Synthesis and Synergy: Building Your Case and Your Credibility with the Help of Adverse Authority

Abstract

Accessible models of advocacy (at the end of this paper), using the same group of cases, to make arguments for a plaintiff on the one hand and a defendant on the other, show how case law can be interpreted broadly and narrowly. Preceding the models are tools for understanding the case law as well as some narrative discussion of the rationales for including "bad news" in the argument. A separate narrative appears in the footnotes, with a focus on Clarence Darrow's defense of himself in a bribery prosecution - this narrative illustrates the gravity of "bad facts" and "bad law" as well as an expert litigator's approach to addressing them.

Keywords: legal writing, legal research, advocacy, bad facts, bad law, adverse facts, adverse law, distinguishing, analogizing, advocacy, Clarence Darrow, synthesis, synthesis grid