The use of new technologies of visual communication, such as evidence cameras, videoconferencing, presentation software, computer animations and simulations, and digital video, is transforming litigation. The need for examination of the effects of courtroom technologies is evident because advisory committees and legislatures are not yet in a position to draft, recommend, and enact evidentiary rules to address the uses of this technology. A framework for research on legal effects of visual technologies is proposed with three components: visual technologies, features of the audience, and theory of the case. Within this framework, some questions to be considered are which technologies should be studied, what is the focus of the study, and what are the perceptions and expectations of the participants. It is suggested that the range of studies be in ascending level of complexity, including simple effect, cross-technology, and theories of the case. Simple effects studies manipulate a single feature of a given visual technology and measure its effects on legally relevant judgments. The advantages are that this type of study is easiest to design, and likelier to result in findings that are generalizable. More ambitious in design would be research comparing the effects on legal judgments of different visual technologies (cross technology studies). The most conceptually rich type of study would explore how legal advocates may employ the new visual communication technologies persuasively by encouraging decisionmakers to use particular prototypes, norms, and other aspects of their knowledge frameworks so that they will prefer the advocate’s theory of the case to the opponent’s. Empirical research along these lines could provide an answer to the question of how wisely advanced visual technology will be used in civil litigation. 1 figure, 12 footnotes, 55 references