Legal teams and prosecutors have struggled with being able to show a jury what really happened during accidents or criminal activities. Virtual reality is moving out of the gaming sphere and into the courtroom to give jurors a realistic impression of the events they are considering.
The Lamber Goodnow legal team announced last week, the launch of an innovative service which utilizes virtual reality (VR) technology to help aggressively protect the rights of their clients in cases involving catastrophic injuries.
The Lamber Goodnow Phoenix legal team is utilizing VR technology on several pending cases, and their team sees this technology becoming more commonplace in courtrooms in the very near future.
“As a lawyer, one of the biggest challenges faced in a case is showing the decision makers or jury what actually happened at a crime scene or at the precise moment of impact during a catastrophic injury,” notes personal injury lawyer Marc Lamber. “In the old days, I’d use demonstrative exhibits, visual aids and witness statements in an attempt to ‘transport a jury to an accident scene.’ With virtual reality, not only can I transport jurors to the accident scene, I can put them in the car at impact.”
Although VR technology like the Oculus Rift is currently widely-known at the consumer level for activities such as gaming, movies, and television, the Lamber Goodnow team believes that the immersive 3D experiences possible with VR, the sensation of presence – the feeling as though you’re actually there – has the potential to significantly change the legal profession.
“VR technology is a game-changer for the legal industry,” says attorney James Goodnow. “Juries, judges and decision-makers can now be immersed in 3D worlds that will bring a scene to life in ways never before possible — which hopefully helps bring them closer to the truth,” adds Goodnow.
In order to create the virtual world that a user would experience wearing the Oculus Rift headset, the Lamber Goodnow legal team employs a group of engineers and legal experts to precisely and accurately recreate the accident scene. That information is then translated into a 3D experience by a production company, Kitchen Sink Studios, which the viewer is then able to ‘witness’ via immersive virtual reality.
“We’re excited to be offering this cutting-edge technology to our clients,” observes Lamber. “VR means that you will never look at a case the same way again.”
The Lamber Goodnow team practices in the area of catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death litigation. You can learn more about their practice and their use of VR technology here.
