Storytelling (was Critical Race Theory)

[Fred Gedicks]

Perhaps Michael could give us his definition of "scholarship."

Fred Gedicks
BYU Law School
gedicksf at lawgate.byu.edu

>>> Michael MASINTER <masinter at NSU.ACAST.NOVA.EDU> 08/07 11:15 AM >>>
> Mark Graber offered:
>
> > A nasty thought.  Stories are important to law because lawyers,
being
> > trained as advocates, are likely to be better at story telling
than
> > social scientists.  Because of their training, most social
scientists
> > are better than lawyers at gathering and assessing the reliability
of
> > more generalized data.  Thus, the greater the role of stories in
> > making policy (constitutional or otherwise), the greater the role
of
> > legal training and lawyers.

On Thu, 7 Aug 1997, Robert O'brien wrote in reply:


>
> Phooey.  Story telling has long been recognized as important by
lawyers
> because they have discovered that is the most effective way to
influence a
> jury.  Some years ago I came across a book by two social scientists
who
> observed several trials and reached the conclusion that the best
story won.
>  They were surprised to learn that lawyers are story tellers; I was
taught
> in law school to be a story teller and that was a lesson taught
lawyers
> long before I was--or the two social scientists were--born.
>

        Though I agree with Robert O'Brien that trial lawyers must be
good
storytellers, and that our teaching should foster their advocacy
skills as
good presenters of stories, I do not think that shared observation is
enough to convert storytelling into scholarship.  And the disdain so
many
of our colleagues who are not on this list have for the practice of
law
leads me to believe that they would rebel against validating
storytelling
as scholarship because it is how good lawyers win red light green
light
trials.  I do not think the storytelling as scholarship movement is
identified with the experienced practitioner segment of our
profession.

        Respecting Marc Graber's nasty thought, storytelling seems to
have
emerged as scholarship at roughly the same time that the gap between
the
practice and the academy grew largest.  Heeding my own advice, I will
not
assume significance, but I do note that most of the criticism from the
bench and the practice of our scholarship does not seem to argue for
more
storytelling.



Michael R. Masinter                     3305 College Avenue
Nova Southeastern University            Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33314
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masinter at law.acast.nova.edu