I am sure every lawyer has watched a legal movie or two where they were moved by an actor’s performance in the fictional trial. In my case, a few come to mind: Matt Damon in The Rainmaker, Matthew McConaughey in A Time to Kill, Paul Newman in The Verdict and, of course, Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men. Why are these actors who have no legal training and are certainly not trial lawyers so persuasive? The simple answer: that is what they are trained to do. All good actors are persuasive, believable and, most of all, REAL. Legal training is not required to develop any of those characteristics, talents, or skills. In fact legal training, including law school, internships and the daily practice does little, if anything, to develop those skills at all. Please do not shout “WHAT ABOUT TRIAL ADOCACY CLASS.” Regardless of how innovative trial advocacy classes can be, they are still primarily taught by lawyers. If there are trial advocacy courses taught by acting teachers, please comment and point them out. They are few and far between. The thing is, being a trial lawyer is an art, not a science and training in the arts is an invaluable component of the training of an effective trial lawyer. Some of you are now probably thinking or saying “wait a minute, I do just fine and I have never had any theatrical training!” I am not saying that one cannot be an effective trial lawyer without theatrical training, what I am saying is that theatrical training will help make any trial lawyer more effective. I am speaking from first-hand experience on this having spent nearly two years at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City before even applying to law school. I credit that training with the development of many of the skills I use in the courtroom to this day.
Among the things I learned: poise, timing, speech, movement, but most of all the training taught me to be real on stage. Even trained actors cannot be persuasive if they do not truly feel what they are trying to convey. We are persuaded by and relate to the best actors because they honestly feel emotions and believe in what they are saying. I do not want to digress into acting instruction, but yes, it is possible to really feel the emotions and really believe what you are saying as an actor, regardless of whether those emotions and beliefs are held by the “real you.” Suffice it to say that there are numerous techniques to accomplish this goal so that even actors playing despicable characters with deplorable beliefs can convey real feelings. The feeling you get when watching an actor who is just faking it is the same feeling that jurors get when they see a trial lawyer that is not being him or herself and being real in the courtroom. All of the trial lawyers I know truly believe in their clients’ causes, so that is the easy part. The tough part is trusting those beliefs and trusting ourselves when we step in front of a jury.
I do not mean to dismiss any natural talents for persuasion that any of us have, but I am certain that my theater training has helped me magnify that talent in the courtroom. So take an acting class. What do you have to lose? Your dignity? If you are worried about embarrassment and what others think of you or the causes you represent, then you are already doing a disservice to trial lawyers. Besides, if you are a trial lawyer, you are among the least respected professionals in the eyes of the public anyway. Whether good or bad from a professional standpoint, I speak my mind and never try to be anything but myself. Plenty of four letter words have probably been used to describe me, but I venture to say FAKE has never been one of them. Success flows from the failures of trial and error. Trial, error, critique and trial again is what acting class is all about. Ever heard of rehearsal? If you are afraid to even flap your wings, you are never going to fly. It is not going to make you a worse trial lawyer, so why not start flapping?
Follow the links below to see the movie clips mentioned in this article.
A Few Good Men: http://smclaw.tv/wQJDAg
The Verdict: http://smclaw.tv/vZ58AP
A Time to Kill: http://smclaw.tv/zc0NT4
