Miscellaneous

All advocates should know that good storytelling is powerfully persuasive. Certainly our clients have stories that we should search for and tell. But what we may not realize is that the law itself has its own stories. And when our task involves developing the law itself, we should search for and tell the story that will persuade the court to move the law in the desired direction.

That is the thesis of a thoughtful article by Prof. Linda Edwards: Once Upon a Time in Law. In it, she gives examples of how lawyers in Miranda v. Arizona and Bowers v. Hardwick transformed what might have been abstract legal discussions into compelling stories. The lesson for the rest of us: Go thou and do likewise. (Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog.)