Effective storytelling is critical in the persuasion process.

Over the years, I have blogged about why storytelling is so important and how effectively to pursue storytelling in criminal defense trials. Here are some more thoughts:

• Criminal defense at trial calls for summoning instant playbacks into moments in time in the most persuasive way.
• A well-presented case can dissect events more minutely and deeply than happened as the events unfolded.
• The trial lawyer, then, presents a persuasive story at every stage of trial, because the trial is about a story or even series of stories and sub-stories.
• For some criminal defense lawyers, transitioning to storytelling may feel uncomfortable if they are instead accustomed merely to picking at the prosecution’s case for reasonable doubt. When we pick at the prosecutor’s case, we pick at the known. When we tell stories as criminal defense lawyers, we fill in plenty of blanks with information that we deduce and induce.
• Merely picking at the opponent’s case rather than persuasively owning the story amounts to fragmented argument.
• People don’t decide in fragments. They decide in the full context of stories and feelings — often with their entire beings — and how that fits in with their life experiences. Therefore, storytelling is critical in the persuasion process.

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz pursues your best defense against Virginia DUI, misdemeanor and felony prosecutions. Learn for yourself the great difference that Jon Katz can make for your defense, with a free confidential in-person initial consultation with Jon about your court-pending case. Call  703-383-1100 to schedule a same-day or next-day meeting with Jon.