At Sherwood Boutique Litigation, our clients are our reason for being. We have built a firm with a team of passionate warriors who dedicate themselves to our clients’ causes.
For most of my twenty-year career, I’ve intuitively been practicing the art of story to help my clients reach their goals. It is within the past ten years or so that I began to focus on the science of how and why story works. I started this learning journey out of necessity so I could train the lawyers who work for me to do what I do and to replicate the successes I have had. Through teaching these skills, my own understanding of the science and power of story has grown exponentially.
What started out as something I was doing naturally — storytelling — has now become the cornerstone of Sherwood Boutique Litigation’s systematic processes in defending our clients. Knowing the facts of your case and the relevant law is the bare minimum for our team, and we’ll know them better than anyone else in that courtroom.
Our Core Approach
After deciding to take on your case, the first thing we want to find out is what you see as a win — a home run. What are your goals? What is going on in your life? Where are you now and where are you trying to go? In your view, how does this case present challenges for you?
Using this information, we work with you to fashion clear goals for your representation. Here, we spend time with you to make sure you understand the law and other factors that impact your case and how that relates to the goals you have for your life. Your case strategy is fashioned around the goals we define together.
Once we know what you see as a win and why you see it as so, our mission is to help you achieve that. Plainly, you deserve a lawyer that understands you are not defined by what you are charged with or are defending. We make sure the other side knows that as well. To do that, we use the facts of your case, relevant law and creative thinking, which is all grounded in story.
Powerfully Persuasive Stories Create Connection
While you are probably more like Mother Teresa than the characters we use for this example, bear with me. Have you ever watched a show or movie about a “bad guy?” For instance, have you seen Dexter, Breaking Bad, or — to go old school — Scarface? If you’re like most people, you found yourself rooting for the serial killer, the guy manufacturing and selling meth, and the serial killer/cocaine kingpin.
Why? The answer is simple; you root for them because of their stories. Those stories produce a neuropeptide in your brain called oxytocin which causes you to feel empathy for the characters and, ultimately, root for them.
Think of oxytocin as thousands of your tiny little friends running around in the brains of the targets, pulling on their heart strings, and persuading them feel for you and want to help you.
Go Fund Me type accounts are successful in raising many thousands and sometimes millions of dollars that often change the life of the recipient.
They are successful because, after we hear the story, we empathize with the recipient and are willing to donate to complete strangers to help them buy a new car, a house, take a trip, and often just pay them money as a kindness to make up for some unkindness they experienced. Go Fund Me would likely not raise much money without the backstory.
A request to raise money for a 68-year-old bus monitor named Karen probably would not, without more detail, experience much success. But, once we learn that Karen was relentlessly bullied by school children without fighting back and see a video of the abuse, it is hard to turn away from her without feeling empathy for her and, thus, wanting to help her. Complete strangers donated over $700,000 to Karen. That is the power of story.
Your Story Matters
The raw facts and the law alone cannot be counted on to win cases. Instead, story is a necessary tool to influence the outcome in any legal case. This is not an opinion. Our methods are science-based, refined through experience, and repeatedly proven by our attorneys’ results.
Our job as your advocate is to get you the outcome you need with the least amount of risk associated with it. We do that by convincing the decision makers to see things our way. For instance, there is zero risk to you when we negotiate with the DA (or the detective if it is pre-charge). We either get what we want or we keep going without having lost a thing.
There are a lot of points in between initial negotiations and trial to work some magic, but it all involves convincing decision makers to come around to our way of thinking.
Focusing on your story does not mean we are minimizing the importance of knowing the law and the facts. At Sherwood Litigation every attorney is expected to exceed expectations in those areas. What we are saying is that nothing beats it when the law and the facts are woven into a good story! We have case studies proving that a good story can still save your future even when the facts and the law are against you.
Honored To Serve You
We are honored to have been entrusted with the privilege of telling the stories of hundreds of people who have been in the same position as you or your loved one. To see our clients be able to live out their dreams and to be able to follow what they are doing with their lives now that the legal nightmare is over provides us with pure joy.
You will know if Sherwood Litigation decides to take your case that you and your story will be heard. Give us a call and let’s see if we can work together to put this chapter happily behind you.
Invested In You And Your Future
Finally, our clients know, our commitment to you does not end when your legal challenge is over. We know that many cases have far-reaching and long-term effects on our clients’ lives. We will always be here to answer those residual questions, concerns, and issues that arise for you, no matter when they might come up.
