Storytelling for Lawyers
A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life.
Words play an enormous part in our lives and are therefore deserving of the closest study.
You can’t build a vocabulary without reading. You can’t meet friends if you … stay at home by yourself all the time. In the same way, you can’t build up a vocabulary if you never meet any new words. And to meet them you must read. The more you read the better.
Start Here
Warm-up Quiz
Storytelling
Key Expressions
Grammar Review
Phrasal Verbs
To wrap up
To set up
To sum up
To find out
To come up with
To lead to
To wind up
To figure out
To run into
To hand out
In this post you will run into many of these phrasal verbs. Be sure to make a list and try to figure out their meaning in context.
Everyone loves a [good] story.
Storytelling Styles
Five effective ways to tell your story.
Overcoming a bad guy
Rags to Riches
Life is a Laugh
Good vs. Evil
After you get the audience figured out, start asking the following “W” questions about everything else and set out an outline with your partner. This will certainly help set up and avoid running into any problems.
Who – who is involved in the event or who is attending?
What – what event are you at and what are the common goals?
Where – where is the event, how did the initiative the event revolves around start?
When – is the timing of the event important? What does the future hold?
Why – why is everyone there? Why are you there?
Write all of this down. Set out a script. Draft an outline.
Prepare, prepare and prepare some more.
This guide was created for Harvard Library employees, but we hope it’s helpful to a wider community of content creators, editors, producers — anyone who’s trying to communicate a message online.
Where do you go from here? There are lots of ways to dive deeper into plain language and English.
Learn about the Plain English, Associated Press & More
Key Expressions
Coming Soon
Introducing Yourself
Introducing Others
Indicators
“… okay …”
“… right…”
“… then …”
“… next …”
“… well…”
“… good …”
“… so …”
Extras
Rhetorical Questions
“So, what does this mean?”
“What conclusions can we draw from this?”
“Well, where do we go from here”
Simplifying
“… in other words …”
“… put simply …”
“… that is to say …”
Filler words are ok, just never start with a filler sound.
And what is a filler by the way?
A filler is a sound, word, or phrase that buys you some time, but does not provide any real content, and usually only produces a distraction for the listener and audience. Try to avoid filler sounds and fill phrases, and use filler words only when you must.
Everyone gets nervous, and especially in impromptu style, it is easy to stumble, mumble and use fillers. Try to replace your fillers with silent pauses while you come up with your next idea. No sound at all. This is very difficult to do, but it will increase your professionalism and style immediately.
Filler Sounds
um
eh
ah
Filler Words
again
well
so
Filler Phrases
I mean
you know
let’s see
I am not your friend, I am your teacher: stop the muletillas now.
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Idioms
to buy some time
Purposefully cause a delay to something, in order to think.
vs.
to kill some time
Intentionally wasting time while waiting for something.
Phrasal Verbs
To wrap up
To figure out
To run into
To hand out
To set up
To sum up
To find out
To come up with
Prepositions
In a place
(exact purpose)
in a classroom
in an interview
in court
in a lecture room
in a meeting
in a cross examination
in a conference
in a negotiation
At a place
(general purpose)
at a classroom
at an interview
at court
at a lecture room
at a meeting
at a cross examination
at a conference
at a negotiation
Idioms
to be caught off guard
to be confronted and not be expecting it
vs.
to be blind-sided
to be confronted and not be expecting it
Silent letter words.
Definition of syncope
NOUNS
A DEBT
A MORTGAGE
A FACTORY
A RECEIPT
A DOUBT
VERBS
TO LEND
TO GUARANTEE
TO MONITOR
TO RESIGN
TO DOUBT
ADJECTIVES
SUBTLE
DANGEROUS
GENERAL
GUILTY
PROBABLY
Ball Idioms
to get the ball rolling
To get something started.
vs.
to keep the ball rolling
To continue something
to be on the ball
To be focused
vs.
to keep your eye on the ball
To stay focused
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