As an legal professional, I used to be skilled to reside inside paperwork: case information, depositions, transcripts, contracts and countless emails. As a novelist, I now reside inside fictional worlds. At first, these roles could appear miles aside. But once I sit all the way down to draft a chapter or a authorized argument, I’m reminded that each are in the end about storytelling.
My years within the courtroom, together with my service as an Military fight veteran, formed how I write. Regulation sharpened my precision; the army solid my resilience. Fiction gave me a option to merge each. And on the middle of that bridge is a talent legal professionals typically underestimate: narrative craft.
Discovery is the clearest instance. Legal professionals know the grind: a whole bunch of hours combing by way of knowledge, highlighting a phrase right here, flagging an inconsistency there. Most of it’ll by no means seem in courtroom. However every now and then you discover the one element that reframes your complete case. Writing a novel feels the identical. The primary draft is a large number of notes, analysis and false begins. The artwork is in choice—in slicing what doesn’t serve the story and lifting ahead what does. Each the legal professional and the writer curate which means from noise.
That curating talent formed my novel American Anne Frank, which follows a suburban household hiding undocumented immigrants. The story required me to sift by way of dozens of attainable angles, simply as I might in discovery, till I discovered the emotional core. My army fantasy novel Stonebreaker demanded the identical course of: figuring out which particulars about loyalty, survival and battle revealed the reality of the characters and the world. In each books, the teachings of discovery guided me.
However storytelling in legislation is about greater than proof. Each lawyer is aware of that profitable an argument takes greater than statutes and citations. Persuasion is dependent upon balancing precision with humanity. A jury may respect logic, however it’s moved by narrative. Judges, too, reply to readability and cohesion. That’s why the strongest authorized briefs learn much less like an information dump and extra like a narrative with stakes.
Cross-examination illustrates this overlap. Good cross is about stress, pacing and revelation—the identical instruments writers use in dialogue. A witness hedges, contradicts or resists, and the legal professional brings these fractures into the sunshine. Characters in fiction behave the identical method. They conceal, deflect and conflict, and it’s in these moments that their humanity emerges. In Stonebreaker, I handled each character’s voice like a witness underneath questioning: credible, constant and revealing underneath strain.
The by way of line is straightforward: each legislation and writing demand credibility. A misplaced quotation can unravel a case; a hole character can collapse a narrative. Precision and humanity will not be opposites—they’re allies. Essentially the most persuasive closing arguments are additionally probably the most human. Essentially the most enduring novels are additionally probably the most disciplined.
Too typically, younger attorneys are instructed to strip their writing of humanity in favor of objectivity. However the legislation is about individuals. A quick that frames a case as a narrative—of a enterprise betrayed, a household harmed, a group disrupted—lands in a different way than one which reads like a guidelines of precedent. Fiction reminds us of that reality. Tales endure as a result of they communicate to each thoughts and coronary heart.
That’s why artistic writing is just not a distraction from the apply of legislation however an enhancement. Each case has a starting, center and finish. Discovery is exposition. Motions are rising motion. Trial is climax. A case with no theme feels scattered. A case with a theme—justice, equity, accountability—feels coherent. Legal professionals who suppose like storytellers current their instances with extra readability and influence.
After I left the Military for legislation and later legislation for fiction, I assumed I used to be shifting between separate worlds. However the longer I’ve written, the clearer it’s develop into: All three paths are related. The Military taught me endurance. Regulation taught me precision. Fiction taught me empathy. Collectively, they remind me that whether or not in a courtroom or a novel, the last word query is similar: What story will endure?
For legal professionals, the lesson is just not merely that writing issues however that storytelling issues. Each deposition, each movement, each trial is a chance to form a story that will probably be remembered, not simply learn. Writers know this instinctively. Legal professionals, too, ought to embrace it.
As a result of in the long run, the legislation is a narrative we inform about justice. And if we inform it effectively, it resonates far past the courtroom.
Patrick Camuñez is an Arizona-based novelist and a compliance legal professional whose work explores the intersection of legislation, historical past and social justice. He’s the writer of American Anne Frank, a up to date reimagining of Anne Frank’s story set in opposition to trendy debates over immigration and civil rights.
ABAJournal.com is accepting queries for unique, considerate, nonpromotional articles and commentary by unpaid contributors to run within the Your Voice part. Particulars and submission pointers are posted at “Your Submissions, Your Voice.”
This column displays the opinions of the writer and never essentially the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Affiliation.