Trial Graphics: Types, Costs, and How to Brief Them

A personal-injury case may ask jurors unfamiliar with medical terminology to evaluate operative reports, diagnostic imaging, and expert testimony. Trial graphics can help make that information easier to follow. Federal civil juries may begin with six to twelve members, and state jury sizes vary. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 48.

This guide is for attorneys and litigation support staff who need to decide what to build, how to budget for it, and how to brief it. It covers six common categories of trial graphic, the factors that affect cost, common evidentiary issues, and the mechanics of briefing an illustrator or producing a draft in-house. If you specifically need anatomical exhibits, the companion guide to medical legal illustration goes deeper on that category.

What Counts as a Trial Graphic

Trial graphics (also called litigation graphics or courtroom graphics) are visuals prepared for use in litigation. The term covers a wide range: a one-slide timeline, an annotated MRI, a labeled anatomical illustration, a scene diagram, a damages chart, or an animation of a collision.

The legal classification depends on the purpose for which a graphic is offered. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 107, which took effect December 1, 2024, an illustrative aid helps the factfinder understand evidence or argument but is not itself evidence. It ordinarily does not go to the jury room unless all parties consent or the court finds good cause, and it must be entered into the record when practicable. A graphic offered to prove a disputed fact may instead be demonstrative evidence subject to the rules governing admissibility. A summary, chart, or calculation offered to prove the contents of voluminous admissible materials is governed by Rule 1006, which has separate requirements. These are federal rules; state evidence rules and procedures may differ.

The category is older than the software. Attorneys have long used chalkboards, enlarged photographs, maps, and hand-drawn anatomy. The Delta Flight 191 litigation in the late 1980s is frequently cited as an early and influential federal use of sophisticated computer-generated animation. Berkeley Law article on courtroom animation. Digital tools later made timelines, document callouts, diagrams, and animation easier to produce and present, but the appropriate format still depends on the evidence and the purpose of the visual.

They may be used at multiple stages, including demand packages, mediation, depositions, hearings, and trial. A visual prepared for negotiation or mediation is not automatically suitable for use before a jury; courtroom use requires separate attention to evidentiary rules, disclosure obligations, and the judge's instructions.

Six Common Types of Trial Graphic

1. Timelines

A treatment timeline can show the sequence of injury, diagnosis, procedures, and recovery; a liability timeline can show what a party knew and when. In a malpractice matter, a timeline may make the interval between an abnormal result and the response easier to evaluate.

Build timelines from the medical chronology, cite each entry to a record page, and keep one idea per timeline. A liability timeline and a damages timeline are two exhibits, not one.

2. Medical and anatomical illustrations

Custom drawings of the injury, the surgery, or the anatomy at issue may be derived from imaging, operative reports, medical records, and expert opinion. Patient-specific illustrations should accurately reflect those sources and should not add a diagnosis, causal conclusion, or anatomical detail that the supporting witness cannot defend. Generic illustrations may still be useful for explaining normal anatomy or a general medical concept when they are not presented as patient-specific.

The medical legal illustration guide covers the subtypes, and the trial illustration guide covers how to choose and label them.

3. Colorized and annotated imaging

An MRI, CT image, or X-ray may be displayed with labels, arrows, or a color overlay identifying a structure discussed by a witness. The unaltered source image should be preserved, and the overlay should be clearly distinguishable from the original pixels. Annotated imaging can still draw objections concerning accuracy, foundation, or whether the overlay assumes a disputed diagnosis.

4. Scene, mechanism, and biomechanical diagrams

These graphics may depict an intersection, a fall path, a vehicle movement, or a proposed mechanism of injury. A diagram that expresses accident reconstruction, biomechanics, or medical causation should track the opinions of a qualified witness and the evidence supporting those opinions. The graphic should explain the opinion rather than create a causal link that the testimony does not establish.

5. Damages and data charts

Medical-bill summaries, lost-earnings projections, life-care-plan costs, and other damages charts require careful classification. A chart qualifies as Rule 1006 evidence only when it is offered to prove the contents of voluminous admissible materials that cannot conveniently be examined in court, and the proponent must make the underlying originals or duplicates available to the other parties at a reasonable time and place. A chart used only to explain evidence or argument is an illustrative aid under Rule 107. Whether a graphic goes to the jury room depends on that classification and the court's ruling.

6. Animation

Moving depictions of an event or procedure may include a collision sequence, a surgical step, or a proposed mechanism of injury. Animation can require substantial source review, modeling, expert collaboration, and revision. The legal treatment depends on whether it merely illustrates testimony or is offered as a reconstruction proving what occurred. Our guide to animations and illustrations for trial covers that distinction, and forensic and legal animation covers the production side.

What Trial Graphics Cost

There is no standard price list for medical illustration or litigation graphics. The Association of Medical Illustrators explains that pricing depends on subject complexity, permitted uses, licensing rights, and the illustrator's experience and reputation. AMI client guide. Records review, expert consultation, revisions, printing, rush work, travel, and courtroom operation may be separate charges.

The figures below are published examples and broad planning references, not market-wide rates or guaranteed quotes:

Sources: Medmovie pricing, Verdict Videos animation pricing, and RenderReady pricing examples. Obtain a written, case-specific quote and confirm what is included, especially source review, expert meetings, revision rounds, licensing, printing, travel, and testimony.

Software and AI-assisted tools can reduce some drafting time, but they do not eliminate source verification, medical or technical review, disclosure obligations, or courtroom preparation. Natomy can assist with producing a draft anatomical illustration from source material, but a qualified person should still review the final visual when it makes case-specific medical assertions.

Admissibility: What Makes an Exhibit Survive

The governing standard depends first on whether the graphic is an illustrative aid, demonstrative evidence, Rule 1006 summary evidence, or another type of exhibit.

Foundation. Rule 107 does not prescribe one universal foundation or require a sponsoring expert for every illustrative aid. A technical, medical, biomechanical, or case-specific visual commonly needs support from a qualified witness who can explain its factual basis and accuracy. Other aids may be used to help explain argument. A graphic offered as evidence must satisfy the foundation and authentication requirements applicable to that evidence.

Accuracy to the record. Every material factual element should trace to supporting evidence or a disclosed expert opinion: the level of a herniation to imaging and its interpretation, hardware to an operative report or imaging, and a timeline entry to a dated record. Unsupported content creates a risk of exclusion, limitation, or damaging cross-examination.

Rule 107 and Rule 403. Rule 107 contains its own balancing test for illustrative aids: utility in assisting comprehension must not be substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, or wasting time. Rule 403 governs evidence and uses a similar but not identical test. Graphic detail, dramatic color, or emotional framing should be tied to a legitimate explanatory or evidentiary purpose.

Disclosure. Requirements vary by jurisdiction and court order. In federal civil cases, a retained expert's report generally must identify exhibits used to summarize or support the expert's opinions, and pretrial disclosures generally must identify exhibits the party expects or may offer. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26. A disclosure failure can result in exclusion or other sanctions, but Rule 37(c)(1) recognizes an exception when the failure was substantially justified or harmless.

AI-assisted content. The Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules published proposed Rule 707 in 2025 to address certain machine-generated evidence offered without a human expert. In May 2026, the Committee declined to recommend action on the proposal at that time and continued studying a revised version. Proposed Rule 707 is not currently part of the Federal Rules of Evidence. May 2026 Advisory Committee report. The published proposal did not target a visual used only as a Rule 107 illustrative aid, but existing rules and court orders still govern accuracy, disclosure, authentication, expert testimony, and use at trial.

How to Brief a Trial Graphic

A clear brief reduces avoidable revisions. Whether you are commissioning a medical illustrator or producing a draft yourself, the brief should answer six questions.

1. What should the viewer understand? Write the supported proposition as a sentence. If the visual contains multiple distinct propositions, consider whether separate graphics would be clearer.
2. How will it be used and supported? Identify whether it is intended as an illustrative aid, demonstrative evidence, summary evidence, or a negotiation visual. Identify the witness or other foundation method when one will be required.
3. What sources support it? Provide the relevant imaging, reports, records, expert opinions, or testimony. Do not ask the illustrator to infer a disputed diagnosis or causation conclusion.
4. Where will it be used? A mediation image, printed board, courtroom monitor, and exhibit binder impose different requirements. Test legibility at the expected viewing distance and on the actual or comparable display equipment.
5. What should it leave out? Exclude unsupported facts and case-specific conclusions that go beyond the evidence or the opinions of the witness who will support the graphic. Avoid visual choices whose emotional force exceeds their explanatory value.
6. When do you need the first draft? Build in time for review by the appropriate witness or subject-matter reviewer before the applicable disclosure, deposition, or exchange deadline.

Send the brief with the necessary source material, review the draft with the appropriate witness or subject-matter reviewer, and revise as needed. Confirm which drafts, source materials, communications, and final exhibits must be disclosed or preserved under the applicable rules and orders.

Building Illustrated Exhibits Yourself

For some anatomical illustrations, a firm may produce a first draft in-house and then obtain appropriate medical review. More complex or contested subjects may require a professional medical illustrator, imaging specialist, animator, accident reconstructionist, or other qualified professional.

The workflow is to gather the relevant source material, produce a draft, label only the structures supported by the evidence and opinion, and review it side by side with the sources. Natomy's accuracy checker is designed to flag potential anatomical inconsistencies for human review, and the guide to generating medical illustrations discusses style choices. Automated checking does not replace review by a qualified medical professional. Keep the working file editable and preserve the final version used in the proceeding.

For timelines and damages charts, presentation or graphics software may be sufficient. Annotated medical imaging requires particular care because the overlay must accurately correspond to the source image and supporting interpretation. The tools attorneys use to interpret medical evidence covers the chronology and imaging side of that workflow.

A Short Checklist

Before an exhibit goes to opposing counsel:

• The purpose and proposed legal classification are identified.
• Every material factual element is traceable to supporting evidence or opinion.
• Technical and case-specific content has been reviewed by an appropriate qualified person.
• Readable at the size and distance it will actually be shown.
• No color, motion, or detail that adds emotion without adding information.
• The production method and final version are documented as appropriate.
• Applicable expert, exhibit, local-rule, and pretrial disclosure requirements are satisfied.

Trial graphics do not establish facts on their own. Their proper role is to present supported evidence, testimony, or argument in a form the intended audience can understand.