A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Enhancing Your Brief with Visual Aids, 1019 COBJ, Vol. 48, No. 9 Pg. 12
| Author | By MICHAEL A. BLASIE |
| Position | Vol. 48, 9 [Page 12] |
MODERN LEGAL WRITING
By MICHAEL A. BLASIE
Have you ever tried to describe a police lineup in a brief? How about a property line, a crime scene, or a trademark? What about a scientific process, a timeline, or a trail of money? Have you struggled to describe a web of subsidiaries or a comparison under a multi-factor test? You have options. A picture can often convey what paragraphs of text cannot. So use a picture and lower your word count.
Rarely used yet always appreciated are visual aids like charts, maps, diagrams, and pictures.1 Some concepts are just easier to understand pictorially.
Simple visual aids are best. Remember, visual aids are substitutes for less effective main text, so they should be uncomplicated and self-explanatory. If they need explaining, they are not working. For example, do not describe a scene and then include a map that matches the description. Just use the map.2
If you're new to visual aids, do not fear. You don't need to be an artist or a computer wizard. Although you must use care when designing the aid, it need not be elaborate or artistic. As you will see below, many are basic and occasionally hand drawn.
Finally, even if the visual aid is part of the record, include it in the brief rather than as an exhibit or a record citation. Keep the brief a cohesive unit with all the information a court needs in one place.
Here are some published opinions that use visual aids effectively. They show courts using them for three reasons: (1) to orient readers or help them visualize the scene, (2) to make a comparison, or (3) to summarize facts.3 Each example includes the paragraph introducing the visual aid.
Orienting the Reader
Woolley v. Rednour, 702 F.3d 411 (7th Cir. 2012)
Busch also concluded that the trajectory of the bullet holes caused by the initial shots to both Baldwin and Turley were consistent with a shooter being located by the barstools and that the shots could not have been made by someone coming out of the men's restroom. First, the bullet that caused Turley's wound was found in the tavern's east door. Had the bullet been fired by someone by the men's restroom or walking along the south wall (as Ogryzek testified), the bullet would have had to change its course almost 90 degrees after striking Turley to end up in the east door. The diagram below reflects the tavern's layout and locations of Marcia Woolley, Turley, and Baldwin at the time of the shootings.
Orienting the Reader
Board of Commissioners of Grand County v. Baumberger, 513 P.2d 1075 (Colo.App. 1973)
The court ordered that a deed transferring a right-of-way for a road from Digor to the county be reformed and that the defendants among others be permanently restrained and enjoined from interfering with the county's or the public's use and possession of the property...
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