The Sharpest Tool in the Toolbox: Visual Legal Rhetoric

Visual briefs and other forms of visual rhetoric in legal communication may eventually become the norm in legal practice because of the enormous communicative and rhetorical power of visual media. Brain science demonstrates that visual devices work rapidly, almost immediately, to communicate ideas and attain the audience’s adherence to the meaning and truth of the ideas communicated, and thus to persuade the audience of the truth and propriety of the speaker’s communication. Visual representation is also associated with greater perception, comprehension, and retention of information. Visual imagery is not only faster than words, it is better than words.

Law students and lawyers should be aware that the tool of visual rhetoric is very sharp, and because of the audience’s pre-cognitive and cognitive brain functions in interpreting and understanding the message of visual works, which often process and draw meaning, reactions, and motivations from images without active “thinking,” the sharpness cuts in multiple directions. These attributes require special attention so as to avoid intentional or inadvertent misleading of the audience when using visual rhetorical devices.