In the words of Stella Adler a first generation student of Stanislavski: A great Trial   Lawyer is their own material. They learn to control it so they can use it at will. When trained in the fundamentals of ACTION, IMAGINATION, IMPROVISATION and CHARACTERIZATION they are ready. They are prepared to proceed with the study of the case. They analyze the trial as a whole. The trial’s line of action. In trial they focus on the given circumstance, the problem, and action over emotion.              

The trial is a collective creation that expresses in visible, audible and rhythmic images. This means real manifestations of imaginary life, places and people. This is done with clear, precise and natural feelings and emotions of the soul. A trial lawyer is a citizen of the world. They have three qualities: Confidence, Knowledge of Tradition, and a Capacity for Growth. Their goal is to experience in the present moment.

If Stella Adler is asked to describe The Method she says: The Method evolved from the first generation of Stanislavski’s Students. It has to do with psychology, remembering past experiences, and the self. The Method uses exterior means to show the interior reality of the self. The Method represents a kind of naturalism, with its chief concern being truth. The internal always relates to the external, with the whole machine powered by action.

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For The Method:

 Show Less. Always establish the mood within you and do not show more than you have for to do so will look false.So always show less and the jury will magnify it. To illustrate, in a medical case: “By pulling back they painted a realistic portrait of the medical profession creating the right emotional landscape where the [the jury] does the feeling.”

Stay Together. Speak to the times and to the spiritual needs of the jury. Have the feeling of being one with the jury by expressing their experience of past and present in common language. Problems, Action, the Given Circumstances, and Imagination are the keys to Stanislavski’s System.

Practice makes Perfect. One cannot swim without going into water. One cannot feel then do the problem. First act the problem for physical action action then you be able to feel. All you have to do is move from action to action within the given circumstances. Remember the line of psycho-physical actions-that is the memories of emotion, the lines and the physical action all intermingling. In trial speak and act with an authentic feeling using affective emotional memory.

The Method Trial Lawyer. The [Trial Lawyer] is their own material. They must learn to control it as they use it at will. When the trial lawyer has trained themself in the fundamentals of Action, Imagination, Improvisation, Characterization etc. they have done their work, and is prepared to proceed with the study of the trial, to analyze it from the standpoint of the trial as a whole and its line of action.

A Trial. A trial is a collective creation that expresses in visible, audible and rhythmic images which are real manifestations of imaginary life, places and people, by means of clear, precise and natural feelings and emotions of the soul. We try the case moment by moment allowing ourself to look and listen, we trust ourself to try the case and let things happen.

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Living the truth occurs when the lawyer is so connected to the truth and their client they have entered into the reality of their client. The lawyer feels what the client feels and thinks like the client thinks. This is short of losing the self. Rather the lawyer’s  consciousness and the client’s consciousness meet. (Butler, The Method at xiv). To Stanislavski living the truth is the highest level, the artistic mountaintop that all lawyers should strive to reach.

Stanislavski instilled in his acting students to serve the truth. The truth is neither philosophical nor political. To Stanislavski the truth is internal. It is the real feeling demanded of the situation. The truth leads to a sense of lived truth to the jury.

Stanislavski taught that concentration and attention help focus the lawyer’s complete physical and spiritual nature on what is going on in the soul. This in turn creates an appearance of not realizing being watched. This is powerful for the jury to see and feel as the lawyer is seen to be immersed in the truth. The secret is to present as real and present experiencing actual emotion. The lawyer introduces themself into the circle of the jury as their world is here with the jury. When the lawyer has belief in their case they have a purpose which makes natural behavior easier to create. 

By speaking the truth the lawyer speaks to the needs of the jury because the truth is what we naturally want. The truth is what we see as our common language. The keys to Stanislavski’s system are ACTION, in the given CIRCUMSTANCES, and IMAGINATION. The best trials move from action to action within the given circumstances. Trials deal with problems. To resolve a problem we need action, an object, adjustment and connection. Great trials require the lawyer to do something (action) to something (the object) in a way that takes into account the circumstances (adjustment) made by the scene partner the jury through (connection) and (imagination).

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Method lawyering  in the words of Constantine Sanislavski is “Living the Truth.” Living the truth as a trial requires me to connect with my client to discover my client’s story. When done methodically I am able to convey from my heart what my client has gone through and how their future holds. My first step in living the truth is  to internalize the feelings my client experienced and continues to experience to the point I feel and think like my client.

The Oscar winning actor Frances McDormand in Blood Simple used the Living the Truth technique to authentically experience the emotions and psychology of her character in a frightening and terrorizing  scene. To do this she went to her well of experience to an experience as close as possible to the character.  She found an emotional memory of a traumatic experience to bring back her feelings. This allowed McDormand to authentically play her part for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress. See The Method at xiii.

Like a Method actor as a trial lawyer I want to get to the emotion and action of my client. I must have a deep sensitivity and experience to call upon to convey to the feelings, emotions and action of my client. According to Stanislavski getting to the level of living the part leads to the power and potential of improvisation which brings a sense of living the truth. With concentration and attention I align my physical and spiritual nature with my heart. This creates a true to life realistic ability to convey my client’s case at a level the jury can feel and relate to with their emotional memory.

This allows me to get to the level of Stanislavski’s Secret. The secret is to be real and present experiencing emotion. I am then able to be in the circle of emotions the jurors are experiencing. This allows for connection at the highest level. I must make sure in living the truth that I do not show more than what I have. To do this makes me look false. So I try to dial back and let  the jury magnify the emotion and the action so it becomes theirs and not mine.

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I recently read The Method by Isaac Butler. The Method was developed by Constantine Stanislavski the great Russian acting philosopher. The book takes Stanislavski from Russia in the early 20th century into the United States where his Method Acting catches fire and Butler continues to discuss American acting into the late 20th century.

As all trials are plays studying  Stanislavski helps to grow as a trial lawyer. The Stanislavski Method reminds me of Trial Lawyer’s College(TLC), where we learn to take off our mask and try cases with authenticity and without pretense.

The Method is often discussed as an exercise in Interiority. Like psychodrama at TLC the Method’s Interiority goes to my emotional memory. When working with my client I connect as best I can with what they have been through by going to my own emotional experience as similar as possible to my client’s emotional experience. This allows me to feel like my client and naturally reflect this feeling with the jury.

In The Method we learn  from Stella Adler, a student of Stanislavski and a great acting teacher, that her students must go beyond themself. We cannot expect the world to come to us so we must expand to meet the world. Adler teaches Life is beyond me so it is also outside of me, Thus, I must also go outside myself to the world. The essential thing to remember as a trial lawyer is life is in front of me and in front of the jury. This means I must go to life and take the jury with me.

To Stanislavski “Living the part” through emotional memory in line with the emotional action is the ideal to reach. To Adler moving forward  creates action and action is what we want. The best trial lawyers have sensitivity and the capacity to connect past emotional experience. This leads to a true to life natural action  moving forward with the jury.

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