The Practical Lawyer | 25

Can persuasiveness get a 1956 Cadillac restored for free?

Read on. . . .
LETS BEGIN with the truth: Im not a lawyer. I am a professional
writer. After studying this article, you will have the tools to become an ex-
traordinarily effective communicator. I know this because Ive studied the
art of crafting convincing communication. Publishers world-wide have
granted me over 4 million words of print spacemostly with the intent
to persuade. I have used each word judiciously.
Im fortunate to count a number of prestigious law frms among my
clients. Heres what they taught me: Lawyers are excellent tacticians. Bet-
ter than any profession Ive seen, lawyers doggedly research cases, prec-
edents, and technical facts until the cows come home. They can talk the
Chris Malburg
is Managing Editor of Writers
Resource Group, a Los Angeles-
based frm providing outsourced
professional writing services to
corporations and other enterprises.
His extensive background includes
treasury operations at Citicorp,
where he was division assistant
treasurer, public accounting at
Ernst & Young, where he ran part of
the business strategies consulting
practice, shareholder value creation
consulting at Kibel Green, where
he ran that part of the practice, and
investment banking at Global Capital
Markets, where he most recently was
a client-handling partner. Contact
Chris at (310) 200-8648 or by email at
CRM@WritersResourceGroup.com.
The Art Of Persuasive Communication
by Chris Malburg
26 | The Practical Lawyer October 2007
leg off a chair using phrases like included but
not limited to without ever seeming to run out of
breath. But many lawyers neglect the techniques
of persuasion. How much more compelling would
an argument, a closing summation, a brief, or any
other case element be ifalong with a sprinkling
of unassailable argumentsattorneys used even a
few of the elements of persuasive communication?
Their cases and clients would instantly gain an ad-
vantage over much of the legal profession. Here
are the elements of persuasive communication.
PRE-FLIGHT THE BRIEF Before you begin
drafting a document or a speech, frst consider the
audience. They want to know
whats in it for them. Figure
out what the audience wants,
then structure your presenta-
tion to deliver exactly that.
Next, determine what
you know about the audi-
ence. How expert are they
in your topic? Certainly they
have an opinion. What is it? Figure out how to use
what you know of the audiences values and beliefs
to persuade. After all, its easier to persuade some-
one using their own arguments than yours.
Speed bumps often come in the form of the au-
diences hot buttons. Understand where these are
buried by knowing the audiences predispositions
before you begin crafting your piece. Such prefer-
ences often extend to facts the audience thinks of
as indisputable. You may know otherwise. Yet, the
harder you push, the less likely your argument is
to convince. Theres no need to die on that hill.
Instead, craft your piece to make its point without
facing such a head-on collision.
Think about the best vehicle for the presen-
tation. Maybe we have no choice over the actual
medium. However, within the structure of a given
presentation we often have many options. For ex-
ample, if you are making an oral presentation in
court, you may choose to use visual aids. Perhaps
a video. If you are drafting a hardcopy document,
you can include side bars, charts, graphs, and Web
links. The point is, mold the mediums used for your
presentation to achieve maximum impact. Make
these decisions before drafting the piece.
BEGIN AT THE END AND WORK BACK-
WARDS Persuasive communication leaves little
to chance. Start by clearly identifying the desired
outcome. What exactly should the audience think,
feel, and doespecially doafter experiencing
your presentation? Then work backwards, outlin-
ing all the steps needed to get the audience to that
desired call to action.
Next, engage the au-
dience and draw them into
your presentation. If you
know your audience, you
know the focus of their in-
terests. Engage them with a
good lead that parallels their
interest. For example, a high
school journalism class was asked to write the lead
for a story appearing in the school newspaper with
these facts: Next Thursday all teachers would be in
the state capital meeting with the governor. They
will discuss a better use for scarce educational re-
sources. Whats the lead? No school next Thurs-
day. It grabs the audience by their interest. It en-
gages them and draws them into the piece. At this
point, you know three things:
Your audience, because youve studied them.
Youve decided whats in your presentation for
them and fgured out how to give it to them;
What the audience should think, feel, and do
after the presentation;
The lead of the story that will engage the au-
dience and draw them into your presentation.
STRUCTURE THE MESSAGE IN THREE
ACTS Most audiences expect a presentation to

Persuasive communication leaves little

to chance. Start by clearly identifying
the desired outcome. What exactly
should the audience think, feel, and
doespecially doafter experiencing
your presentation?
Art Of Persuasiveness | 27
contain a beginning, middle, and an end. Give
them what they expect. Anything else may distract
from the good points your presentation makes while
your audience struggles to catch up with you.
Act I
Act I should account for no more than 20 per-
cent of the overall presentation. It provides the
lead-in to your theme. Use Act I to introduce your
thesis and to tell the audience whats in this jour-
ney for them. Many writers employ a short vignette
complete with made-up characters to illustrate the
problem theyre going to solve.
Other writers and speakers use a quote, statis-
tic, an unusual fact or an attention-getting question
to open the discussion. Act I must grab your audi-
ences interest and launch into your focus point
the thesis.
If you go back to the beginning of this article,
this technique is transparent in its use:
The truth is always refreshing;
I let you know whats in this article for you;
I established my credibility and my qualifca-
tions; and
I introduced my thesis.
Act II
In case youre wondering, were smack in the
middle of Act II right now. This is the body of your
presentation. It should account for about 70 per-
cent of the overall material. Act II forms the body
of the piece. It should contain all the evidence and
argument that supports the thesis you introduced
in Act I. Now is the time to elaborate and clarify
your position. Anticipate opposition and provide
counter-arguments. A technique that many writers
and speakers employ is to ask the awkward ques-
tion before your opposition has either thought of
it or has had a chance to ask it. This accomplishes
two things:

It demonstrates that youre open-minded and

have the intellectual honesty to challenge your
own thesis;
The person who does the asking (that would
be you) gets to control the ball. You remove
the platform for the opposition to launch
into its own presentation under the guise of a
simple question.
Use Act II to clarify your position. If the point
youre making is complex, try comparing it with
something else or using an analogy that your au-
dience is more likely to be familiar with. Later in
the presentation, you can cement your point in
peoples minds simply by reminding them of this
simple hook.
Act III
This is your conclusion. Act III provides a logi-
cal time to wrap up any loose ends that Act II may
have left dangling. Plan on Act III accounting for
no more than 10 percent of the overall presenta-
tion. Restate your thesis. Summarize your main
points that lead the audience to the conclusions
you hoped they would reach. End with something
personal for the audience to remember you by. It
can be a thought-provoking question that your next
presentation answers. For my clients, I like to use
a predication of future trends that naturally links
with all that was communicated earlier. Now leave.
Good writers and speakers know when its time to
leave the stage.
ACHIEVING AND MAINTAINING CRED-
IBILITY People wont listen if they dont know
anything about you. Instead, they wonder what
youre hiding and why. From personal experience, I
can tell you that hiding behind long sentences flled
with enormous words is boring. From the very frst
line of this piece, I admitted that Im no lawyer.
This moment of humility set up my credentials and
qualifcations for doing this article.