Other People’s Stories.

Lawyers are voracious readers of thousands of other people’s stories as written by judges over hundreds of years.

The characters may change along with the setting and props, but there is really only one story:

Someone didn’t do what is expected of them.

The craft of a lawyer is founded on using those stories to predict how a client’s story may be written should the client commission a court to write it for them.

An experienced lawyer can listen to the client tell their story for a few minutes and already know how it may end.

This lawyer crystal ball is particularly handy when a client is proposing to do, or not do, something, and the lawyer’s job is to predict the possible consequences.

The lawyer doesn’t need to know too much about the client’s business or circumstances to do this.

They only need to know that there was something the client is or was meant to do, and they may not do it.

Same equation.

Different variables.