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Corporate Case Study
Villari,
Brandes & Kline, P.C. Lawyers
Lawyers
grab jurors’ attention with visual evidence
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Personal
injury lawyers Peter Villari and Paul Brandes, of the Villari, Brandes
& Kline law firm, have tried everything to keep
jurors’ attention in the courtroom – voice
inflection, moving around the courtroom and even dropping books on the
floor.
“In our birth-trauma and general medical malpractice
litigation, we found an increasingly greater need to be visual with the
jury because, frankly, they fall asleep on you,” explains
Peter Villari. To make information more visual, Villari and Brandes
tried using basic blackboards, poster boards and slide presentations.
“But we kept thinking, ‘This just doesn’t
seem to be doing what we want. There must be something else out
there’,” says Villari.
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That’s
when a company that makes trial-presentation software introduced
Villari and Brandes to the SMART BoardTM interactive whiteboard.
“They
brought one into our firm and showed us what it can do, and we thought,
‘Whoa, this is terrific.’ We were surprised at how
reasonable it was to purchase, too. Initially, when we asked what the
cost was, we were ready to cringe. But it’s not
expensive.”
That
was five years ago, and Villari says since then they keep finding more
ways to integrate the product into their work. Now, they bring a
projector, a laptop, the SMART Board interactive whiteboard and a
printer whenever they are in the courtroom.
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“We
started to use it because we liked that we and our experts could
interact with data right in front of a jury. You can take a volume of
evidence, put it on CD-ROMs and get at it instantly,” says
Villari.
“We
believe with the SMART Board interactive whiteboard we’ve
overcome the biggest challenge faced by lawyers,” says
Villari. “Juries are absolutely on the edge of their seats
watching the information come to life. Evidence is no longer just
heard. It’s heard and seen.”
Recently,
Villari and Brandes used the interactive whiteboard in a malpractice
trial involving a blood disorder doctors didn’t detect. The
defendant claimed not to have seen a particular type of broken blood
cell in a smear test. “But our experts said there were
numerous cells of this type on the slide. The big dispute was whether
the cells were there,” explains Villari.
At the trial,
Villari and Brandes presented a photograph of the blood smear slide on
the SMART Board interactive whiteboard.
“We
called the defendant to the witness stand and started cross-examining
him. Then we brought him from the witness stand to the SMART Board
interactive whiteboard, gave him a pen and asked him to circle all of
the broken red blood cells he could see. He started circling and
circling and circling. He circled so many that he blurted out,
‘Wow, I never realized there were so many of these
cells.’ At that point, we had the defendant initial the image
on the screen. We printed it, marked it as an exhibit, offered it into
evidence and within five minutes we were in the judge’s
chambers settling the case.”
The interactive whiteboard also helps the pair focus on their roles in
the courtroom. “Rather than having co-counsel fumbling around
with the laptop, the person actually asking the questions can stand at
the SMART Board interactive whiteboard and bring up the documents that
he wants. Co-counsel sits at the table actively listening to questions,
writing notes and more effectively participating without being
distracted,” explains Brandes.
Outside the
courtroom, the firm also uses the SMART Board interactive whiteboard
daily in their office. Primarily, they use a software package called
Needles that allows them to pull up cases and instantly access case
notes, documents, medical records and expert reports. They use the
SMART Board interactive whiteboard to review cases and to prepare for
trial. Often, they bring experts in to review the evidence they will
present on the interactive whiteboard during trial.
Villari
and Brandes say they continually find new applications to aid them in
their work and are always introducing the technology to new people in
the legal profession. “Juries need to be visual today to stay
alert and interested in a trial, and the SMART Board interactive
whiteboard makes that possible,” says Villari
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Whatever
your corporations requirements, our expert Design experts
will offer advice as to what might best fit your budget and
requirements.
Call
1-813-984-2800 and ask to speak with our Audio Visual Division
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