rules-of-court court
Is it common for plaintiffs to present their case at court hearings with an actual presentation?
<p>At court hearings, where the plaintiff (or their lawyer) is given time to present their case, is it common for them to do it with an actual on-screen slide show presentation (like at a conference)?</p>

<p>Are there any rules or nuances about that?</p>

<p>(Any jurisdiction).</p>

<p>Yes, what you're describing is very common.</p>
<p>There is an entire industry built around helping lawyers prepare and assemble presentations for opening and closing arguments. I've seen people use PowerPoint, timeline software, and all sorts of things. Google &quot;trial presentation vendors&quot; for examples.</p>

<p>Typically, a court presentation to a jury has multiple parts.</p>
<p>First, the jury is selected and there are showmanship aspects to it, but simple questions are used.</p>
<p>Then, each side presents opening arguments to the jury which may use AV aids.</p>
<p>Then, each side presents witnesses and through the witnesses, exhibits. Sometimes exhibits are presented in an AV format as support for witness questioning and the extent to which this is done varies greatly. Sometimes short videos are present as evidence.</p>
<p>In Colorado, where I practice, almost all documentary evidence in federal court (except where the authenticity of a physical piece of paper is at issue) is required to be presented to the jury in an electronic form displayed to jurors on screens designed for that purpose in a recently completed, ultramodern court house. In courts of limited jurisdiction handling smaller claims and misdemeanors, AV presentation of evidence is almost non-existent and paper copies of exhibits in juror notebooks (usually short ones) are used. In state courts of general jurisdictions that handle state felonies and larger civil claims including all real estate disputes and virtually all personal injury cases, AV presentations are more common in urban counties than rural ones and in higher stakes disputes than in lower stakes more pedestrian cases, and overall AV methods are used to present actual evidence in maybe 10%-20% of cases, usually by a large law firm, or boutique law firm (i.e. specialized high end firm similar to a department of a large law firm) in a high stakes case.</p>
<p>Then, each side presents closing arguments, which may use AV aids.</p>
<p>Then, the jury is instructed by the judge and charged to deliberate.</p>
<p>The trial court judge has broad discretion to allow or disallow the use of AV aids that is pretty much unreviewable and must grant parties permission to do so (usually orally in a pre-trial conference rather than with express permission sought in a written motion), although it might be an abuse of discretion to disallow the presentation of a video clip or audio clip that is otherwise admissible evidence in an AV format. Some judges, even within the same court handling the same kind of case with the same lawyers on each side, would have differing levels of comfort with this mode of presentation.</p>
