Presents at

Once Upon a Legal Time:
Developing the Skills of Storytelling in Law

Inns of Court, London

Assistant Professor Margaret Moore Jackson has completed a new article, Confronting “Unwelcomeness” From the Outside: Using Case Theory to Tell the Stories of Sexually-Harassed Women. Her article was just published in the Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender.

This past summer, Professor Jackson accepted an invitation to present the scholarship that formed the basis for this new article at Once Upon a Legal Time: Developing the Skills of Storytelling in Law, a conference sponsored by the City University Inns of Court Law School and the Legal Writing Institute. Legal educators from 10 different countries attended this conference, which took place at City University’s Inns of Court Law School in London. The law school is located in the historic Gray’s Inn, one of London’s four Inns of Court in existence since the 16th century.

“The conference was a fantastic opportunity to exchange ideas with other law professors who are exploring widely divergent aspects of applied storytelling and the law,” reported Jackson. “Participants examined how stories and storytelling impact the development of the law, legal education, and legal advocacy. My encounters with professors from across the country, and around the world, allowed me to take away not only specific insights related to my areas of scholarly writing, but also ideas for enhancing my effectiveness as a legal educator.”

Jackson and other conference participants gained a birds-eye view of the English court system by attending part of a trial at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court. The conference itself concluded in the Old Hall of Lincoln’s Inn, another of the original four Inns of Court. The Old Hall was built in 1490, was used until the late 19th century as the Court of Chancery, and is featured at the start of Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House. “As I walked on stone sidewalks through the alleys that connect the Inns of Court, I thought about whether it might feel different to practice law in such an imposingly beautiful and historic environment. Would it be easier for lawyers to keep in mind the ethical mandates of our profession, surrounded by reminders of history and tradition?” commented Jackson, who teaches professionalism and ethics “on a daily basis” in the Law Clinic. “The wigs worn by the barristers were pretty ugly, though, no matter how historic.”

During the semester prior to her visit to the original English Inns of Court, Professor Jackson helped found a Grand Forks Chapter of the American Inns of Court, named in honor of former UND law professor Randy H. Lee. Professor Jackson also presented the program at the first meeting of Lee’s Inn, Introduction to Professionalism. Jackson said, “It was a nice coincidence that I had just learned about the Inns of Court in the context of getting an American chapter started in Grand Forks. It gave me a great appreciation for where I found myself a few months later, presenting my paper at Gray’s Inn.”