It’s the eleventh hour before trial and you’re feverishly preparing your case when you realize you need help creating a visual presentation. You enlist the expertise of a legal graphics consultant. Not a bad idea, but there’s a much better way to go: Make that call, and start preparing visuals, as early as possible in each and every case.

This article presents a case study with practical tips that show why attorneys should integrate the development of graphics and visual presentations into the case as early as possible in pre-trial phases instead of waiting to create graphics in a piecemeal fashion after a case is worked up. The process of developing legal graphics can spark significant questions and theories of causation that might not occur to the litigation team prior to working with the graphics.