Using A Real Life Legal Case As Inspiration For A Novel

As an attorney, I encountered many real life events that were both dramatic and suspenseful. Writing legal thrillers was a good fit for me because of those experiences, but let’s face it, most days practicing law is pretty dull. Contracts, client meetings, and talking on the phone is not something that readers want to find in a thriller. That said, one of my goals in my debut novel was to tell a compelling story while at the same time giving readers a glimpse into what it’s really like to practice law. How could I do that without boring them?

I began with a real case from my files that I always wished had gone another way.  A small business client found himself entangled with a Goliath corporation after signing a simple lease for a billboard on his property. A hidden clause in the lease allowed that corporation to take his land for a lot less than its market value.

After following the law to protect my client, and changing the address, names, and ethnicity to hide the identity of those involved, I spoke with the client about using his story. Just in case someone figured it out, I only included information that was public record for the factual setup. Most importantly, I changed the identity of the corporation.

Next, I made selections regarding setting, event, and characters based on my personal preferences and service to the plot. I used Austin as the setting since I live and work here and it would be difficult for me to assert that the story occurred outside of my practice area. I created the protagonist, Merit Bridges by combining several female and male attorneys I had known into one character. She is not me, but she does know what I know, and what I can research.

After the basic story was plotted in my outline, I then blew everything out of proportion. I dramatized the daily life of the attorney and her staff, and left only the common chores that were useful in moving the story forward. I created a layer of drama that embellished all of the other elements. Next, I added many sub plots to the plot line that had nothing to do with the original case, but were entertaining and intertwined well with the primary story.

Since the corporation had so many unethical members, I needed to crystalize those multiple bad guys into a primary villain. To satisfy this requirement, I created Boots King as a henchman for the corporate executives sent to do their bidding. In order for the Texas Lady Lawyer to have a worthy opponent, I then created another attorney who was similar to several lawyers I have known. This attorney also lent credence to the courtroom drama scenes.

Next, I needed to include the legal background so that readers would be more grounded in the strategy and reasoning. As a vehicle for the revelation of that information, I included a character named Val, a legal student and Merit’s law clerk. When I was explaining something legally technical, I had Merit either assign a research project to Val, or explain something to him that was important to the legal history of the case.

In re-telling and re-visioning the story, a primary writing goal was to have the client come out on top, which did not happen in real life.  I had worked on the file for so long trying to negotiate a reasonable settlement for my client, that I daydreamed of kicking some ass. While pulling out all the stops would have put my legal client at a disadvantage in real life, in my novel, I could create any scenario I wanted. I used my knowledge of the law to find a resolution that could have happened in real life had the case gone another way.

The sum of these decisions and selections as to setting, events, and characters is a fiction that allows the reader to feel as if they are discovering a true story while suspending disbelief in order to take the ride. My goal is a thriller that entertains, but at the same time smacks of reality by preserving the core of the original case as I experienced it.

Now that I have Merit Bridges and her gang firmly settled in my mind, I plan to have her come up against several other real life scenarios and see what she can do to work those out, hopefully while taking the reader on another wild ride.

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Manning Wolfe is an author and attorney residing in Austin, Texas. She writes cinematic-style, smart, fast-paced thrillers with a salting of Texas bullshit. The first book in her series featuring Austin Lawyer Merit Bridges, is “Dollar Signs: Texas Lady Lawyer vs Boots King.” A graduate of Rice University and the University of Texas School of Law, Manning’s experience has given her a voyeur’s peek into some shady characters’ lives and a front row seat to watch the good people who stand against them. 

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/manningwolfe

Find out more about her on her website: http://manningwolfe.com/

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Category: On Writing