Why Literature Keeps “killing” Lawyers
Introduction
“Let’s kill all the lawyers” is a quote from William Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part II, or The First Part of the Contention. Spoken by a character named Butcher, the scene depicts Jack Cade’s followers who are rebelling against the incompetent King Henry VI. This quote is not meant to be taken literally but is rather an indicator of violent radicalism that often spreads in the face of a political crisis. Outside of the plot’s context, this quote takes on an interesting meaning in the job market. Many lawyers or law students throughout history have turned to literature, effectively ‘killing’ their legal career in pursuit of a literary one.
Ovid, More, and many more
This law-to-literature phenomenon has been observed countless times, with multiple articles from as far back as the 2000s to more recent articles in 2012, 2017, 2023, and 2024 attempting to explain this unconventional ‘pipeline’ into writing. One classic example of this is Ovid, an Augustan writer who famously wrote The Metamorphoses. He studied in Rome, initially following his father’s wishes for him to pursue a public career in politics and the law. He later renounced this path and became a poet instead. He even mocked the law in some of his lesser-known works, Amoresand Ars Amatoria.
Unlike Ovid, there are some writers who do not outright reject the law but rather embrace both trades. Thomas More, more commonly known as the Lord High Chancellor under King Henry VIII before being executed for opposing England’s separation from the Catholic Church, authored Utopia while successfully pursuing his career as a lawyer. More modern examples of those who published literary works during their legal career include writers Wallace Stevensand Charles Yu. However, it seems that the norm in recent years is to halt one career in favour of another, notably in cases such as Frederico García Lorca, Leonard Cohen, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, Adam Haslett, and Daniyal Mueenuddin.
Rhetoric in the Law and Literature
So why does the literary field keep poaching future lawyers? The answer seems to lie in rhetoric. Words are the “raw material[s] of the lawyer’s trade,” as well as that of the writer’s. Literary writing is similar to building an argument, considering different perspectives and presenting it in a believable manner. This similarity is more explicitly demonstrated in how education was structured in earlier historical periods. Rhetoric was a foundational part of any formal education in both Ancient and Early Modern European society. The start of a legal career, or any for that matter, was to study rhetoric like Ovid and More had.
Shakespeare himself attended a grammar school in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was trained with intense rhetorical exercises such as argumentum in utramque partem, which is to argue for both sides on a given issue. This reveals that the same rhetorical training which gives Shakespearean characters depth is what allows lawyers to succeed in court. The mastery of rhetoric gives one an edge in both disciplines. It is perhaps this similarity that entices lawyers to pursue an alternative career that parallels the practice of law but embodies a fictional, imaginative dimension.
Conclusion
Whether it is this similarity in style, structure, or persuasive effects that both legal and literary rhetoric achieve, the two disciplines have a long history of being intertwined. As noted by novelist Thane Rosenbaum, literature seems to have indeed “always been in love with law.” Tracing this ‘courtship’ between the two disciplines throughout history reveals that some skills are applicable to more than one field of study, and this interdisciplinary relationship explains why some may venture between the two or even pursue both. It is quite inspiring to know that one’s formal background does not restrict one from career choice, at least in the case of law and literature.
By Isabella Jeong
