Mr. Rogers from Mr. Rogers neighborhood carried a quote, written on a worn piece of paper in his wallet, from a social worker which read, “frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn learn to love once you know their story”.
Litigators are tasked with the beautiful and unusual task of telling someone else’s story as if it was their own. As an attorney, the power to tell a story is essential for you. Both extremely thrilling and very demanding, being able to tell a better story than your opponent is an essential skill that wins trials. An attorney is this interesting mix between a ray of hope that justice will be served and walking a client through the worst time in their life. The client's that lawyers represent aren’t just numbers – the amount they are getting paid to represent the client – but actual human beings who need someone to listen, care and advocate for them as they cannot do it themselves.
When you are a prosecuting a criminal trial, you are coming to the unique position of walking someone through, quite possibly, the worst thing that has ever happened to them or the worst thing they have ever done. Your job requires that you to effectively convey their emotions, experiences and trauma that occurred to them or because of them. Your job is to come alongside them and focus their pain and pull the story they want to grip inside them. It is your job to give the victim more than just a verdict, but a chance to survive and heal. A prosecutor gets to give a victim voice over all other noise.
On defense, you have essentially the same characters and the same circumstance surrounding the ultimate issue, but it is your job to tell the fact pattern in a way that best tells the story for your client. Not just reiterating the same story as the plaintiff but weaving a new tale. Sometimes you are walking through a client’s greatest mistake with them. Others, you are fighting that the mistake was the prosecution charging your client and fiercely defending the innocent. Either way, defense counsel has the same job to do.
A job that, whether the defendant is guilty or innocent, is imperative to the legal system. Without the right to a fair trial, it would be a quick descent into a police state and a rapid withdraw into governmental control, defense lawyers play a bigger role than simply defending sole people. They also represent an ideal, innocent until proven guilty.
One of the greatest litigators of the last generation is Gerry Spence, whose example of how a story can hold a jury in rapt attention, without even detailing the case he expertly weaves the gravity of the situation at hand into the juries mind.
If you are really interested in this, there is a really interesting podcast by LAWsome called “Storytelling for Lawyers” (but it is 30 minutes – so download it for a car ride).
Whoever most cleverly and convincingly presents the story will usually end up winning the trial. Being a lawyer is about winning the hearts and minds of people, winning over the jury and clearly and factually representing your client to the best of your ability. Winning over the jury is one of the most essential skills you can have, and it is simply the art of telling a good story.
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