The official story of Michael Brown’s death…

The official story of Michael Brown’s death will be told by the prosecutor. And therein lies the problem.

“Prosecutors live and die off the ethos of law enforcement officers. They cannot win a case without it. For a prosecutor to accuse a police officer is to undermine essential, established ethos. It is to tell a kind of counter- productive, self-damaging, counter narrative—to violate the fundamental expectations upon which the prosecutor’s entire body of work rests.”

Lawyers, Liars and The Art of Telling Stories (ABA Publishing Sept. 2014). By Jonathan Shapiro

Once Upon a Time…Why Your Storytelling is a Disaster

Leave a Comment

“Tell me a story.”

The first time my daughter asked me…

I had nothing.

I had looked forward to this moment for months, had daydreamed the whole scene, could see holding her spellbound, not just with a great story, but a meaningful one, too, filled with subtle lessons that she would one day tell her children.

What I hadn’t done was prepare a story to tell her.

I figured I had more time. She was still so young. And the pre-packaged, ready-made books seemed to please her.

Plus, it felt so cold and calculating.

I figured the story you tell your child ought to spring from your heart, pure and spontaneous.

She waited, stared at me with her big green eyes.

My mind was a total blank.

I panicked.

“Once upon a time, a mermaid lived named Ariel under the sea…”

She cut me off faster than a city desk editor.

“A new one,” she said, with a little more heat than you’d expect from a four year-old.

Which is how, after many failed attempts, I ended up telling my daughter the story of the three men who robbed the East-West bank in the City of Alhambra, and the brave policeman who arrested them.

It was the best I could come up with, the fact pattern of an old case I had tried a few years earlier.

The best way to prepare to tell a story is to prepare the story you plan to tell.

Always, no matter the circumstance, no matter the audience, think of the story you might be asked to tell before you tell it. Off-the-cuff and spontaneous is never a good idea. Not even with family.

Storytelling without preparation is courting disaster.

For years afterward, usually in public places, my daughter would ask for the bank robbery story.

The looks people gave me were never good.

Lawyers Tell Stories to Persuade

Leave a Comment

If lawyers won’t help non-lawyers tell their stories better, they should at least try to tell their own stories better.

My book does not purport to be the last word on the subject. (but you should still read it)

The subject of storytelling is far from an empty field, but it remains an open one.

There are many types of stories lawyers tell in their work. The most effective ones are built with the legs of Aristotle’s marvelous triangle in mind.

There are stories of identity. these are the narratives lawyers tell to explain who they are, what they do, and what the law is.

They are stories told to potential clients to get hired, presented to finders of fact to establish credibility, all shared, in one way or another, in the service of ethos.

There are also puzzle stories; narratives that lawyers present to convince a client, colleague, or fact finder to decide something in the lawyer’s favor, or to persuade a client to take the lawyer’s advice.

Reason— logos—is at the heart of puzzle stories.

There are lawyer stories designed to appeal to the brain and touch the heart.

If you don’t care truly, deeply, and passionately about the case, the client, or the issue, you cannot elicit those feelings in others.

Emotion in storytelling matters as much as the other two legs. It is also the one that is the most problematic.

But regardless of the type of story, the reason why lawyers tell stories never changes.

Lawyers tell stories to persuade.

What good stories have you heard a lawyer tell? Please comment.

We Win An Emmy

Leave a Comment

On June 14, 2014, the film Fair and Free, conceived, written and produced pro bono by litigation of counsel Jonathan Shapiro, won an Emmy at the 2014 National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter’s Emmy Awards, held in Washington, D.C. The film featured former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Fair and Free is part of the National Association of Women Judges Informed Voters Project, which encourages women of all backgrounds to exercise their right to vote and make a difference in the electoral process. Jonathan also received a separate Emmy nomination for his script.

Jonathan Shapiro wrote the Emmy Award Winning best short form/PSA featuring O’Connor for the National Association of Women Judges’ (NAWJ) “Informed Voters – Fair Judges” campaign.

Watch the Full Film Here:

SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR FILM WINS Emmy Award

Leave a Comment

Official Press Release

For Release: June 20, 2014 Contact: Lisa Hall, (850) 508-7782 lisa@hallmediastrategies.com

SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR FILM WINS Emmy Award

Hollywood Helps Kick Off National Campaign

Los Angeles – A groundbreaking partnership formed by California judicial leaders and Hollywood has won an Emmy Award for the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ).

The film “Fair and Free,” conceived, written and produced by award-winning television writer and producer Jonathan Shapiro (The Blacklist, Life, Boston Legal, The Practice), featured former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

The film is the centerpiece of the NAWJ effort to combat civics education illiteracy which threatens to undermine the nation’s fundamental institutions. It is also the first of what promises to be many more efforts to have Hollywood storytellers help teach important democratic principles.

“If the public doesn’t understand the importance of a fair and free judiciary, the country won’t have one,” Shapiro said. “The courts will be taken over by special interest groups who are now pouring millions of dollars into campaigns that increasingly turn nonpartisan judicial elections into partisan battles.”

The film is part of a long-standing and ongoing effort by the California judiciary to educate the public about what courts do and why it matters.

Supported by California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Presiding Justice Judith McConnell and Justice Joan Irion of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, and retired Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Dean Deanell Tacha of the Pepperdine University School of Law, among others, this work began in 2007 with then California Chief Justice Ronald George’s Commission on Impartial Courts. It includes work by lawyers, law professors, as well as members of the bench, and numerous civics education partner organizations, such as the California League of Women Voters.

“All of us have a duty to tell the story of what judges do every day to ensure that equality and justice remain the hallmark of American law.

Our film, I hope, is just the beginning of telling that story,” Shapiro said. A former federal prosecutor and member of the Commission on Impartial Courts, Shapiro is currently of Counsel at Kirkland & Ellis, Los Angeles.

Nominated for three Emmys, the film won the Emmy Award for the Best Short Film/PSA from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on Saturday, June 14, 2014. This is the only award given in the Public Service Announcement category throughout the nation.

The NAWJ is the nation’s primary professional organization for female jurists in state and federal courts in all 50 states. Founded in 1979, the NAWJ counts more than 1,200 members.

NAWJ’s ‘Informed Voters – Fair Judges’ is a non-partisan voter education project developed to increase public awareness about the judicial system, to inform voters that politics and special interest attacks have no place in the courts, and to give voters the tools they need to exercise an informed vote in favor of fair and impartial courts.

“An independent and well-qualified judiciary is the necessary prerequisite to fairness and preservation of the rule of law. Every citizen has a heavy responsibility to be fully informed about the qualifications and experience of judicial candidates and to vote accordingly. No less than the future of our hard-won freedoms and system of government are at stake. Do your part in being an informed voter,” said Dean Deanell Tacha, co-chair of the California Informed Voters Project.

To view the “Fair and Free” film in its entirety, or to learn more about the campaign, visit ivp.nawj.org.

Official Press Release

Sign Up for My Updates