relevant text. You may prefer to underline the relevant text with a pencil, but to use a highlighter to bracket off the different sections of a case. Whatever you choose to do, make sure that it works for you, regardless of what others recommend. The techniques in the remainder of this section will describe ways to make full use of your highlighters.

First, buy yourself a set of multi-colored highlighters, with at least four, or perhaps five or six different colors. Yellow, pink, and orange are usually the brightest. Depending on the brand, purple and green can be dark, but still work well. Although blue is a beautiful color, it tends to darken and hide the text.

Therefore we recommend that you save blue for the elements that you rarely highlight.

For each different section of the case, choose a color, and use that color only when highlighting the section of the case designated for that color. Consider using yellow for the text that you tend to highlight most frequently. Because yellow is the brightest, you may be inclined to use yellow for the Conclusions in order to make them stand out the most. If you do this, however, you will exhaust your other colors much faster than yellow and this will require that you purchase an entire set of new highlighters when a single color runs out because colors such as green are not sold separately. If instead you choose to use yellow on a more frequently highlighted section such as the Analysis, when it comes time to replace your yellow marker, you will need only to replace your yellow highlighter individually. In the personal experience on one of the authors, the sections of cases that seemed to demand the most highlighter attention were the

Facts and the Analysis, while the Issues and Holdings demanded the least. Other Considerations and

Procedural History required lots of highlighting in particular cases although not in every case.

Experiment if you must, but try to choose a color scheme early on in the semester and stick with it. That way, when you come back to the first cases of the semester, you will not be confused with multiple color schemes. The basic sections of a case for which you should consider giving a different color are:

(b) Procedural History

(c) Issue (and questions presented)

(d) Holding (and conclusions)

(e) Analysis (rationale)

(f) Other Considerations (such as dicta)

Not all of these sections demand a separate color. You may find that combining Facts and Procedural History or Issues and Holdings works best. Furthermore, as mentioned above, some sections may not warrant highlighting in every case (e.g., dicta probably do not need to be highlighted unless they are particularly important). If you decide that a single color is all that you need, then stick to one, but if you find yourself highlighting lots of text from many different sections, reconsider the use of at least a few different colors. Highlighters make text stand out, but only when used appropriately. The use of many colors enables you to highlight more text without reducing the highlighter’s effectiveness. Three to four colors provides decent color variation without the cumbersomeness of handling too many markers.

Once you are comfortable with your color scheme, determining exactly what to highlight still may be difficult. Similar to knowing what to annotate, experience will perfect your highlighting skills. Be careful not to highlight everything, thus ruining your highlighters’ effectiveness; at the same time, do not be afraid to make mistakes.

Now that we have covered the basics of reading, annotating, highlighting, and briefing a case, you are ready to start practicing. Keep the tips and techniques mentioned in this chapter in mind when you tackle the four topics in the remainder of this book. If you have difficultly, refer back to this chapter to help guide you as you master the case method of study and the art of using the common law.

More Helpful Links

The american legal system, how to brief a case, how to read a casebook 101, top 20 things you need to know about law school, learn to spot issues like a lawyer, why an internet search is not legal research, why go to law school, what’s the most challenging part of law school, what advice would you give yourself about law school.

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40+ Best Legal PowerPoint Templates (+ Law PPT Slides) 2024

There is nothing easy about working in the law industry, it requires hours of dedicated work, and you often find yourself hours deep into paperwork to get anything meaningful done. Yet, this can be doubly stressful when you’re tasked with making a legal presentation.

The best way to make a legal presentation is through pre-made legal ppt templates. However, finding good-quality law PowerPoint templates can be a nightmare at times, forcing you to search through thousands of templates online.

It’s for this reason that we decided to compile a list of legal ppt templates sourced from both premium and free options making sure to cover every style of law PowerPoint template you could possibly need.

If you’re stuck needing to create a legal presentation or just need something to spice up your portfolio, you’ll find it all here on our list.

Read on to see our collection of the best legal PowerPoint templates out there right now!

legal powerpoint templates, law powerpoint templates, legal ppt templates, law ppt templates

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Ciri PPT Template

The X Note Template

Bolo PPT Template

Analysiz Powerpoint

Clean Business PPT

Agency Portfolio PPT

Justiciva – lawyer & law firm powerpoint template.

Justiciva is a beautifully designed PowerPoint template for modern law firms and lawyers. It comes with a set of stylish slides for presenting your key points in a more engaging way. The template has more than 40 different slides with device mockups, vector graphics, image placeholders, and more.

Kontra – Attorney & Lawyer PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template comes with a clean and modern design. It’s great for making presentations on various topics related to law. There are 50 unique slides in this template that you can easily customize to change colors, fonts, images, and much more according to your preference.

Notaria – Notary Public PowerPoint Template

If you’re working on a presentation related to notary public or legal services, this PowerPoint template will come in handy. It includes 40 unique slides with creative and modern layouts. You can use it to craft presentations that deliver your message in a more clean manner.

Firma – Lawyer PowerPoint Template

Firma is a modern PowerPoint template made with lawyers in mind. This template comes with 30 different slides with professional designs. It’s ideal for corporate agencies and law firms as well. The template has drag-and-drop features with easily editable elements.

Lawtice – Lawyer & Attorney PowerPoint Template

Lawtice is a clean and minimal PowerPoint template you can use to make slideshows for both lawyers and attorneys. There are 15 unique slides in this template with layouts that are useful for various law-related presentations.

Trust – Law Firm PowerPoint Template

If you prefer bold presentation designs with dark color themes, be sure to give this PowerPoint template a try. It comes with a dark and gold color scheme that gives a high-end look and feel to the entire presentation. There are 34 unique slides in this template.

Lawcaso – Lawyer & Attorney PowerPoint Template

Lawcaso is a creative PowerPoint template specifically designed for lawyers. It has bright and attractive slide layouts with plenty of space for promoting your law firm and legal services. The template includes 40 slides.

Sean – Law Firm PowerPoint Template

Sean is a powerful legal PowerPoint template with a lot of features. It contains 30 useful slides in HD resolution for attorney and law firms. As one of the best legal ppt templates out there, Sean certainly deserves your attention.

Juristic – Legal Advisor PowerPoint Template

An elegant and polished presentation is key to earning clients’ trust, especially for startup legal businesses. Juristic is an excellent template that can help you impress and keep your clients with minimal effort. When looking for sophisticated law ppt templates, Juristic is well worth checking out.

Lawyero – Law PowerPoint Template

Next up, we have Lawyero, a modern and professional PowerPoint template that focuses on the most important aspect of a presentation, i.e., content. The template is 100% customizable and has an array of amazing features for you to try out.

Lawistic – Legal PowerPoint Template

Lawistic is a sophisticated PowerPoint template that can virtually be used for any law presentation. It comprises of 30 slides, painstakingly created by professional designers so you can impress your clients without having to do anything extra.

Lawl – Law Advocate PowerPoint Template

Lawl is a powerful PowerPoint template that will bring new opportunities to your law firm. Its clean and modern layout will engage your clients and get them all curious to know what’s coming next. It has 30 slides that can be customized to your liking in just a few clicks.

Freedom – Law PowerPoint Template

If you’re looking for a PowerPoint template that covers nearly every aspect of law and justice, Freedom is well worth checking out. It has thirty slides, three pre-made color schemes, free fonts, and a 16:9 widescreen ratio. When it comes to the best legal ppt templates, Freedom stands at the top of the league.

Universale – Law PowerPoint Template

Universale is a clean, and modern PowerPoint template that caters to any firm that’s even remotely related to law and order. It features 30 carefully crafted slides, infographics, free fonts, vector icons, and more. If you are on the hunt for the best law ppt templates, Universale is a solid choice.

Legal PowerPoint Template

Legals is a fantastic foundation for any legal presentation. Providing you with a sleek and professional range of slide designs, and a multipurpose range of slide applications. The template provides thirty different custom slides, five themes, image placeholders, and much more!

The Legal Service PowerPoint template is a gold standard in the world of legal presentations. It comes with an ultra-modern aesthetic and consists of thirty custom slides that are great for corporate pitches, business portfolios, or general legal presentations. A perfect choice for a professional context.

Bring a touch of elegance to your legal presentation with the Legal Law Presentation Template. A regal styled legal template that has no shortage of style. The template provides thirty custom slides, a range of vector icons, a free font pack, and more!

Prime Legal is an ultra-modern and unique legal presentation template. Providing you with the sleek professionalism that helps to set legal presentations apart from the rest. The template comes loaded with options, including fifty custom slides, a range of themes, image placeholders, a free font, and a selection of master slides.

This Legal Servers PowerPoint Presentation Template takes a more trendy and unique aesthetic approach to their slide designs, providing a great style that is sure to impress. The template includes fifty unique slides, a range of themes and animation options, as well as much more for you to enjoy.

Law Company PowerPoint Template

Here we have a creatively designed law PowerPoint template featuring 50 slides, totally customizable to fit all of your requirements. If your aim is to create a presentation that instantly grabs your audience’s attention, this product is the right choice.

Milcheur is a gorgeously designed law PowerPoint template, using a wooden aesthetic and a professional cream slide design. A gold standard in the world of professional legal template designs. It provides you with thirty custom slides, and a range of customization options to keep you busy.

If you’re creating a legal presentation for Government use, then look no further than Citizen. A simple, yet effective, government style legal presentation format. It provides you with thirty custom slide designs, a range of master slides, as well as much more!

Whilst Bravia is traditionally a business PowerPoint template, it is based on a multipurpose foundation. Allowing it to be an incredibly useful template for legal applications. It uses a sleek and modern black, white, and green slide aesthetic which is truly impressive to look at.

The Lawyer PowerPoint template is a simple, minimalistic template design that provides you with a solid foundation to create a stunning legal presentation with ease. The template provides you with over one hundred and fifty slide designs, spread across five iconic themes.

Thorfinn is one of those template designs that is simply captivating to look at. Using an ultra-modern design, mixed with a sleek and professional slide aesthetic, this template is sure to impress any group you put it in front of. The template provides you with thirty custom slides, a range of master slides, and customization options to keep you busy.

Mercye is a fantastically tailored multipurpose legal PowerPoint template. The slides use a simple professional design, and comes with a range of graphics and icons that compliment the style perfectly. There are forty master slides, a range of image placeholders, and custom icons for you to enjoy.

Lawyer Case is a versatile legal PowerPoint template that uses a simple minimalistic design, perfect for professional applications. The template itself excels at portfolio use, internal pitch meetings, and client presentations. There is a massive range of one hundred and fifty slides to choose from, with many customization options to keep you busy.

TopLawyer is an extensive legal PowerPoint template, striving to provide all of the custom slide options you’d ever need in the legal field. There are over two hundred different slides, each tailored with the same clean and professional design.

Lawfirm is a professionally designed attorney presentation template, designed for high-end professional applications. It comes with a fully editable template structure, fifty custom master slides, and over four hundred slide template designs for you to enjoy.

Bring a touch of elegance to your legal presentations with this Lawyer presentation template. Each slide comes with a clean and sleek ultra-modern design, with slides tailored towards strictly presentation use.

Vergo is a much more traditional office-style presentation format, providing you with a versatile template that can meet almost any professional application need. The template itself consists of thirty-six slides, a range of image placeholders, and a fully editable foundation for you to work with.

Show off a little with the Passion template, a gorgeously designed ultra-modern and clean legal presentation template. Each slide uses a 50:50 image to text ratio and comes with a range of customization options to help you tailor the template to your own applications.

Law Enforcement PowerPoint Template

This presentation slides can help you reduce the anxiety involved with giving a presentation. Well-designed slides not only build your own confidence, but they also make your key points clearer to the audience.

Juridic – Legal PowerPoint Template

Juridic is a clean and professional presentation template that can be used for law & legal needs.

Lawry – Law PowerPoint Template

Lawry is a presentation template that can be used for a law firm. This template can also be used for various purposes, such as consultants, pitch deck investors, and other businesses

Justica – Law Firm PowerPoint Template

This clean and creative layout gives you many possibilities for creativity. There is no need to use any additional software. You can edit easily this presentation. It’s 100% customizable, all shapes are resizable, with no quality loss, removable and editable.

Free Legal PowerPoint Templates

You don’t have to spend a pretty penny to get your hands on some great legal PowerPoint templates. Let’s take a look at some free options that stand out among the crowd.

Free Criminal Justice Lawyer CV PowerPoint Template

You can use this free PowerPoint template to design a professional CV presentation for lawyers. It has 22 unique slide layouts featuring dark and creative content designs. The template is available in Google Slides format too.

Free Modern Criminal Justice Presentation Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with a creative and attractive slide design. It’s perfect for designing slideshow for a speech or event related to criminal justice. There are 36 different slides in the template.

Free Legal Services Project Proposal PowerPoint Template

Craft a simple presentation to showcase your proposal for legal services using this free PowerPoint template. It has simple and clean slide layouts with professional content designs. The template includes a total of 29 slides.

Spelman – Free Law PowerPoint Template

Whether you need a PowerPoint template for a legal firm or a lecture about law and order, Spelman can be of great help. It contains a range of simple yet eye-catching slides that can be tweaked as much and as little as you’d like. Grab it today!

Free Law Consulting Firm PowerPoint Template

If you want to deliver a successful sales pitch presentation, this free legal PowerPoint template is what you need to get your hands on. It features 100% editable slides, thousand of icons, infographics, and free fonts. A must-have resource in any legal company’s PowerPoint toolkit!

This PowerPoint template will help you create an amazing legal CV with ease. Providing you with a range of presentation slide designs that work to show off your best qualities, and leave a lasting impression.

Looking to create a comprehensive marketing plan for your firm? Then you need this Lawyer Marketing Plan PowerPoint template. A simple, yet professionally tailored presentation template that will have you up to speed with your marketing strategy with ease.

Show off the best qualities of your firm with the Suits and Lawyers Firm Profile PowerPoint template. An elegantly tailored template style, using an ultra-modern aesthetic mixed with a professional finish. A great option for those looking to pitch their services to new clients.

Create an Amazing Legal Presentation with These Templates!

Whilst there is nothing easy about the legal field, that doesn’t mean finding a great legal presentation template has to be difficult as well. With these templates under your belt, you’ll have everything you need to create an amazing legal presentation with ease.

How to Make Great Presentations

In this post, we will discuss how to utilize PowerPoint and/or Google Slides to create an informational and visually effective presentation that will generate the optimal level of student learning engagement and retention.

Because this is a lengthy post, feel free to navigate to the topics of interest in the table of contents below, as well as be navigated back to the top at the end of each section.

We will touch on the following points:

Table of Contents

Storytelling structure, graphic design, incorporating visuals, multimedia elements, transitions.

• Hotkeys/Shortcuts

When creating a presentation, it is important that the audience is in mind, the presentation is message focused, and that the information is presented in a clean, clear format. Knowing visual design concepts alongside presentational skills available on popular presentation platforms such as PowerPoint and Google Slides are vital to ensure your information is presented clearly.

Creating a memorable and effective lecture is almost like crafting a story. Here are a few key points to keep in mind when considering the storytelling structure of a lecture or lesson.

Put the audience first. Remember that your story is their story, meaning that though this lecture is coming from your knowledge and perspective, the goal is to have your students understand and relate well enough to envision the knowledge as their own. When creating a lecture, make sure to keep your audience in mind.

Have a solid theme and structure. A theme can be as simple as the main subject point of the day’s lecture–however, it is important to have a clear and set theme which each sub-point is constantly reconnected to. The structure can be as simple or as complex as the instructor desires, but it must help build his or her narrative. The more details and complexity included in the lesson, the more important it is to have a clear theme so your students may hear, understand and remember your points.

Hook them early, and add emotion . Though somewhat cliche, it is often helpful to begin a long topic with an engaging anecdote. Individuals are more likely to engage and retain information on topics that they resonate with, so adding an emotional hook with story examples or a brief anecdote may increase your chances of having a more responsive audience. Otherwise, throughout the presentation, attempt to keep only one or two points on each slide, along with visuals that illustrate the message (more details on these topics to come later in this blog post).

Click here to go back to the Table of Contents!

Typography can make or break the presentation. Choosing the right font (proper typeface and proper sizing) is important in determining how efficiently a student can read, decode and process the information presented on the slides. 

In terms of typeface selection, the general lesson is: good fonts are invisible, while bad fonts are noticed right away. For beginner designers, stick to Helvetica, Arial or Proxima Nova.

When considering font size, ensure your text big enough in order to ensure readability on your screen or projector even in the back of the classroom. For titles, 30pt minimum is suggested; for main text, size 18pt minimum is recommended.

Notice the difference between the first and second slides presented below in terms of readability in typeface and font size selection.

Once you get more advanced, you can start to play around with whatever readable and compatible fonts you like. Keep in mind that for screen projection, sans serif type faces are preferable, as serif is mainly used for print. However, sans serif and serif fonts are compatible when wanting to contrast titles and body text.

Notice the visual hierarchy created with these two different fonts and boldness selection. We will go more in depth on hierarchy in the next section.

Text Hierarchy

The amount of text you include on your slides and the way you present them contribute greatly to the way your readers take in your information. Text hierarchy revolves around the perception of importance. You can stress the importance of points in many ways, such as making the font larger, bold, a different color, etc.

When designing slides, make sure to keep in mind good visual hierarchy so you can be confident that the right elements are catching the students’ attentions.

In general, it is better to bullet your points instead of including full, complete sentences on the slide. This will ensure that your students are paying attention to you and your lecture, rather than simply attempting to read the text on the slide.

Notice how in the first slide, complete sentences overwhelm the reader and make it difficult to understand what facts are key pieces of information. In the second presentation slide below, the points are bulleted and the key takeaways are highlighted in a bolder typeface of the same family as well as with color (we will go more in depth on color in the next section).

In this last example, notice how the incorporation of more than one visual aids separates the points by categories, alongside the subheading in a bolder, larger font. The sub-point in the last bulleted statement is in a smaller font, showing that it holds the least amount of importance on this slide.

In a perfect world, we would all have the time to learn the basics of color theory. Though seemingly intuitive, figuring out which colors are compatible is harder than it seems.

The easiest rules to remember are those of complementary colors and analogous colors. Complementary colors are those that are on opposing sides of the color wheel (for instance, Christmas’s green and red, or Pepperdine’s blue and orange). Analogous colors are any four slices on the wheel that are directly connected to one another (such as “yellow” all the way to “red-orange”).

Don’t worry, color theory memorization is not required to create a great presentation. If you would like to experiment with color, Adobe Color allows you to select any color on the color wheel and will automatically provide you with compatible colors based on your selection.

In terms of perception, brighter, more vibrant colors often come across as more playful, while darker colors often feel a little cooler and usually more professional.

Notice how in the slide below, incorporating a complimentary color theme and visual hierarchy makes the slide seems more professional and more engaging.

This slide was created with the help of a free template. Powerpoint and Google Slides both have pre-generated theme templates that are easily accessible. SlideCarnival is a reliable site with more options that may be downloaded for Powerpoint and/or Google Slides.

To breathe life into an ancient cliche, a picture is worth a thousand words. This is even more noteworthy when presenting information to an audience. Though a picture may not give all of the detail needed to grasp a concept, a picture will act as a visual image to aid in the memory and understanding of whatever topic presented, as long as it is related.

Overall, the best visuals are often the ones that are simply designed. If your image is too large, the audience may tend to focus on it and be distracted from the key information.

One of the only times suggested to use a large image, or background picture, is for introductory slides. This image paints a foreshadowing picture of the topic, as well as leaves room for the instructor to provide a preliminary lecture for the upcoming section.

It is often handy to incorporate visual images in presentations, whether that be through pictures, icons or data displays. It is pertinent that the image is directly relevant to the topic discussed on the same slide to aid in consistency and lecture retention.

Visuals should always help illustrate the point. If desired, icons can be the extras that make your presentation fun and visually pleasing. Much like images, icons should always directly relate to the point being presented.

You can download free icons online through reliable sites, such as TheNounProject , FlatIcon , or IconFinder .

Charts, TABLEs and graphs

You can also use visuals to conceptualize big numbers and data.

Timelines, such as the one shown below present data against time in sequential order. This allows you to tell a story chronologically or present data that shows progression over time.

A pie chart or data table as shown, or any other chart/table that best represents your data can be a fantastic visual aid for a presentation. Incorporating visuals that are standard and your audience is likely already familiar with can make your presentation easier to understand.

Multimedia elements can be extremely useful and memorable ways to convey information. If there are certain videos or audio clips that you would like to incorporate into your presentation, it may behoove you to embed them into your slideshow rather than disrupting your flow by exiting out and opening a new window.

Aside from videos and audio clips, you can also incorporate gifs by downloading them off reliable websites, such as Giphy.com , and importing them as if they were ordinary images.

VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS FOR GOOGLE SLIDES

1. On the slide that you would like the place an audio or video clip, select “Insert” at the top left of your menu bar on Google Slides.

2. For this guide, we will select “Video.” A new window will appear with a title of “Insert Video.” From here, you may either search for a video on Youtube, copy and paste a video URL, or import a video from your Google Drive.

3. After choosing your video and embedding method of choice, click “Select” to have your video placed on your side. Feel free to resize and reposition your video to your liking.

4. Notice that a new menu titled “Format options” now appears to your right side. Here, you can adjust the settings of your video, such as whether you would like the video to automatically play once you enter this slide, when the video should start/end, etc.

VIDEO Instructions for Microsoft Powerpoint

1. On the slide that you would like the place an audio or video clip, select “Insert” at the top left of your menu bar on Powerpoint.

2. Navigate to the right side of the toolbar that has now been presented. Here, you will see the options to either import your video or audio of choice.

3. For this guide, you may select “Video” and have the drop-down menu appear. From these two selections, you may either use “Movie Browser” to search your computer for movies (iMove files, Adobe Premiere files, etc.) or “Movie from File” if you would like to import a video saved from your desktop.

Note that, unlike Google Slides, you are not able to search a video on Youtube or simply link a URL. This will mean you need to take a few extra steps for inserting a specific video from online that you desire. You may download the video off Youtube through any reliable Youtube to MP4 converter, such as https://ytmp3.cc/en13/ , or find a free, downloadable source.

Transitions are the potential effect selections you may choose as you move from one slide to the next. It is advised to either choose one (or no) transitions throughout the entirety of the presentations for consistency, or mindfully choose a transition for a specific slide to illustrate a memorable point. This is due to the fact that though continuously changing transitions may be fun and quirky, they have the potential to seriously distract your audience.

transition instructions for google slides

1. If you would like to emphasis a certain slide with a transition, go on the slide you wish to have a transition effect on in Google Slides. Select “Transition” at the top of your menu.

If you would like to set one consistent transition throughout your presentation, you may click on “Transition” as well.

2. From here, a new menu will appear on your right. Under “Slide Transition” you will see that you can select your desired transition, as well as dictate the speed at which the effect will occur by moving the yellow bar.

By selecting the drop-down menu, you will see a list of possible Google Slide transitions. By selecting “Play” , you may preview the effect. The button titled “Apply to all slides” will automatically set this effect to all slides in your presentation.

transition instructions for microsoft powerpoint

1. If you would like to emphasis a certain slide with a transition, go on the slide you wish to have a transition effect on in Powerpoint. Select “Transitions” at the top of your menu.

If you would like to set one consistent transition throughout your presentation, you may click on “Transitions” as well.

2. By selecting the dropdown menu under the transition images, you will see the entirity of your transition effect options.

3. On the right side of your transition options, you will see a variety of transition preferences you may adjust, such as how this transition will occur and for how long.

If you would like to set a general, consistent transition effect across your entire presentation, select “Apply To All” on the far right of the menu.

Animations are movements that can be applied to objects within a slide. Since animations are pretty fun, it’s easy to get carried away. Animations are best used when it relates and enhances the message presented and you want the audience to remember the point you are making.

We will now give you two examples and step-by-step instructions on how to properly incorporate animations in your presentation. Though one set of instructions will be for Google Slides and another for Microsoft Powerpoint, the concepts and procedures remain the same on both interfaces.

animation instructions for google slides

Sometimes, it’s beneficial to not have all of your information presented on the screen at once, so students can focus on one point at a time instead of haphazardly attempting to copy all information provided in their notes. For this example, we will be using the timeline icons slide. Having a point on a timeline appear on-click is a very common way to guide discussion.

1. Go on the presentation and slide in which you would wish to have animations.

2. Highlight the object(s) you would like to be animated. In this case, we are highlighting the text boxes, bar, and circle icon all together to be animated as one cohesive object.

3. With the object(s) still selected, you may release your click and navigate toward “Animate” at the top of Google’s menu bar.

4. Now you will see a “Motion” menu pop-up on the right side. This is where you can adjust the animation settings. Because we mass selected objects, you will see each object and their coinciding default selection. Click the arrow on the left to see a list of animation details.

5. If you click the arrow next to the “Fade In” option, you will see a drop-down menu of all potential animation selections for an object. For our purposes, we will leave it at “Fade In.”

6. If you click the arrow next to the “On Click” option, you will see a drop-down menu of all potential selections for when the object will animate. For our purposes, leave the selection to “On Click” for the first selected object on the top.

7. The right-hand bar in yellow indicates the speed of which these animations will move. For our example, you may leave the animation at it’s default pace.

8. For the latter objects, make sure that the “On Click” selection is set as “(With previous)”. This will ensure that all objects will appear at the same time, instead of staggered.

9. Apply steps 2-8 to the next timeline objects.

10. Now, when you press “Play” or present your slideshow, you will see that the animations will appear on each click.

ANIMATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR microsoft POWERPOINT

3. Next, select “Animations” on the top of your menu.

You can now see all of the default animation selections at your disposal. Since we are trying to represent the fact that “water positively increases nutrient mobility in the body,” the “Rise Up” animation will help illustrate that point.

You will now see a new menu appear on the right of your presentation. This will show all of the objects that you have animations on this particular slide. Notice the tabs titled “Effect Options,” “Timing,” and “Triggers.” This is where you may adjust the details for your animations.

You will also notice your selected objects on the slide having numbers next to them. Since they are grouped as one, all of these objects will have the number “1” next to them, meaning that they will be the first to animate. These numbers will not appear when you present the presentation.

4. Under “Timing,” it is preferential to select “On Click” so your animation will happen on the command of your click.

You can also see the same options appear on the top right of your menu bar.

5. Now, this “Rise Up” animation can be shown through a trial play through of your presentation. On your click, the selected objects should now move themselves up to their establish position.

Hotkeys are keyboard shortcuts. By clicking these letters and/or symbols at once, you may conduct an action in one press that may have taken you several clicks. Though seemingly confusing and hard to memorize at first, after frequent practice, hotkeys are incredibly useful for speeding up the presentation creation process.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS for microsoft powerpoint

Below is a list of the most popular hotkeys/shortcuts used for creating Powerpoint presentations. For a complete list, visit Microsoft’s blogpost by clicking here .

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS FOR MICROSOFT POWERPOINT

Below is a list of the most popular hotkeys/shortcuts used for creating Google Slides presentations. For a complete list, visit Google’s blogpost by clicking here .

IF YOU NEED ANY TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO INFORMATION SERVICES AT (310) 506-7425 OR  [email protected].  GOOD LUCK!

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4 Ways To Deliver Clear And Concise Legal Presentations That Achieve Your Objectives

The art of time management.

The Importance of Career Preparation in 2023

In the legal field, effective communication is key. Whether you are presenting a case in court or delivering a briefing to clients, the ability to provide clear and concise legal presentations is essential.

Legal presentations that are confusing, unorganised or filled with legal jargon can result in miscommunication, loss of credibility, and even loss of the case.

We have compiled four tips for delivering effective legal presentations to avoid these pitfalls and ensure your message is understood. Our tips cover everything from structuring your presentation to using visual aids to engage your audience. By following these tips, you can create compelling and engaging presentations to help you achieve your legal objectives.

Use Stories And Examples

Legal concepts can be complex and challenging to understand, especially for those outside the legal field. Stories and examples are a powerful way to simplify complex legal concepts and make your message more memorable.

You can help your audience understand how legal concepts apply to real-world situations by providing relatable and relevant examples. This can help them better understand your message and remember it long after the presentation is over.

To choose effective examples, it is important to consider your audience’s background and knowledge. Look for examples that they can relate to and understand, such as current events or popular culture references.

You can also use personal anecdotes or case studies to illustrate legal concepts and show how they have been applied in the past. By telling stories , you can make your message more engaging and easier to remember.

However, it is important to ensure that your examples are accurate and relevant to your message. Avoid using examples that are overly complex or unrelated to your topic.

Using stories and examples can be a powerful tool for simplifying complex legal concepts and making your message more memorable. By choosing relevant and relatable examples, you can engage your audience and help them better understand your message.

Practice And Rehearse

Effective legal presentations require practice and rehearsal to deliver a clear and confident message. Without adequate preparation, even the most experienced speakers can falter.

To prepare for a legal presentation, start by understanding your audience and their needs. Determine the key message you want to convey and the supporting points to help you achieve your objectives.

Create a detailed outline of your presentation and practice delivering it out loud. This will help you identify any areas that need improvement, such as confusing or convoluted language.

Use visual aids like slides or handouts to support your message and enhance audience engagement. Practice incorporating these aids seamlessly into your presentation.

Additionally, consider practising in front of a friend or colleague who can provide constructive feedback. This will help you refine your message and delivery before the actual presentation.

Remember, practice makes perfect. By dedicating time and effort to rehearsal, you can deliver a clear, confident legal presentation that achieves your objectives.

Use Effective Delivery Techniques

When delivering a legal presentation, your message can be greatly enhanced by using effective delivery techniques. These techniques include body language, voice modulation, and eye contact.

Body language can convey confidence, authority, and enthusiasm to your audience. Stand up straight, use appropriate gestures, and maintain eye contact to project a positive and engaging image.

Voice modulation can also greatly enhance your message. Varying the tone, pace, and volume of your voice can help to emphasise key points and maintain the interest of your audience.

Additionally, you can incorporate live polls from vevox.com during your presentation to engage your audience and encourage participation. Live polls can also provide valuable feedback and insights into audience preferences and opinions.

Maintaining eye contact with your audience is also crucial to making a connection with them. This can help you to gauge their reactions and adjust your delivery accordingly.

To use these techniques effectively, it is essential to practice them beforehand. Rehearsing your presentation in front of a mirror or with a friend can help you identify improvement areas and build your confidence.

Remember to be natural and authentic in your delivery, and use these techniques to support and enhance your message, not to distract from it.

Address Potential Questions And Concerns

Anticipating questions and concerns helps you prepare for any potential challenges during your presentation. It demonstrates your expertise and shows that you understand your audience’s needs . Here are some tips for handling difficult questions and concerns:

• Listen Carefully: Pay close attention to the question or concern and avoid interrupting or dismissing the audience member.
• Acknowledge And Clarify: Repeat the question or concern to ensure you understand it and demonstrate that you are taking it seriously.
• Provide An Answer: Answer the question or address the concern to the best of your ability, using relevant examples or data.
• Stay Calm And Professional: Maintain a professional demeanour and avoid becoming defensive or argumentative.
• Follow Up: If you do not know the answer to a question, commit to following up with the audience member later.
• Be Honest: If you make a mistake, admit it and correct it as soon as possible.

By anticipating and addressing potential questions and concerns, you can build trust and credibility with your audience, making your presentation more effective and memorable.

Camilla Uppal

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On Deck: Pro Tips for Creating Masterful Presentations

Pro tips secrets for creating masterful presentations. Heidi Alexander, Jim Calloway, Simon Chester, Reid Trautz & Nora Regis share their secrets to presentation power.

Table of contents

Simon chester: be different, plot your story.

• Reid Trautz: Get Quality Photos for Your Presentations

Jim Calloway: Make a Good Speech Better with PowerPoint

Heidi alexander: push the presentation envelope, more tips to help with masterful presentations:.

For Friday Five+ Tech Tips, we invite a dream team of law practice technology experts to give their best advice for tackling the everyday tech quandaries that plague us all, to help your practice run just a bit more smoothly.   T his month’s question: “What’s your best advice for making better presentations?”

Heidi Alexander, Jim Calloway, Simon Chester, Reid Trautz and Nora Regis have logged a dizzying number of presentations. Here’s what they’ve learned about powering up your time at the podium.

For more tech tips from the pros, click here.

Presentations are only as good as your focus on the audience. Understanding their needs, concerns and priorities is critical. Even if you use the most dazzling presentation software, you will fail if you don’t give the audience what it needs — whether that be a challenge, useful information or just entertainment.

Lawyers are wordy creatures. And we love bulleted lists. This is how we fall into every “death by PowerPoint” trap there is. With no story plotted out or logical progression, a lawyer’s need to be precise with quotations can lead to screens full of illegible extracts.

So be different. Stand out.

If you can’t cover the entire content of a slide in a single breath, split the content and move it to a new slide. Cut. Edit. Cut again.

Better still — find a picture that replaces the words and makes your point. Anything to get away from those wretched bullet points.

For the last five years, I have only used PowerPoint when compelled to do so by the conference I’m speaking at. I’d much rather use Prezi , which is powerful and intuitive, and will lead you to focus on story. Another tool I’ve started exploring is mobile-based voting software Mentimeter , which lets you ask questions of your real or virtual audience.

Finally, never sit down. And don’t hide behind a podium. Know your points well enough that you can take a step toward the audience and stand out, confident that your wireless microphone and your slide advance pointer will connect you to your presentation and to your audience.

Remember, ultimately, it’s all about your audience.

Simon Chester is Counsel, Conflicts and Regulatory Matters with Gowlings WLG (Canada) LLP. His career includes law teaching, government service and 30 years of big firm private practice. A Fellow and past-President of the College of Law Practice Management, he has spoken on professional and technology issues to hundreds of groups in 10 countries.

Reid Trautz: Get Quality Photos for Your Presentations

Whether for a PowerPoint presentation or your law firm website or blog, there are times lawyers need to use photos and graphics to give a project some pizzazz. Contracting for or licensing professional photos can be expensive, and just grabbing them off the Internet probably violates intellectual property rights. However, there is another option. Get copyright-free and royalty-free images using one of these popular sites:

• Unsplash.  Search for and download free, high-resolution photos. No attribution necessary.
• StockSnap.  Free stock photos with no attribution or copyright requirements.
• Morguefile : A free archive of high-res stock photos from a site with a curious name. Photographer attribution is requested for each photo, but no copyright concerns. Editing of photos is permitted.

If you are feeling a bit more creative, then try Canva. This freemium site allows you to create your own designs and photos from more than a million free or low-cost images.

Reid F. Trautz (@RTrautz)   is Director of the Practice & Professionalism Center of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and a  blogger  on the issues of business process improvement, technology, legal ethics and effective practice management. Reid is co-author of the ABA’s “ The Busy Lawyer’s Guide to Success: Essential Tips to Power Your Practice ” and a past ABA TECHSHOW chair.

I’m a Microsoft PowerPoint user. I hear about Prezi and Keynote, but I see nothing broken with PowerPoint and am not looking for an alternative. I have given hundreds of presentations to groups of lawyers using PPT. Although we hear and read many complaints about bad — yes, even terrible — PPT presentations, I say it’s not the fault of the tool, it’s the fault of the user.

PowerPoint is a tool you can use to give visual illustrations to a presentation. So first and foremost (and last, too) remember you are giving a speech. You are not giving a PowerPoint. PowerPoint can make a good speech even better, but it can also make a dreadful speech worse.

Hopefully, you have provided the audience with a handout or CLE paper with important details and citations of authority. Maybe you have included some nice lengthy block quotes from court opinions or treatises. That is great because none of that belongs in a PPT slide. Instead, use some nice images that make your point, along with a few words. I’ve seen lawyers at the podium put up five consecutive slides stuffed full of text, as they exhaustively travel from section 101 to 101.6 of some statute or regulation. The audience looks worried at the second slide of statutory text and by slide 5, they all have their smartphones out checking email. Put that all in your paper.

Here are a few of my favorite presentation tips:

• Always use a clicker. You want to maintain eye contact with your audience as much as possible. Even looking down at the keyboard to press the spacebar can break the contact. Keep your clicker in your hand and learn to operate the Next Slide and Back buttons by feel− even if you are standing a foot from your laptop. My favorite is the Kensington Wireless Presenter, at around $50. You will note I said Spacebar. There are many keys that advance from one slide to the next slide (N, Enter, Page Down, Right Arrow, Down Arrow, or Spacebar). But — pro tip here — the spacebar is the biggest and easiest to find, so use it if your clicker quits working.
• Have a display of the presentation in your line of sight as you look at the audience. Maybe the room will have a presenter’s view monitor or maybe your laptop can serve that function. But nothing is more distracting than a speaker who is constantly looking back over his/her shoulder to see what slide is displaying. (Related tip: Print a backup of your slides on paper. If you are positioned where you cannot see any display or you have a complete technology failure, you will be glad to have the printout to fall back on.)
• Memorize these keyboard shortcuts. During a presentation, the B key turns the screen black and W turns the screen white. Hitting the key again returns to the presentation. If you want the audience to look at you when they are looking at the PPT, use one of these keys. You will get an amazing feeling of power as an entire audience turns to look at you in unison. Have something worth saying! The other keyboard shortcut to know is Slide Number + Enter.  Sometimes it is easy to get off track, particularly if you are taking questions. Memorize or write down the summary slide near the end and a few “landmark slides” so you can use Slide Number + Enter to jump back into your train of thought.
• Note PowerPoint fashions. In the olden days, audiences who were used to being hammered by a series of bullet point after bullet point slides appreciated your clipart as a break from all the text. Now clipart looks out of date. Use striking high-resolution photos. A quick video or two will peak everyone’s interest. But quick means 25-30 seconds, not four minutes.
• Respect other’s copyrighted images. Sure Google Images can be searched for images designated as being available for reuse, but do you really know if it was uploaded by the copyright holder? You have a camera in your pocket. Use it. Try to create some fresh graphics the audience has never seen before. If you take the picture, you own the copyright. If you are a terrible photographer, enlist a friend or family member. You are a lawyer so they probably won’t even be surprised when you give them a release to sign for you to use their photos.
• Learn from others. See what other presenters do, both good and bad, and learn from them. I was fortunate to be mentored on doing CLE presentations by the late Ross Kodner, and I will share his words of wisdom with all of you. He said, “Lawyers have to listen to a lot of boring crap. If you are entertaining and give them a few chances to laugh, they will love your presentations.” That may be harder to do when your topic is recent changes to IRS regulations, but consider it a professional challenge.

Jim Calloway  (@JimCalloway) is Director of the Management Assistance Program for the Oklahoma Bar Association and is the author of several ABA books. He blogs at Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips and co-produces the podcast  The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology.

If you have a Mac or iOS device, try out Keynote (free with any new Mac from 2013 on), Apple’s native presentation program. With clean and elegant themes, Keynote provides a refreshing break from the PowerPoint norm.

When giving a Keynote presentation, you can use your iPhone or Apple Watch as a remote by pairing it to your Mac or iOS device. I love the seamlessness of running a presentation on my iPad while using my Apple Watch as a remote, raising my wrist ever so slightly to advance a slide.  

The more you can engage your audience, the better. During your presentation, try using polling with an app such as Poll Everywhere  (free for up to 25 responses per poll). If you are feeling adventurous, take a look at David Colarusso ’s (data scientist and attorney) new tool, Crowd Queue for soliciting and prioritizing attendee questions. In addition, reserve time for a mid-presentation exercise or group discussion to help your audience personalize your presentation (for more on this concept, listen to this Lawyerist podcast with Matt Homann of Filament ). And, finally, when you’ve finished with your presentation, note what went well, what could be improved, and any feedback you received. Keep a running list in a program like Evernote  to refer to when you create and give your next presentation.

For advice on creating and delivering presentations, be sure to read David Sparks’ (aka “MacSparky”) excellent e-book, “ Presentations .”  

Heidi S. Alexander  (@heidialexander) is a law practice management advisor at the  Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program  (MassLOMAP), where she advises lawyers on practice management matters and in implementing new technologies.  A frequent speaker and blogger, Heidi co-hosts LOMAP’s  Legal Toolkit and Lunch Hour Legal Marketing podcasts.

Nora Regis: PowerPoint Handout Hack

My must-have for every presentation is solid handouts, with in-depth material to supplement the minimal slide. As a PowerPoint user, I’m very aware of “death by PowerPoint.” The only thing worse than cluttered slides are people reading their slides to you. With strong handouts, you can keep your slides spare but your audience won’t feel shortchanged on information.

PowerPoint makes it easy to make handouts in Word. In version 2013, go to File > Export and select Create Handouts. I choose the “Notes Below Slides” option so I can then write paragraphs of formatted content in Word and add clickable hyperlinks below the slide. Remember that once you’ve converted to Word, the information on the slide is now an image, and you cannot edit it the way you would in PowerPoint.

Nora Regis   ( @NoraRegisCBA)  is Trainer & Coordinator, Law Practice Management and Technology, for the Chicago Bar Association.  Nora is a former paralegal, specializing in litigation and bankruptcy. Prior to working in legal, she was a technology help desk agent at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Joan Feldman is Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder of Attorney at Work , publishing “one really good idea every day” since 2011. She has created and steered myriad leading practice management and trade publications, including the ABA’s Law Practice magazine where she served as managing editor for a dozen years. Joan is a Fellow and served as a Trustee of the College of Law Practice Management. Follow her on LinkedIn and @JoanHFeldman.

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• Practical Law

Presentation skills: the basics

Practical law uk practice note w-020-4042  (approx. 7 pages).

• Presenting your department's strategic plan to the organisation's board.
• Addressing shareholders at your organisation's AGM.
• Explaining to the organisation what the legal function does and how it contributes to wider business goals.
• Addressing the media, possibly in response to a crisis.
• Speaking at industry conferences, either as a speaker or chair of a panel.

Effective ways to prepare for a presentation

Research your audience.

• What aspect of your subject area are the audience most interested in?
• How well informed about the subject are the audience?
• Are the audience interested in the subject from a particular perspective (for example, from a finance, legal, marketing or other viewpoint)?

What are the key takeaways

Plan your presentation.

• Tell them what you are going to tell them. Introduce your big idea at the outset and explain that your presentation will enlarge on that theme.
• Tell them. This is the main body of your presentation.
• Tell them what you have told them. When you reach the end of the main body, summarise by repeating your core theme, this time with the supporting points in short, bullet point style.

Chairing a panel

Organise a preparation call.

• Are going to be relevant on content.
• Stick to the panel topic.
• Have considered what they are going to say.
• Do not overlap on content.
• Have enough (but not too much) to say in the time allotted to them.

Starting the session

Moderating the discussion.

"Alex, that's a really interesting point; and one I've struggled with. Cameron, what's your view on this?"

"That sounds great, Evan. So, if I've understood correctly, in a nutshell…"

Q&A session

• Communicate and train
• Managing ethics and culture

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A Russian guided bomb attack on Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv hit a residential building and a playground, killing four people, including a child, and injuring at least 28 more, local authorities said.

Why Companies Are Exiting China And What Leaders Can Do About It

HONG KONG - MARCH 8: Companies leaving China (Photo by Christian Keenan/Getty Images)

As corporations like Microsoft, Dell, Stanley Black & Decker, Blizzard Entertainment, and Airbnb pull back on China , dozens of others are shifting their global footprints, sighting everything from supply chain concerns to concentration risks. Investors from BlackRock to JC2 Ventures, and the world’s top Tech. firms are making moves to protect their intellectual property (IP) and competitiveness—with many moving their next-gen development projects, like cloud and artificial intelligence (AI), to other countries.

Behind closed doors, leaders and board members will tell you that political tensions, cybersecurity, and rule-of-law concerns are also driving these decisions. IBM is the latest China casualty, who just this week announced they are shutting down their 1000 person R&D facility there.

In the intricate web of global trade, supply chains are the lifelines that connect the world, driving economic growth and ensuring the seamless flow of goods and services across borders. However, as the world has evolved, so too have the complexities of these supply chains. A subtle yet significant imbalance has emerged, where the concentration of power in specific regions has begun to influence global trade dynamics and economic stability. Today, as businesses and economies recover and rebuild in a post-pandemic landscape, the concentration of supply chain power in regions like China has come to the forefront of strategic and governance discussions.

I talked with John Chambers, Cisco’s Chairman Emeritus and CEO of JC2 Ventures, a tech. leader who is pessimistic on China and betting on India, France and America: saying, “I don't want my startups doing business in China. We are seeing early signs that China is losing its [market] leadership. I felt India would be the most innovative nation in the world over the next several decades. With the best relationships with America, I'm betting on India and big on strategic partnerships.”

A recent report by the State Council Information Office, the People’s Republic of China found that China’s share of global manufacturing output reached around 30% in 2022, equaling nearly $4 trillion, compared with 28.5% in 2018 and 22.3% in 2012. While this concentration has led to remarkable efficiency and cost-effectiveness, it also exposes significant vulnerabilities. A disruption in a single region can now have far-reaching consequences, potentially destabilizing the entire global economy.

Securing Global Supply Chain Diversification

I recently sat down with Lakshmanan Chidambaram (CTL), President and Head of Americas Leadership Council, Tech Mahindra and Americas Head, Mahindra Group – an organization that is at the forefront of redefining supply chain dynamics by addressing this imbalance of power and transforming the industry with AI. He believes that to mitigate the risks of supply chain imbalance and power concentration, and to ensure a more resilient future, “it is imperative to diversify supply chains.”

As for a solution, he shared that by “exploring and investing in alternative hubs, businesses can reduce dependency, foster innovation, and create a more balanced and stable global economy. I believe this approach safeguards against unforeseen disruptions and paves the way for a more equitable distribution of economic power.”

In an increasingly interconnected world, the strength of the global supply chain lies in its diversity. A geographically spread supply chain acts as a buffer against localized disruptions, whether from natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, or economic shifts. It also opens doors to innovation and growth by tapping into local expertise and adapting to different market demands.

According to CTL, the China Plus One (also known as Plus One or C+1) approach has emerged as a strategic path to diversification, encouraging organizations to expand their supply chains beyond China by incorporating an additional location. This strategy was formed in response to the growing awareness of the risks associated with over-reliance on a single country, no matter how efficient. There are several nations that combined can reduce the over-dependence of supply chains on China by moving operations to other parts of the world.

International brands continue to express a growing number of concerns with China and have already shifted production outside of the country. For example, a leading cosmetic brand recently invested over $50 million in its Jakarta plant in Indonesia, moving its base away from China. More companies are also looking to Vietnam, which generated $22.4 billion from foreign direct investment projects in 2022 – an increase of 13.5% over the previous year. Similarly, India’s successful electronics sector is gaining appeal, with electronics exports tripling since 2018. J.P. Morgan estimates a quarter of all iPhones will be made in India by 2025. That is a lot of phones.

How To Partner With Indian Companies

India is emerging as a pivotal player in the global supply chain landscape, positioning itself as a prime alternative to China in the ‘China Plus One’ strategy.

According to CTL and John Chambers, government initiatives like ‘Make in India’ have significantly bolstered the manufacturing sector, with policies designed to ease business operations, attract foreign investments, and create an ecosystem conducive to industrial growth. This push is complemented by India's abundant skilled workforce and its large domestic market, which together create a robust foundation for sustainable industrial expansion.

India’s labor force is a compelling factor in its rise as a supply chain hub. Recently surpassing China to become the world’s most populous country, India boasts a young and dynamic population, with 60% under the age of 30. This demographic dividend translates into a vast talent pool, particularly in engineering and technical fields, with thousands of engineers graduating each year under the ‘Skill India’ initiative.

Even the World Bank’s CEO has underscored this potential, urging India to capitalize on the ‘China Plus One’ opportunity. This sentiment reflects India’s unique position both geographically and geopolitically. CTL shared that, “as the world’s largest democracy, India offers a stable political environment and a legal framework that supports business continuity. Geographically, its location provides strategic advantages for global trade routes, making it a crucial node in the supply chain network.”

Using AI To Secure Your Ecosystems

When I asked about examples with CTL, I was fascinated by some of the offerings his company has to help clients reboot the imbalance of power and bolster the supply chain with technological innovation.

One such initiative we discussed, “Factories of the Future”, is an interesting example of how digital manufacturing can streamline production. Tech Mahindra recently collaborated with a leading Indian multinational car manufacturer that faced a critical need for end-to-end IT, digital manufacturing, and automation implementation at a scale unmatched in the industry. The company deployed a $40 million complex Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and IT infrastructure across a 230-acre site, supporting 20 large manufacturing shops spread across 700 acres. This solution integrated advanced digital manufacturing and simulation technologies, including BOM Management, Factory 3-D Layouts, and Logistics Planning, enabling seamless real-time operations. By leveraging modern network architecture and the Internet of Things (IoT), production processes can be transformed into more flexible and efficient systems.

With supply chains rocked by unprecedented disruptions, it is also imperative to build resilient supply chains of the future, powered by the precision of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Traditionally, supply chain operations have relied on manual, spreadsheet-based analytics, making them vulnerable to errors and inefficiencies. These are now being transformed by integrating AI-driven forecasting models that drastically reduce errors. That beats old spreadsheets.

Through AI, Mahindra and others are enabling enterprises to relocate production closer to key markets, reducing over-dependence on single sources, and maintaining competitive cost-efficiency. What’s important is having AI-powered enterprise resource planning systems that simplify decision-making and ensure the right information is available at the right time—allowing operators to make swift, agile, and informed decisions.

Rebooting Innovation And Sustainability

In today’s global economy, sustainability is no longer a choice but a necessity, driven by regulatory pressures and the rising demand from consumers and partners alike. Organizations understand that the journey of a product—from raw material sourcing to production, storage, and delivery—carries significant environmental and social implications.

“An organization’s sustainable supply chain strategy must focus on environmental protection, social and ethical responsibility, and strong governance,” said CTL. “This approach is not only about reducing carbon footprints or meeting ESG data reporting standards; it's also about embedding sustainability at every stage of the value chain. The impact of these efforts is profound—creating positive change that ripples far beyond its direct operations, ensuring that every link in the supply chain is aligned with the company’s commitment to a sustainable and responsible future. This is a testament to how sustainability can drive long-term profitability and viability.”

Sustainable business practices will continue to be top of mind, as the effects of more extreme global incidents wreak havoc on local economies and their supply chains. Geopolitical and environmental policies will also likely play a role in decision-making around which countries to partner with when diversifying.

As the balance of power and complex emerging issues continue to shift around the globe, the most agile companies will be best positioned for competitiveness and growth. Now more than ever, leaders need to find the right partners to help them navigate the messy landscapes ahead to position their company for sustainable success.

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Former Client Sues Bradley Arant for Exposing Him to $16M in Liability

“The presentation that they made at the arbitration was woefully defective,” said attorney Rob Sall of Sall Spencer Callas & Krueger.

August 29, 2024 at 05:25 PM

4 minute read

Legal Malpractice

Thomas Spigolon

Share with email, thank you for sharing, what you need to know.

• San Diego-based Rockhill Consulting and its president sued the Alabama-founded law firm.
• The firm allegedly failed to advise the plaintiffs of the risks and strength of the opposing party's claims.
• The suit was filed Wednesday in the Eureka Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

A California-based business manager says Bradley Arant Boult Cummings attorneys were so unprepared to represent him during arbitration in a 2018 contract dispute case that he could be on the hook for millions in liability.

San Diego-based Rockhill Consulting Group and its president, Dan Koetting, sued the Alabama-founded Second Hundred law firm and its former attorney S. David Smith in California federal court after it allegedly failed to advise the plaintiffs of the risks and strength of the opposing party’s claims and failed to conduct necessary discovery. 

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Things To Do | Historical re-enactor will share WWII VJ Day…

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Subscriber only, things to do | historical re-enactor will share wwii vj day presentation in kingston on saturday.

KINGSTON, N.Y. — Historical re-enactor Yank Host will present a WWII VJ Day presentation at the Matthewis Persen House at 74 John St. on Saturday, Aug. 31, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The program will delve into the significance of Victory over Japan Day and the events leading to the end of WWII, an […]

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