Presenting Your Case from Day One: Important Tips Every Construction Litigator Should Keep in Mind During Discovery and Litigation

As a litigator looking toward a trial or arbitration hearing, you’re herding a gaggle of wild cats, and the technical presentation considerations are often parked on the back burner.

That’s totally understandable. You’re knee-deep in all the facts about the case, focused on keeping your arguments and witnesses organized.

But all that detailed knowledge can sometimes bog you down when it’s time to present the information to an audience hearing about everything for the first time. Working with a professional trial technician early in the process can alleviate stress while ensuring your message gets shared clearly.

Here are six tips to start thinking about early in your case and during discovery so that your presentation can be as effective as possible when the time comes:

1) Make It Look Good (and Readable!) – File Quality and Formats

When you’re presenting information on a screen or television to an audience across the room, it’s not easy for them to see fine print or complex visuals up close. That means the quality of the file matters. If your document or picture is from a low-resolution scan, skewed, or grainy, then you’re sacrificing clarity and credibility.

Start thinking about this when you’re collecting and reviewing documents during discovery – you have it on a screen right in front of your face, but how will it look in a large courtroom or conference room from several feet away? Make sure you have the cleanest, clearest version possible for presentation purposes. 

2) Paint Your World in Living Color When It Can Make a Difference

Construction matters involve a LOT of documents, images, and videos, so you might be tempted to reduce file sizes by converting color files to black and white, or reducing the resolution quality. While that might be helpful in discovery to store files in a review database, it could fall colorless on your audience. 

Humans tend to respond better to full-color exhibits (especially pictures!), and a grayscale version can be dull and disorienting. Make sure you have a vibrant, full-color version of the important pictures and documents you need to present to your audience.  

3) Don’t Let Bates Bite You in the Asking – Keep the Numbers Clean and Simple

When you review documents and files in a review database for production, there is always some kind of “document ID” or reference number to keep track of everything. We may use those numbers when producing documents, or we may assign Bates numbers as requested. It sounds simple enough, but when there are multiple productions, it can get confusing with overlapping numbers, irregular gaps, and general inconsistencies. It’s critical to use a bona fide ediscovery platform to manage the craziness, but simpler is better when it comes to referencing those file names in presentation. 

For example, a Bates number such as ACME-00001 is far easier to juggle between you and your trial technician than something like ACME-DEF01-PROD0001-EX00001. Keeping it simple makes it far easier for the attorney to request the right exhibits on the fly. It also reduces the chance of errors and miscommunication in the heat of the moment. 

4) Provide the Right Context – Email Attachments and Related Documents

When you review documents in a database, related files may not always be grouped together. It’s important to review each individual document, whether it’s an email with attachments, or a scanned set of documents that were paper-clipped together. But when you’re ready to present that information, you need to consider whether certain files should be packaged together. Most people think of an email and its attachments as a single communication, in which case your trial technician will need to ensure they can easily be presented as a unit. 

5) Maximize Your Video’s Visual Impact – Sync, Clip, and Let It Be Heard

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video speaks volumes! If you think ahead and video-record your depositions, that will be so much more powerful to show body language, hesitations, and general character traits, rather than reading a printed transcript.

Your trial technician can easily create quick video clips from a recording, especially if you request sync text transcript with the video. Most court reporting agencies offer this service for a small charge, but the investment absolutely pays off when clips can be created with a couple clicks of the mouse. Don’t wait until the last minute to get the video and text transcript synched. 

The visual part of a video is only 50% of the equation - it also has to be heard clearly. Make sure you test out the speakers and audio connections so there’s no dead-air in your presentation. 

6) Engage with your Trial Presentation Technician as Early as Possible 

Whether your paralegal or associate drives the presentation, or you work with a professional “hotseater” from Nextpoint, please do yourself a favor and bring them into the discussions as early as possible. Professional trial technicians can bring their experience to make sure your complex diagrams and drawings are simplified for your audience. At Nextpoint, we also work closely with other trial presentation consultants such as OPVEON and the professionals from OnCue software to make sure your presentations are as effective and understandable as possible. You personally may understand the most complex diagram involved in a case, but if you can’t visually break it down for your audience, then you might as well be talking gibberish.

Following these six tips on proactive planning for presentations will put you in the best position to seamlessly convey your message to your audience. It’s important to start thinking about the final stage as you go through discovery and production, since those activities can impact the success of your presentation – which will ultimately make or break your case.

We’re always happy to answer your trial presentation questions at Nextpoint, so don’t hesitate to give us a call. We are also hosting a webinar with EDRM titled “5 Unique Challenges in eDiscovery for Construction Litigation (And How to Solve Them)” on October 16, 2025, and you are invited. Click here to learn more and save your seat.

Additional Resources:

• Trial Prep eGuide: The Essential Guide to Preparing and Presenting Your Case
• Case Management Checklist: A Step-by-Step Plan for Comprehensive Litigation Success
• Deposition Prep Kit: Attorney's Guide to Preparing for Depositions

Brett Burney is the VP of eDiscovery Consulting at Nextpoint Law Group and a widely recognized authority on the complex ediscovery issues facing litigators today. In addition to consulting with corporations and law firms on their data management and legal technology issues, Brett is a journalist, podcaster, speaker, and author. Brett can be reached at bburney@nextpointlawgroup.com.