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ARTICLE · 04 JUNE 2025

Is It A Rabbit Or A Duck? Why Lawyers Must Be Storytellers

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Is it a rabbit or a duck? It depends entirely on how you look at it. Every lawyer has been there. We have laid out the facts. We have cited the law. We have prepared what we believe is a clear and persuasive argument.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Jordan McKie
Jordan McKie
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Is it a rabbit or a duck? It depends entirely on how you look at it.

Every lawyer has been there. We have laid out the facts. We have cited the law. We have prepared what we believe is a clear and persuasive argument. And yet the court saw something else — something that seems, at first glance, unrecognizable.

What went wrong?

The answer, more often than not, is narrative. Lawyers must remember that we do not simply present facts; we frame them. Facts on their own are ambiguous, unstable. It's the structure around them that gives them meaning. Without a coherent narrative, the facts don't lead the court where you want it to go.

The Ambiguity of Perception

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"Kaninchen und Ente" ("Rabbit and Duck") from the 23 October 1892 issue of Fliegende Blätter

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