The Upright Citizens Brigade's Guide to Improv in Litigation

• Publication year: 2019
• Citation: Vol. 2019 No. 1
• Author: Allen Secretov and Nick Milanes

The Upright Citizens Brigade's Guide To Improv In Litigation

Allen Secretov and Nick Milanes

Allen Secretov is an attorney at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert, LLP. His practice focuses on litigating high-profile entertainment and intellectual property matters.

(Nick Milanes not pictured)

Though our work is rarely a laughing matter, attorneys can learn a lot from improv comedians. There is zero room for ego in comedy: every choice an improviser makes on stage must support the success of the whole team. Learn how the nation's top improv school, UCB, builds unbreakable teams, and how its methods can be applied to your legal practice.

During an improv show at the legendary Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, a team of anywhere from two to ten comedians performs a series of completely made-up-on-the-spot scenes inspired by a one-word suggestion or an onstage interview with an audience member. Suppose an interviewee mentions their Aunt Frida. One improviser might then initiate a scene with an impersonation of that aunt. It's up to their scene partner to embody a character to match—and the antics heighten from there.

At every level, improvisers must accept and support what their teammates give them. Did Aunt Frida (the initiator) just ask her nephew what he wants for his birthday? The scene partner, hearing this, might then play the nephew. Did Aunt Frida come out of the gate rudely lecturing a customer service worker? The scene partner might respond by standing gloomily behind a counter. Later, team members might trade places within scenes, using context and dialogue cues developed over the hour as a guide by which to play.

The improvisers must listen to each other's signals and suggestions in order to make choices, and every choice is made to support the whole team's success. Effective participation requires sensing what the whole team understands to be funny, and acting accordingly. Seeing an opportunity to swap oneself into a scene, and knowing when to let the scene play out fully instead, requires a humble awareness of your strengths and what you are able to contribute, trust in your teammates, and an emphasis on elevating the team's success over your own personal desire for, or fear of, the spotlight.

The first time I watched professional improv, I was floored. When it works, it's like watching magic for the first time—really funny, imaginative magic. And it occurred to me that improv could do more for litigators than provide some laughs after a long-running case is closed. So, I reached out to Nick Milanes of the Upright Citizens Brigade to learn more, and quickly realized there are endless parallels between the skills used in legal practice and improv comedy.

Like members of an improv team, an attorney must make every choice in service of the team's (and the client's) success. It is rare that a case is staffed with fewer than two attorneys, plus at least one paralegal and/ or legal secretary...