Master the dramatic techniques of stage and screen to transform dry facts into a riveting narrative that captivates jurors and humanizes your client.
In the high-stakes arena of the courtroom, facts alone rarely win cases; it is the narrative that captures the minds and hearts of the jury. The Arc of Telling a Riveting Story is a transformative course designed to bridge the gap between legal theory and the art of persuasion. Led by Mike DeBliss, an experienced criminal defense attorney and classically trained actor, this presentation reveals how dramatic techniques and storytelling principles can be the deciding factor between a win and a loss. By treating the trial as live theater and the opening statement as a conversation rather than a speech, legal professionals can elevate their advocacy to a level of engagement that dry evidence alone cannot achieve.
This course moves beyond the traditional methods taught in law schools to focus on the essential soft skills of litigation. Drawing parallels between the actor on stage and the lawyer in the trenches, the content explores how to humanize clients—whether they are criminal defendants or civil plaintiffs—by revealing their backstories, motivations, and internal conflicts. Participants will learn to strip away legalese and replace it with vivid sensory details, rhythmic speech patterns, and word pictures that allow jurors to discover the truth for themselves. The curriculum dives deep into the mechanics of suspense, teaching attorneys how to anticipate and answer the looming questions in a juror's mind while maintaining a gripping narrative flow.
A central pillar of the course is the Five Beats framework, a structural tool used by screenwriters and master storytellers to organize chaotic events into a coherent emotional arc. Through detailed hypotheticals—ranging from self-defense claims to medical malpractice suits—you will see how to restructure chronological facts into a persuasive journey of escalation and resolution. This method transforms a standard recitation of events into an experience that jurors feel, ensuring that the theory of the case resonates on a psychological level.
Key learning outcomes and topics include:
Whether you are a public defender, a civil litigator, or a prosecutor, this course provides the tools to transform a case file into a riveting story. By mastering these narrative techniques, you will learn to navigate the moral gray areas of your cases, connect with jurors on a primal level, and advocate for your clients with a powerful, authentic voice.
Trial, entertainment law and U.S. international tax law
Michael is a partner in the boutique law firm of DeBlis Law where he specializes in tax compliance and entertainment law. Michael graduated from Western Michigan University School of Law in 2007 and later went on to earn his Masters of Law in taxation (LL.M.) from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2012. As a former public defender, Michael has spent nearly eight years cutting his teeth on some of the most serious felony cases to pass through the state courts of New Jersey. Michael’s unique background in tax law puts him into an elite category of criminal defense attorneys who specialize in criminal tax defense. His extensive trial experience and solid grounding in all major areas of federal taxation make him uniquely qualified to handle any white-collar case, no matter how sophisticated it might be. Michael is known for his creativity, his charismatic personality, and his unyielding dedication to his clients. As a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College, Michael has trained under some of the best known criminal defense attorneys in the country. That experience has taught him that justice for a person accused of a crime is only won through a full understanding of the client and the case. To that end, Michael attempts to understand each client’s case as a convincing narrative, not just as a set of innocuous facts and arcane legal rules. When he's not in the courtroom, you can find Michael on stage. As a professionally trained actor, Michael's passionate about helping trial lawyers harness the power of persuasion and positive communication in the courtroom in order to connect to the jury on a human level. Michael's training as an actor allows him to combine a unique blend of left-brain thinking with right brain artistry to make even the most dull and abstract areas of the law come to life. This burst of creativity has contributed to Michael's success as a distinguished author and sought-out speaker. Michael has written articles that have been published in leading tax journals, such as "CCH Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure," "EA Journal," "Global Tax Weekly," and "ABA News Quarterly" and is a columnist for "Law360." He has been featured on the media affiliates of several major media networks, including NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and CNN. Michael is a living example of the tremendous power that comes from combining passion, preparation, persuasion, and positive communication in the courtroom. His courage and relentless work ethic have earned him a reputation as a zealous advocate and one of New Jersey's rising stars of the legal profession.
