When you include courtroom testimony in your story, you need to understand the difference between direct cross-examination and cross-examination of witnesses. Otherwise, your dialogue will seem amateur and, worse, will bring the legally literate reader out of the trance of your narrative while wrestling in his mind with the form of your lawyers` questions. The judge rules the courtroom, makes the legal decisions and seems to be the central figure in the unfolding drama. But the jury decides who wins the case. That is what lawyers are trying to earn. Juries do not have a role to speak until they render their verdict, but the author should listen to their non-verbal reactions to the evidence as soon as it arrives. [For more tips on writing a legal thriller, check out Scott Turow`s interview with WD.] —————————— – Mike Avery is a criminal defense attorney and civil rights lawyer whose first novel, The Cooperating Witness, was published on July 1, 2020. He writes non-fiction books on law and politics. He produces fiction on a larger screen and is interested in the problems of contemporary America. The author should let the reader see how judges react to these persuasive efforts. Judges try to appear apathetic, so don`t overdo it. However, if witness statements or evidence are significant, we may see reactions that reflect shock, surprise, disapproval, anger, sympathy, etc. The author can introduce us to the judges by giving names and professions to some of them, or by describing their clothing or other aspects of their appearance.
In rare cases, the open response of a jury can be decisive. In my decades of experience in the practice of criminal law, I have found that defence lawyers, prosecutors, police officers and judges in our judicial system are made up of the same amount of corruption as any other population. So writing a legal thriller with corrupt defense attorneys who train their clients to lie or counsel drug cartels would be realistic. Just as it is life-tested that some prosecutors hide evidence of innocence from the defense. And police often adjust their statements to circumvent certain constitutional guarantees, but they rarely lie about the facts to convict an innocent person. “I would suggest writers go to the local courthouse and see a trial or two,” said Allison Leota, a former federal sex crimes attorney in Washington, whose latest novel, The Last Good Girl, was published May 3. Courthouses are open to the public and free of charge. There is no better way to see what processes really look like – than to see how they are represented by law and order. Go straight to the source. I would also suggest talking to lawyer friends. Lawyers love to tell their war stories, so don`t be shy.
I`ve found that true stories from litigators can be more dramatic and fascinating than anything you can imagine. The same advice applies to writers. Good lawyers tell their witnesses to turn around and address jurors when answering questions, and to make eye contact with people when possible. A lawyer who asks a witness an important question may face the jury when reporting his or her point of view. She will display documents and photos on media screens to create a visual impact on the judges. Lawyers use interrogation speed, physical movements, tone and volume of voice as tools to play with the jury. When a beautiful and ambitious colleague is found murdered in her apartment, Rožat “Rusty” Sabich, assistant district attorney of Kindle County, Illinois, takes over the case. But Carolyn Polhemus was not only a collaborator, she was also Ruthy`s lover. When the evidence of the case is revealed, Rusty goes from chief prosecutor to prime suspect.
Soon he was tried for his life. Is he an innocent bystander or a cold-blooded murderer? You won`t know until you turn the final pages of Scott Turow`s brilliant debut novel, which combines deep philosophical ideas, authentic details about the inner workings of a metropolitan courtroom, and a mysterious plot that sets the golden standard for the modern legal thriller. Many other lawyers followed in his footsteps and created their own legal heroes and villains. In addition to my own experience, I have consulted some of the most prominent practitioners in the field on what aspiring writers should do to make their legal scenes more believable. “A common mistake I see time and time again in court drama is that the judge is a standard character,” said James Grippando, a Miami attorney who has been writing legal thrillers for 25 years and won the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction in 2017 for his novel Gone Again. “In the real world, the judge runs the courtroom, not the lawyers. That`s not to say the judge should be the main character, but it`s a missed opportunity to leave your judge indefinite. In this 1958 bestseller, often referred to as the first legal thriller, U.S. Army Lt.
Frederic “Manny” Manion confesses to murdering an innkeeper, but claims the man raped his wife. When lawyer Paul Biegler learns that Manion has no memory of pulling the trigger, he pursues a new defense strategy: not guilty of “irresistible impulses,” a version of temporary insanity. The legal wrangling between Biegler and the prosecution is made all the more convincing in reality by its solid foundation, proving that there are few places on earth that are inherently more dramatic than a courtroom. The author should exploit the dramatic difference between the roles of counsel and witness in direct cross-examination and cross-examination. (If you`re trying to write a compelling legal thriller but you`re not a lawyer, don`t be guilty of doing it wrong. Internationally renowned lawyer (and crime writer) Michael Avery has it all.) Nevertheless, readers of legal thrillers often look for more: they want authenticity. They want a process that respects legal procedures and rules of evidence. They want a realistic police investigation, and they want defense lawyers, prosecutors and judges to behave in history as they would in real life. Nowadays, we are saturated with a flood of news, not only from traditional media such as television and newspapers, but also from social media.