Visual Advocacy Workshop

Lawyers are, above all, communicators. In your legal career, you will advocate for your clients by communicating with long, type-written documents like legal briefs and memoranda. Plan on it. But communicators need more than written words now more than ever. The world in which you will practice communicates in a manner foreign to most lawyers, using a wide array of sensory tools geared to persuade, clarify, entertain, and enthrall.

This workshop is designed to train law students to use what may be the most important non-written tool a communicator can possess: the doctrine of visual design. In this 3-hour workshop, we will cover the principles of visual design, the fundamental skills of graphic design, and the application of these principles to the legal practice.

The first half of the workshop will be lecture on theory of design and specific strategies for visualizing legal arguments and concepts, including the creation of case organization tools, argumentative graphics, and trial demonstratives. The second half of the workshop will involve drafting or editing a hypothetical visual communication. The hypothetical will involve a trademark portfolio management/enforcement scenario. PowerPoint is the only software that you will need for the hands-on portion of the workshop.

Visual advocacy is not just about making boring things look pretty. Rather, it provides a process for enhancing legal communication by improving comprehension and engagement.

This event is free and open to all St. Thomas Law students. Participants will have the option of attending in person (maximum 24 students) or over Zoom (no limit).

A catered dinner will be provided to in-person attendees.

Presenter: Patrick Bottini

• Patrick Bottini is senior corporate counsel at Link Snacks, Inc., where he manages intellectual property and commercial legal matters for the leading snack food company. Patrick is an experienced litigator and trial attorney, previously working for Polaris, Inc. and Faegre, Drinker, Biddle, and Reath, where he practiced intellectual property litigation. A leading voice in the field of legal design, Patrick teaches “Visual Advocacy” at the University of Minnesota Law School. He is a 2013 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School, and his previous hobbies included sports and carpentry, while his current hobbies include raising three kids; Harry (7), George (5), and Noelle (3).