Time
August 1, 1988
They're Playing Up to the Jury: Lawyers are turning to actors to polish their cour performances

In Washington. Theater Director Gillian Drake, who seven years ago founded "Acting for Lawyers", loosens up buttoned-down barristers by having them mime such natural events as falling rain and falling leaves. Says Drake: "Lawyers are taught by their training to doubt. I teach them that what they have to do--and this is what actors do--is abandon doubt and jump right in." The practice seems to work. Washington Attorney Robert Trout, who has taken a couple of Drake's classes, says they have helped him "find the human story in whatever is the subject matter of the lawsuit."