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Legal Storytelling
Posts filed under Legal Storytelling:
What Your Narrative Does To Reality
How you think of the world can be mutually exclusive from reality. Your mental glasses create individual meaning in “what” you see in your life. Your mental lens will color what you see, and at times distorts facts. Let’s apply the above mentioned premise to a well known story. In the “Shawshank Redemption”, the narrator is Morgan Freeman’s character.… keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on May 9, 2012
Category: Legal Storytelling
Jurors Always Remember More Than The Evidence
I have previously written that stories create other stories. When you tell a story to a juror, a client, or a complete stranger, you trigger an involuntary response. The person listening to your story has a subjective lens that they use to filter, and give meaning to, the information they received. The… keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on March 7, 2012
A Touch of Bias
Ever feel like you’re playing a rigged game? keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on February 28, 2012
What To Look At When You Focus
Here are three thoughts on Focus Groups: Once you take your case to a focus group, what do you do? Listen to them. Hear what they have to say about whether this is “reality law” (is this viable in the real world), what the legal story might be, and did they give you leads for future discovery? Once you… keep reading »
Author: Diane Wyzga on
Category: Legal Storytelling
Jurors Make Their Own Closing Arguments
Narratives create narratives. When you hear a story, it pulls up frames from other narratives you have previously adopted. A personalized story telling process occurs in your mind. You take the new story and mold it with your preexisting deep narratives to try to give it meaning. You subconsciously tell yourself, your own subjective story of what the facts mean… keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on January 27, 2012
Category: Legal Storytelling
The Difference Between a Narrative and a Story
The difference between a narrative and a story is a debatable. Many people use the terms synonymously. Here is my view of the difference. A simple story retells events (real or fictional). A narrative is more complex and narcissistic. A narrative recounts the events from a specific view point of a character (or even an inanimate objects) in a story.… keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on January 23, 2012
Category: Legal Storytelling
The Real Fight
What is the real fight about in a jury trial? Jurors vote their morality. That is, their moral view of justice. We make the choice that makes us feel better about our world. We are given information and then we make up our own interpretation of what that information means based our preexisting worldview. Our worldview actually changes what we… keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on January 18, 2012
Category: Legal Storytelling
The Equation of a Decision
Every decision (D) you make combines two different things. The rational part of your brain (R) is one part of the equation and the emotional part (E) is the other half. Your decisions are based on the combination of the two parts working together. The combined result is something entirely different then if you were able to use only… keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on January 16, 2012
What are the primary goals of jury selection?
I have heard lots of experts tell me their opinion as to what are the goals of jury selection. Here is my view of the essential tasks of jury selection: You identify a potential juror’s world views on the relevant issues; and You attempt to eliminate those jurors that hold world views that will not… keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on January 15, 2012
Category: Legal Storytelling
Your Done, When All You Want Is To Finish
As you stand before the judge, you hear your opposing counsel say “your honor we have already addressed that issue, there is no need for those questions. The jury panel has already been instructed on the law.” The judge looks at you and in a low voice says “counsel your response?” “Your honor, I am unclear as to the prosecutor’s… keep reading »
Author: Lawkop on January 14, 2012