When the Truth and the Story Collide: What Legal Writers Can Learn from the Experience of Non-Fiction Writers About the Limits of Legal Storytelling

The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute, Volume 16, 2010

4 THE MONOGRAPH SERIES OF THE LEGAL WRITING INSTITUTE: ADVANCED LEGAL WRITING: COURSES & THEMES (Elizabeth Fajans ed., 2015)

20 Pages Posted: 17 Jul 2015

See all articles by Jeanne Kaiser

Jeanne Kaiser

Western New England University School of Law

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: 2010

Abstract

This Chapter examines what can be gained and what can be lost by using storytelling in legal writing. After reviewing some basic principles of legal storytelling, the Chapter reviews some lessons that can be learned from the experience of the New Journalists who adopted literary techniques in their non-fiction work. In the end, the Author concludes that while there is much value in using the tools of fiction in legal writing, it is only with a blend of narrative and analysis that we most successfully do our jobs as lawyers.

Keywords: storytelling, nonfiction, legal writing and research, legal writing

Suggested Citation

Kaiser, Jeanne, When the Truth and the Story Collide: What Legal Writers Can Learn from the Experience of Non-Fiction Writers About the Limits of Legal Storytelling (2010). The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute, Volume 16, 2010, 4 THE MONOGRAPH SERIES OF THE LEGAL WRITING INSTITUTE: ADVANCED LEGAL WRITING: COURSES & THEMES (Elizabeth Fajans ed., 2015), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2631161

Jeanne Kaiser (Contact Author)

Western New England University School of Law ( email )

1215 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01119
United States

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