Stories are incredibly potent, reaching a place deep in our cultural DNA. When presented with a great story, we simply need to hear it through to the end. As the great writer Neil Gaiman once remarked, nothing speaks more to the power of stories than the plaintive question, "And then what happened?" Stories are very important to the practice of law. Trial lawyers often discuss "telling a story" to the jury, or making sure that the judge sees the case through the lens of our narrative, and not that of our adversary. Our goal should be to make our client’s story resonate with the judge and jury on a fundamental level.
Notwithstanding our respect for story-telling, trial lawyers would benefit from greater insight into exactly which stories resonate most powerfully, and why this is the case. Numerous other disciplines, from neuroscience to psychology to literature, have focused their attention on these issues, and have much to teach about why certain tales matter more than others. The findings of these studies would allow us to better harness one of the most powerful rhetorical tools at our disposal.
