Story For Lawyers
Anastasia Screams In Vain: The Devil’s Coming For Melissa Lucio
I Stuck around St. Petersburg, when I saw it was a time for a change. Killed the Tsar and his ministers, Anastasia screamed in vain. –Sympathy for the Devil, The Rolling Stones The famous Stones song is a meditation on evil. If we have some understanding of the devil’s work, we may better understand the…
Every good story has meaning!
We humans are undeniably creatures of story. Think of how empty life would be without ever having been transfixed by images dancing before our eyes in a dark movie theatre, engrossed in an incredible page-turner, or mesmerized by a master storyteller weaving a yarn around a roaring campfire. But stories are not just for entertainment. …
The Labor of Law – Save Yourself and You Save the World
Next month I will have officially reached my twenty-fifth year of lawyering; the majority of those years were spent slogging through the litigation trenches as a state and federal public defender. These can be dark waters we lawyers swim in. We confront people at their lowest moments in life. We absorb trauma vicariously through our…
Until the Work Is Done
The Professor, The Porn Star, & The Death of Empathy: 3 Surprising Podcasts That Will Make Us Better Lawyers
Litigation is a battle of stories; the lawyer who presents the most compelling and authentic story wins every time. It never ceases to amaze me how little we lawyers are ever taught about story fundamentals. The good news is we are surrounded by great stories. The better news? Free resources abound to help us master…
Why Every Lawyer Should Put the Movie 13TH at the Top of Their Netflix Queue.
13TH is a Netflix original documentary film directed by director Ava DuVernay, who has become one of the most important voices in TV & Film today. She also happens to be the brilliant director of Selma and When They See Us, among others. This doc is an elegantly crafted and devastatingly thorough journey through America’s…
Defense Map – The Incredible FREE Tool To Help You Unearth Your Client’s Hidden Story Treasures!
Is a plug still shameless if what the plugger is plugging is 100 percent free forever? If so, forgive the shameless plug, but this is too important to miss. The purpose of Defense Map (www.defensemap.com) is to “uncover[] as much as possible about [your] clients’ game-changing backstories”. The creator of Defense Map is Indiana lawyer…
“Tell me a story”, Says Former Federal Judge Nancy Gertner!
My colleague Alan Ellis travels the country interviewing judges about the most (and least) persuasive elements of sentencing advocacy. In a recent article published in Law360, Mr. Ellis conducts an extensive interview with Judge Nancy Gertner. It’s an essential read for all criminal law practitioners. The full article can be accessed HERE. The following are…
The 3 “Rs” of Sentencing Storytelling.
No matter what the case, there are only three types of sentencing stories defense lawyers ever tell. I call them the 3 “Rs”, and they are: REVELATION, RELATIVITY and REDEMPTION. Every case has at least one. With a little bit of luck and whole lot of elbow grease, you may uncover all three. Understanding these…
