As “literary lawyers” who learn from the best fiction and nonfiction writing techniques, we should keep in mind the lively importance of theme in our writing. This recent law-lit piece delves deeper into the meaning of theme and how to develop meaningful themes in your legal writing: theme heart of legal writing
Better Beginnings in Legal Writing
October 10, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Looking for ways to inspire your legal writing? How do you keep your legal reader’s attention? What makes the best “fact” sections stand out in legal writing? Three words: character, conflict and arch. We consider these storytelling techniques to achieve enticing, compelling beginnings in my recent Law & Literature article from The Columbus Bar’s “Lawyer’s Quarterly.
https://issuu.com/columbusbarlawyersquarterly/docs/cblqfall2018/6
Best Lawyers, Best Writers
December 7, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The best lawyers are the best writers. Such lawyers command the technical and professional skills required of all legal writers, while also deploying the sometimes subtle tools of narrative nonfiction and novel writers. Those writer’s tools include a sense of character, conflict and story arch that drive all moving stories. The tools also involve story structure, plot development, and scene setting, among others. Yet those tools are rarely taught in law school legal writing courses. Law & Literature seeks to highlight the usefulness and enjoyment of storytelling for legal writers, without sacrificing the professional, ethical and technical sophistication required of the best legal writing. Let us all strive to become better “legal storytellers.”
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