Is it useful for legal writers to read novels? The answer is yes—not because lawyers must master dialogue or fictional conventions, but because fiction illuminates the depths of human experience and perception in ways that conventional nonfiction rarely does. A good novel’s “subjective truth”—how it feels to be a person living through conflict, uncertainty, and moral challenge—gives readers empathy and insight into the motivations that shape real legal disputes. Understanding the complexities of character, narrative tension, and inner transformation are crucial to writing persuasive arguments and crafting compelling case stories, even in doctrinal or analytical prose.
True, legal writers operate within the demands of factual accuracy, logical precision, and adherence to precedent. Many of the nuts-and-bolts techniques used in fiction—especially composing naturalistic dialogue or building imaginary worlds—don’t translate directly to legal memos, briefs, and judicial opinions. But fiction’s broader lessons remain vital. The best legal writing succeeds by knowing its readers, engaging their curiosity, and grounding analysis in a well-told story. Advocacy is, at heart, a form of narrative: the lawyer should induce judges to lean toward the client’s position, just as the novelist enlists sympathy for a protagonist. Clear structure, evocative choices of detail, and a sense of momentum can all be cultivated through reading fiction.
Ultimately, reading fiction can make legal writers better communicators. By studying how novelists evoke emotion and reveal character, legal writers can learn to present facts in a more compelling way, making arguments not just logical but humanly resonant. Law, after all, is a branch of storytelling: it tells the story of conflicts and their resolutions, of rights wronged and restored. Novels remind legal writers that beneath every case citation lies a lived experience—and that understanding those experiences can make legal writing at once more persuasive and more just.
Here’s a short list of recommended novels:
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (exploring justice, racial inequality, and moral courage).
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (exploring the psychology of guilt, punishment, and redemption: it’s not as daunting as you might fear).
- Bleak House by Charles Dickens (illuminating the human cost of bureaucratic delay and legal opacity).
- The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe (satirizing law, media, and ambition in 1980s New York).
- Native Son by Richard Wright (examining systemic injustice and the intersection of race and law).
- Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow (demonstrating how suspense and narrative structure can enhance legal storytelling).