Nothing but the Truth : Why Trial Lawyers Don't, Can't, and Shouldn't Have to Tell the Whole Truth / Steven Lubet.
Lubet, Steven, author.
2001
KF384.Z9 L83 2001
Available Online

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Title Nothing but the Truth : Why Trial Lawyers Don't, Can't, and Shouldn't Have to Tell the Whole Truth / Steven Lubet.
Author Lubet, Steven, author.
ISBN 9780814765029
DOI https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814765029.001.0001
Published New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2001]
Copyright ©2001
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource
Other Standard Identifiers 10.18574/nyu/9780814765029.001.0001 doi
Call Number KF384.Z9 L83 2001
Dewey Decimal Classification 347.73/75
Summary Lubet's Nothing But The Truth presents a novel and engaging analysis of the role of storytelling in trial advocacy. The best lawyers are storytellers, he explains, who take the raw and disjointed observations of witnesses and transform them into coherent and persuasive narratives. Critics of the adversary system, of course, have little patience for storytelling, regarding trial lawyers as flimflam artists who use sly means and cunning rhetoric to befuddle witnesses and bamboozle juries. Why not simply allow the witnesses to speak their minds, without the distorting influence of lawyers' stratagems and feints? But Lubet demonstrates that the craft of lawyer storytelling is a legitimate technique for determining the truth andnot at all coincidentallyfor providing the best defense for the attorney's client. Storytelling accomplishes three important purposes at trial. It helps to establish a "theory of the case," which is a plausible and reasonable explanation of the underlying events, presented in the light most favorable to the attorney's client. Storytelling also develops the "trial theme," which is the lawyer's way of adding moral force to the desired outcome. Most importantly, storytelling provides a coherent "story frame," which organizes all of the events, transactions, and other surrounding facts into an easily understandable narrative context. As with all powerful tools, storytelling may be misused to ill purposes. Therefore, as Lubet explains, lawyers do not have carte blanche to tell whatever stories they choose. It is a creative process to be sure, but every story must ultimately be based on "nothing but the truth." There is no room for lying. On the other hand, it is obvious that trial lawyers never tell "the whole truth," since life and experience are boundless and therefore not fully describable. No lawyer or court of law can ever get at the whole truth, but the attorney who effectively employs the techniques of storytelling will do the best job of sorting out competing claims and facts, thereby helping the court arrive at a decision that serves the goals of accuracy and justice. To illustrate the various challenges, benefits, and complexities of storytelling, Lubet elaborates the stories of six different trials. Some of the cases are real, including John Brown and Wyatt Earp, while some are fictional, including Atticus Finch and Liberty Valance. In each chapter, the emphasis is on the narrative itself, emphasizing the trial's rich context of facts and personalities. The overall conclusion, as Lubet puts it, is that "purposive storytelling provides a necessary dimension to our adversary system of justice."
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Series Critical America ; ; 68
In New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
Available in Other Form print 9780814751732
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Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Storytelling Lawyers
Chapter one. Biff and Me: Stories That Are Truer Than True
Chapter two. Edgardo Mortara: Forbidden Truths
Chapter three. John Brown: Political Truth and Consequences
Chapter four. Wyatt Earp: Truth and Context
Chapter five. Liberty Valance Truth or Justice
Chapter six. Atticus Finch: Race, Class, Gender, and Truth
Chapter seven. Sheila McGough The Impossibility of the Whole Truth
Index
About the Author

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