Federal Rule of Evidence 107 took effect on December 1, 2024, and it is the first uniform federal standard governing illustrative aids at trial: charts, timelines, diagrams, animations, and similar visual tools that help jurors follow testimony or argument without themselves being evidence. The rule defines what qualifies as an illustrative aid, gives judges a balancing test for allowing one, keeps aids out of the jury room by default, and preserves the record for appeal. It also draws a firm line between an illustrative aid and a Rule 1006 summary admitted as evidence, a line that determines what the opposing party can demand and what the jury may treat as proof.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids
What the Rule Covers
Rule 107(a) defines an illustrative aid by its function. It helps the jury understand evidence or argument that has been or is being presented, and it is not offered to prove anything on its own. Timelines, relationship diagrams, charts, graphs, drawings, photographs, video depictions, and computer simulations all fit.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids
The rule reaches every stage of trial. Opening statements, witness testimony, and closing arguments all fall within its scope. A lawyer projecting a timeline in closing to organize dates scattered across dozens of exhibits is using an illustrative aid. So is a witness pointing at a diagram of a corporate structure while explaining who reported to whom. The aid reflects what the record already shows; it does not add new facts.
How Judges Decide Whether to Allow One
Trial courts do not approve every chart a lawyer wants to display. Under Rule 107(a), the judge weighs the aid’s usefulness against unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, and wasting time. If those dangers substantially outweigh the aid’s value, the court must either prohibit its use or order it modified.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids The framework tracks Rule 403’s balancing test for substantive evidence, minus the “cumulative evidence” factor, since an illustrative aid is not evidence in the first place.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 403 – Excluding Relevant Evidence for Prejudice, Confusion, Waste of Time, or Other Reasons
The Committee Notes flag familiar problems: a bar graph with a manipulated scale that turns a modest loss into a catastrophic one, a photographic aid designed to inflame rather than clarify, or a chart whose size, color, or level of detail is meant to provoke emotion. Modification is often the answer. If a scale can be corrected or a misleading label removed, the court can order the fix instead of excluding the aid outright.
The Line Between an Illustrative Aid and a Rule 1006 Summary
An illustrative aid and a Rule 1006 summary can look identical to a juror. A chart summarizing thousands of pages of financial records could be either one. The difference is legal, and it matters.
A Rule 1006 summary is offered to prove the content of voluminous writings, recordings, or photographs that cannot conveniently be examined in court. It is admitted as evidence. The jury may rely on it as proof, and the court cannot instruct jurors to disregard it.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 1006 – Summaries to Prove Content A Rule 107 illustrative aid is not evidence. It exists only to help jurors process what has already been presented, and the court can tell the jury to treat it that way.
Because a Rule 1006 summary functions as proof, it carries stiffer procedural requirements. The party offering it must make the underlying originals or duplicates available for examination and copying by opposing counsel at a reasonable time and place, and the court can order the underlying materials produced in open court.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 1006 – Summaries to Prove Content The summary itself must survive Rule 403 review; if it distorts the underlying evidence or reads as argument, it can be excluded. Rule 107(d) makes the boundary explicit: any summary, chart, or calculation admitted as evidence to prove the content of voluminous admissible evidence falls under Rule 1006, not Rule 107.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids
Getting the classification wrong has consequences. Presenting what should be a Rule 1006 summary as a mere illustrative aid strips the opposing party of the right to examine the underlying documents. Treating an illustrative aid as if it were admitted evidence gives the jury license to use one side’s selective visual as proof of the facts it depicts.
Limiting Instructions
Because illustrative aids sit in the courtroom but carry no evidentiary weight, limiting instructions are the main safeguard against juror confusion. Rule 107 creates two distinct opportunities for them, each triggered by a party’s request.
During trial, when the court allows an illustrative aid to be presented, the opposing party may ask the judge to instruct the jury about its limited purpose.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids The instruction tells jurors that what they are looking at is not evidence and exists only to help them follow the testimony or argument. Timing and phrasing are discretionary, but the right to request the instruction belongs to the adverse party.
A second, mandatory instruction applies if the court permits the jury to review an illustrative aid during deliberations. On request, the court must tell the jury that “the illustrative aid is not evidence and cannot be considered as proof of any fact.”1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids The stronger language reflects the heightened risk that jurors holding a polished chart in the deliberation room will start treating it as proof. Failing to request the instruction when the opportunity exists is the kind of oversight that surfaces on appeal.
Advance Disclosure Is Not Required by the Rule
Rule 107 itself does not require advance notice of illustrative aids. The Committee Notes explain that the rule deliberately leaves timing and scope of disclosure to individual trial judges.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids Practitioners often assume a blanket disclosure obligation exists. It does not come from Rule 107.
Many federal courts nonetheless impose disclosure through local rules or pretrial orders. Some judges require copies of every visual aid to be shared with opposing counsel days before a witness takes the stand. Others handle it at the pretrial conference and set their own deadlines. The Committee Notes describe the tension: advance disclosure guards against surprise, but a universal requirement would sometimes force lawyers to preview witness examination or argument strategy.
The working answer is to check local rules and standing orders in the district. When a judge does require disclosure and a party fails to comply, exclusion of the aid is the most likely remedy. Rule 107 gives judges broad authority to prohibit or modify aids, and springing an undisclosed visual on the opposing side invites that response.
Preserving the Aid for the Record
Rule 107(c) requires that an illustrative aid used at trial be entered into the record when practicable.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids The aid is marked as an exhibit and preserved even though it is not evidence. The reason is appellate review. If the losing party argues that a misleading timeline or distorted chart influenced the verdict, the reviewing court needs to see what the jury saw.
In practice, that means filing a digital copy of the slide deck, printout, or animation. The “when practicable” qualifier accounts for spontaneous aids, such as a diagram sketched on an easel during cross-examination, where formal preservation may not be feasible. Parties using produced trial graphics should plan from the start to hand over a clean copy for the record.
Whether Illustrative Aids Go to the Jury Room
The default is no. Rule 107(b) provides that an illustrative aid is not evidence and must not be provided to the jury during deliberations unless all parties consent or the court orders it for good cause.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 107 – Illustrative Aids
The concern is that jurors deliberating with a professionally produced chart in front of them may start treating it as a factual document rather than one lawyer’s organizational tool. The risk climbs with polished graphics that look authoritative. When the court does send an aid back, the mandatory limiting instruction becomes essential: the jury must be told the aid is not evidence and cannot serve as proof of any fact.