Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-29-2010

Abstract

This article focuses on the question of whether appellate judges are actually influenced by the stories of the litigants who appear before them Part I will describe what I call the ÔÇ£DNA model of persuasionÔÇØ setting forth the hypothesis that logical argumentation while a necessary part of persuasion is not sufficient by itself and that using the form of a story to weave a pathosbased appeal into a brief will produce a more persuasive document Part II of this article will describe a study that I devised and implemented to test whether appellate judges find story argumentation persuasive Part III will present the results of the study Part IV addresses possible objections to the validity of the test and the sample collected Part V will begin an analysis of what the data might mean Among other things I conclude that stories are indeed persuasive to appellate judges and others but also that recent law school graduates are not as impressed by stories as more experienced lawyers and judges are Finally I suggest that stories are helpful because properly done they evoke emotional responses within the reader that make the legal claim seem more ÔÇ£realÔÇØ and hence believable to the reader

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