3-D printing devices haven’t been commercially available for long, yet applications of the technology have already made waves in fields as diverse as manufacturing, architecture and medicine. Now, you can add law to that list.
One company in Jacksonville, Florida, Forge 3D Printing Studio, has made a niche for themselves by creating 3-D evidence for attorneys using 3-D printing technology. Forge marketing director and former Stetson University College of Law student Josh Weinberger recognized the opportunity to work in a market that’s currently dominated by graphic artists and animators creating 2-D trial exhibits.
Weinberger answered some questions for Avvo by phone and by email about this technology and how it can help attorneys present their cases.
Q: How does the 3-D printing process work?
A: What the printer does is lay down a powder resin, layer by layer, a tenth of a millimeter at a time. It lays the plastic and hits it with the laser to melt it, then lays down another layer and another layer, and it builds it up. We can print in a variety of materials and mediums: metal, plastic, full-range color, et cetera.
Q: What kinds of things can 3-D printers be used for?
A: The applications are pretty much limitless. They use it in medical technologies; they recently printed a heart for the doctors to do their surgeries on before actually operating on a patient.
Q: In what areas of law or for what types of trials is this technology most useful?
A: Car accident litigation, civil litigation, private litigation, criminal law and malpractice. Personal injury has the largest use for this type of technology, and any kind of tort [case] to show that some kind of damage was caused.
MRI scans and X-rays can be converted to CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) or CAD (computer-aided design) models, which can then be 3-D printed, allowing better spatial appreciation by jurors.
Also, no one wants to go to trial. If you can bring some type of evidence to mediation, it shows the other side that you put forth effort and that you’re that much more prepared if [the case] does go to trial, so it would make more sense to settle.
Q: What kinds of evidence can be printed?
A: We can print model buildings, model people, floor layouts of crime scenes and entire crime scenes if necessary.
Model organs for medical malpractice cases can show that there is a deficiency with the person’s body, not necessarily with the medical applications that were involved … You can print where you think the mechanical deficiency is and point to that.
As far as forensics evidence: footprints. Footprints currently are done in a negative cast. You can actually get a more accurate representation of the physical piece of evidence [with 3-D printing]. It preserves the evidence. And fingerprints. You can print one out and pass it around the jury box. It’s something the jurors can touch and see instead of having to interpret on a computer screen.
Q: How do 3-D printed models compare to more traditional trial exhibits, like charts, cutouts and animations?
To me, cardboard cutouts and animation seem antiquated. In traditional exhibits, you point to a part that’s two dimensional, something that you can’t hold and touch. But Ii you can actually see something and hold it, it makes it that much more real, especially when you’re talking about medical malpractice cases and things get complicated.
3-D evidence gives lawyers a huge advantage. It gives the jurors the advantage of tactile perception, of actually being able to hold an object in their hands.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to tell attorneys who are considering using this technology in their work?
A: If you go in with a PowerPoint presentation versus going in with 3-D demonstrative evidence, the difference is just night and day. It’s not necessarily the evidence that you’re presenting; it’s how it presents itself. It makes your presentation look that much more professional.
And the lawyers themselves don’t have to put that much effort or time into it. They just give us a call, we do the designs, and they end up with this beautiful piece of evidence. It looks impressive. I think it shifts things in their favor.
I don’t know if it’s due to lack of knowledge and understanding about the technology, or a misconception about how much 3-D printing costs, but it’s not incredibly expensive. We can provide better models than what a cardboard cutout provides, and cost-wise, we’re actually in the same realm.
Once they see the printers and see the models, everyone is blown away.
Q: How do you view the future of this technology?
A: We’re trying to get the [local] sheriff’s department to adopt the use of scanners for car accidents. It’s becoming a more commonplace practice. After an accident, the police can go out there with their scanners, and they can scan the whole scene. Then we can digitalize that and print it onto a 12-by-8-inch plastic framework and reduce it down to something you can fit in your hand.
It’s my projection that 3-D printing becomes as common as cardboard cutouts in the courtroom. It’s my hope that the younger generation will use this technology. I feel it does provide something that’s not there currently.
Photos courtesy of Forge 3D Print Studio
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