Find the Hurt, Amplify the Pain, Heal the Wound: 3 Steps to a Bulletproof Legal Narrative
Telling your client’s true and powerful mitigation story is the most important part of sentencing. But we lawyers are never taught how to do it right. The bigger problem is, this leads to disastrous consequences on the big day because when a lawyer fails to control the narrative, someone else will tell your client’s story and it’s ALWAYS BAD.
Therefore, we need expand our horizons and learn from story professionals inside AND outside of the legal world.
Park Howell is exactly that guy. Park is a brand storytelling strategist and keynote speaker. He is the creator of the Business of Story Podcast, recently ranked the #1 business podcast in the world by Feedspot. He is the co-author of the Narrative Gym for Business (a companion book to my Narrative Gym For Law) among other great works.
In this episode, Park brings his business/marketing storytelling acumen to make narrative concepts relevant and real to our legal community. And, perhaps most fun, the two of us of spend a lot of time geeking out on what we can learn from our favorite (and not so favorite) movies and TV shows!
IN THIS EPISODE:
- How to focus on the true hero of your criminal defense story;
- Great examples from the marketing/business world lawyers and clients can apply in their persuasive advocacy;
- The “And, But, Therefore” narrative framework;
- The beating heart of narrative: “find the hurt, amplify the pain, heal the wound” – what it means and how to do it;
- The importance of injecting emotion into your narrative;
- The power of the word “because”;
- A whole lot of fun examples from movies and television to elucidate the concept of “find the hurt, amplify the pain, heal the wound”
- The value of “finding your tornado” – the thing that throws your whole story into motion (another expression of the “BUT” statement of the ABT);
- A little bit of the big man, Joseph Campbell, because no discussion of narrative is complete without it;
- A word about the lawyer show “Suits”, cause you know, that seems to be what everyone’s watching these days.
LINKS:
The Business of Story Website: www.businessofstory.com
The Business of Story Podcast: www.businessofstory.com/storytelling-podcast/
THE NARRATIVE GYM FOR LAW! A short book for lawyers and legal professionals with an introduction to the ABT Narrative framework:
