June 2020 Bar Bulletin
By Celeste Miller
Attorneys, especially litigators, have been trained to tell their client’s story, to make it compelling and digestible while fitting that story into the context of the law. A good fiction story can hook the reader’s empathy and create a deeper understanding of complex issues in law and history by connecting the reader to those issues. Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Night Watchman, does exactly that. The book is based on a true story involving the author’s own grandfather who testified in DC against the federal bill to terminate his tribe — The Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa Indians.
The Law:
The federal Termination...