The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Courtroom Law
The Secrets Only Insiders Know
WRITE IT RIGHT
By Lynne Murray
Copyright
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Copyright 2008 by Lynne Murray
All rights reserved.
Epub ISBN: 978-1-936507-11-5
Published by ACOA - http://aconspiracyofauthors.com/
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Text and Cover design: Holly Lisle
Author Photo: Copyright Barbara Landis
First Edition 2008
Second Edition 2011
In 1973, Lynne Murray just happened to take a proofreading job at what was then the largest law firm in San Francisco. Little did she know that the firm would contribute many plot twists and a couple of murder victims to her first mystery, Termination Interview (St. Martin's Press 1988), wherein a personnel director is thrown out a 12th-story window at a huge stuffy law firm. Fascinated with the ins and outs of the law, Lynne found that the big firms needed 24/7 word processing. That was the ideal job for someone who needed to work weird hours to support her fiction writing habit. She has typed every sort of legal document, and transcribed tapes from police interrogations and FBI surveillance to court hearings. Lynne lives in San Francisco. She has had a total of eight novels published and collaborated on a humorous e-book of encouragement for writers.
* My email: murraymade@yahoo.com
* My website: http://www.lmurray.com/
* My website: http://www.maadwomen.com/ticklesisters/index.html
Table of Contents
The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Courtroom Law
Welcome to A Conspiracy of Authors
To Charles W. Powell, JD
Acknowledments
I very much appreciate the knowledge and experience shared by my legally sophisticated friends Ann Reasoner, a paralegal with 24 years of experience, and Jaqueline Girdner, who has practiced law and written mysteries, though not both at the same time. Particular thanks to Holly Lisle for the inspiration, hope and some excellent writing tools.
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble, "Mark Twain said. "It's what you know for sure that ain't so."
Writers often stray from the reality of the legal system because we think we know about the law from watching television and movies and reading mystery novels. Unfortunately many dramatizations of criminal investigations and legal proceedings more closely resemble The Three Stooges slapstick reel Disorder in the Court than any real world legal proceeding. I am not a lawyer, but I have spent the past three decades processing legal documents and researching legal details in order to get them right in the murder mysteries I've written. Law is all about conflict and a little research can yield some great plot ammunition, while blithely committing the worst blunders about the law that can get popcorn thrown at the screen or your book thrown across the room by otherwise mild-mannered lawyers and paralegals.
Here are some starting points to get the law right and preserve your work from popcorn-throwing lawyers.
THE MISTAKES
The fundamental mistake in Hollywood films and mystery fiction is showing justice as good triumphing over evil--or evil over good, if it's a gritty, cynical story.
Justice in the real world court system is adversarial, with lawyers fighting on behalf of their clients in what one trial lawyer has called "civilized war." Courts weigh the persuasiveness of evidence presented by one side against how effectively it can be refuted by the other side.