If words are almost always best understood when accompanied by or translated into pictures, this is even more true for numbers. Often the primary evidence in a case is presented only in its abstract form -- as a mathematical table, a series of formulas, or worst of all, as numbers scrawled on a piece of butcher paper by the witness as he is testifying and trying to write at the same time. It is crucial that the jury understand what the numbers mean, even if some of its members recall nothing past long division from their schooling.

The most immediate and comprehensive way to demonstrate quantitative differences over time, under specific conditions, or among various entities, is to present these abstractions in concrete terms, as line graphs, bar charts, pie charts and pictograms. Where appropriate these forms also lend themselves to simple animation.

Click on the icons to the right to see some examples of how statistical graphics are used in a wide variety of cases.

___________________________________________________________________ Artists-at-Law • (510) 843-1510 • Contact mreeves@artists-at-law.com