Writing Matters
| Jurisdiction | Georgia,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 28 No. 5 Pg. 0048 |
| Pages | 0048 |
| Publication year | 2023 |
A New Phenomenon in Legal Writing: Storytelling Complaint Introductions—Part I
In the last decade, some lawyers have begun to use storytelling techniques in an unexpected place: complaints, and specifically, complaint introductions.
BY MEGAN E. BOYD
Good lawyers have used storytelling techniques for hundreds of years to persuade judges and juries that their clients should prevail. While most lawyers probably don't spend much time considering why storytelling is important, science shows that "[human] brains are evolutionarily hardwired to think in terms of stories and to comprehend information given to us in terms of stories."[1] So storytelling is actually critical to our success as advocates. Until recently, though, storytelling techniques[2] were generally reserved for motions practice, oral argument and trial—critical points in the case where lawyers believe storytelling is most important. In the last decade, though, some lawyers have begun to use storytelling techniques in an unexpected place: complaints, and specifically, complaint introductions.
Lawyers have traditionally seen complaints as purely functional; they initiate a suit and nothing more. In truth, complaints often serve many other purposes, and in an era where few cases are tried, using storytelling techniques may not just be good lawyering, but essential. In this two-part series, I will examine complaint introductions. In the first part, I will use examples from complaints filed in Georgia cases to show the ways that attorneys have employed storytelling techniques in complaint introductions to get the reader's attention. In the next part, I will discuss the implications of complaint introductions, including whether they run afoul of the short-and-plain statement requirement for complaints, and the best practices for lawyers who want to use complaint introductions to further clients' cases. In these articles I will show that using complaint introductions, whether those introductions are short and plain or long and detailed, is an excellent way to get the reader's attention, add context and tell a compelling story at the earliest point in the case. Good complaint introductions can have immense benefit to the lawyer's client and when the introduction is well-written, the risk that the complaint will be met with a motion is extremely low.
Complaint introductions, sometimes styled as preliminary statements or statements of the case, most often appear in complaints filed in high-profile litigation involving public figures, highly publicized conduct or constitutionally questionable state action. Rather than simply launch into the allegations regarding the parties' citizenship and the bases for jurisdiction, good lawyers use introductions to set the scene...
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