Ruth Anne Robbins

An Introduction to Applied Legal Storytelling

Ruth Anne Robbins — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:49:22 PST

This article introduces the concept of "Applied Legal Storytelling," a movement in legal education and lawyering theory, that looks at story as the signature framework for delivering narrative information. The article is expository in nature. Other articles in the same volume of the journal explore the topic in a variety of contexts. There is a growing body of literature that stems from the biennial Applied Legal Storytelling conferences.

Conserving the Canvas: reducing the environmental footprint of legal briefs by re-imagining court rules and document design strategies

Ruth Anne Robbins — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:35:28 PDT

This article argues that the current system of court rules needlessly wastes natural resources because the required document design requires more paper usage than is needed or that is even optimal for reading rates. The article assumes that, even with electronic filing, most legal documents are still read in print form. It includes discussion and calculations about how a change in court rules and attorney practices could help reduce the environmental impact of briefs submitted in appellate courts. This article follows up a previous article, Painting With Print: Incorporating Concepts of Typographic and Layout Design into the Text of Legal Writing Documents, originally published at 2 J. ALWD 108 (2004) and available at www.ca7.uscourts.gov. The tone of this article deliberately matches its predecessor.

Fiction 101: A Primer For Lawyers On How To Use Fiction Writing

Brian J. Foley et al. — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:56:35 PST

This article talks about how to build a story in legal writing using fiction-writing concepts of character, conflict type and resolution.

Painting With Print: Incorporating concepts of typographic and layout design into the text of legal writing documents

Ruth Anne Robbins — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:49:30 PST

This article looks at the science behind what makes words readable and legible. It suggests that lawyers should be strategizing the look of the document itself as a persuasive technique. The article also contains suggetsed optimal layouts and looks at court rules around the country to determine whether lawyers can actually accomplish the visual persuasion in a particular jurisdiction (New Jersey lawyers are out of luck beyond the trial level courts).

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has the article linked from its homepage. www.ca7.uscourts.gov

Harry Potter, Ruby Slippers and Merlin: Telling the Client's Story Using the Characters and Paradigm of the Archetypal Hero's Journey

Ruth Anne Robbins — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:42:21 PST

This article hypothesizes that lawyers should consider heroic archetype when strategizing the client's story. The article speaks more to storytelling for a judge as factfinder rather than a jury.