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Demand letter, settlement video, slide deck or scrollbrief?
Four ways to put a case in front of an adjuster, a mediator or a judge. This page sets out what each one lets the reader do, what each costs, and where each is the better choice.
What each form lets the reader do
The reader is the test. A presentation works when the person on the other side can understand it, check it, and repeat it to whoever approves the number.
| The reader can | Demand letter | Settlement video | Slide deck | Scrollbrief | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set their own pace | yes | no | partly | yes | A film has a runtime. A deck moves at the presenter’s speed until it is left behind as a file. |
| Skim to the number | partly | no | yes | yes | A long letter can be searched, though the number sits wherever the paragraph put it. |
| Check the source in one tap | partly | no | no | yes | A letter cites an exhibit the reader has to go and find. A scrollbrief opens the page itself. |
| See it move | no | yes | partly | yes | Timelines, clocks and maps play. Slides can animate when someone is there to click. |
| Work it by hand | no | no | no | yes | Run the clock, drag the timeline, open the document. A reader who does it remembers doing it. |
| Read it without a presenter | yes | yes | no | yes | The adjuster forwards the file to a supervisor. Whatever arrives has to argue for itself. |
| File it as paper | yes | no | yes | yes | Every scrollbrief ships with a PDF twin for the claim file, the mediator or the court. |
| Hear a voice, see a face | no | yes | no | partly | This is film’s ground. A scrollbrief carries your clips inside it and does not shoot new footage. |
| Have it drafted in an afternoon | yes | no | yes | no | A scrollbrief takes days and a strong record. The letter still goes out, with the scrollbrief beside it. |
The card is meant to be fair. Film is better at a voice and a face, and a letter is faster to draft.
The demand letter and the settlement demand package
The letter is the form every carrier expects, and it is complete: liability, the medical chronology, specials, the ask. A settlement demand package or settlement brochure adds the exhibits behind it. A policy-limits or time-limited demand has terms that belong in the letter itself.
Its limit is the reader. Customers of one case-management platform now draft more than 100,000 demand letters a month with AI tools. Sacra on Filevine Carriers use software that condenses a demand package in minutes. Verisk A letter is text alone, and the reader builds the picture without help.
Use it with a scrollbrief: the letter carries the terms, and the interactive demand package shows the case behind them.
The settlement video, settlement documentary and day-in-the-life video
Film makes harm felt. A day-in-the-life video shows what a morning costs an injured client in a way no chart can. Published figures put a settlement video at $5,000 to $15,000. The Indiana Lawyer A settlement documentary runs $20,000 and up. Plaintiff Magazine A mediation video can run $20,000 or more. Advocate Magazine
Its limit is control. The viewer cannot skim to the damages, search for a name, or check a statement against the record while the film runs.
Use it with a scrollbrief: your clips sit inside the page, each beside the records that support it. Scrollbrief does not shoot film.
The slide deck and the mediation presentation
A deck is fast to build and strong in the room, where counsel controls the pace and answers questions. Plaintiff Magazine has urged lawyers to bring graphics to mediation as well as to trial. Plaintiff Magazine
Its limit is the day after. A deck forwarded to a claims committee arrives without its presenter, and bullets carry no proof on their own.
Use it with a scrollbrief: the interactive mediation brief goes to the mediator and the other side before the session, and its visuals can be shown in the room.
Trial graphics, demonstrative exhibits and illustrative aids
Trial graphics are built for a jury and presented by counsel. In federal court, Rule 107 of the Federal Rules of Evidence has covered illustrative aids since December 1, 2024. Trial Magazine on Rule 107 Specialist studios produce medical illustrations, 3D reconstructions and courtroom presentation. High Impact
Where Scrollbrief fits: the visuals in a piece can be prepared as illustrative aids for opening and closing. Scrollbrief does not make medical illustrations or 3D reconstructions and does not run presentation in court. That work can sit inside a piece, and your trial technician presents it.
The scrollbrief
One private scrolling page. The picture changes as the reader moves through the argument, every factual line opens the page of the record behind it, and a PDF twin goes in the file. Demand pieces run $7,500 to $15,000; mediation and trial packages start at $20,000; sentencing pieces run $5,000 to $15,000.
Its limits are time and record. A piece takes days where a letter takes an afternoon, and it needs a file strong enough to cite line by line.
Why the form holds
Three findings from learning research sit under the design.
- Pace. A meta-analysis of segmenting studies found that people learn better from learner-paced segments than from one continuous run. Educational Psychology Review A scrollbrief is segments the reader advances.
- Place. Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures sit near each other. Mayer, Multimedia Learning Each step of a scrollbrief sits on the visual it describes.
- Pairing. People learn more deeply from words and graphics together than from words alone. Mayer, Research-Based Principles Every argument in a scrollbrief is paired with its picture.
These findings come from learning research, most of it with students. Adjusters, mediators and judges have yet to be studied this way, so take the research as the reason for the design and judge the result on the working excerpt.
When another form is the better choice
- Clear liability, modest damages. A well-drafted letter does the job, and the fee for a piece would outrun its value.
- The client’s presence is the case. When what moves a reader is hearing one person speak, commission the film and build around it.
- You will be in the room. For a live session where counsel wants to steer every minute, a deck with your trial technician is the tool.
- A thin record. A scrollbrief shows its sources. If the file cannot carry the story, no format will.
Which cases earn a scrollbrief
The handful each year where the stakes are high, the record is strong, and the story is hard to see in the stack. See what a piece carries by case type, or read what a case scrolly is.