Learning From Non-Fiction Storytelling

Jeanne Kaiser, Western New England University School of Law, has republished 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 in volume 16 of the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute (2010) in 4 The Monograph Series of the Legal Writing Institute: Advanced Legal Writing: Courses & Themes (Elizabeth Fajans, ed. 2015). Here is the 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.

Download the chapter from SSRN at the link.