Read this article from July's ABA Journal to learn the thoughts of one judge about that worst mistake lawyers make in final argument. The article "The Arsenal of Persuasion: Make your closing argument a really good story" also contains some of the benefits of storytelling.
[S]umming up doesn’t help much except in cases that have taken too long. Then it may be necessary. In cases that only take three or four days to try, the jury remembers the testimony as well as you do—maybe better. After all, your mind is still cluttered with what the witnesses were supposed to have said. But the jurors only know what they heard.
“So there’s a better answer to your question besides sterile recapitulation and dry logic. It’s to tell a story.
“People don’t make their decisions with syllogisms and rational progressions of principle. Stories—not rules —are what really influence our thinking.
“Since the dawn of time, we have used stories to teach, explain, understand how the world works, memorialize events and instill moral values.
“So there’s a better answer to your question besides sterile recapitulation and dry logic. It’s to tell a story.
“People don’t make their decisions with syllogisms and rational progressions of principle. Stories—not rules —are what really influence our thinking.
“Since the dawn of time, we have used stories to teach, explain, understand how the world works, memorialize events and instill moral values.
Click to read the rest of "The Arsenal of Persuasion."
Note: Story is such an excellent way to communicate that Daniel Willingham devotes several pages to it in his book Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom.
Image credit: ABA Journal.
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