David R. Sands
The Washington Times
February 5, 1996
For argument's sake, lawyers engage On Trial to stage courtroom victories

"I think there's something of a ham in most lawyers, but it seemed basic to me that a case is like a dramatic story you're trying to tell." --Ron Simon, A.C. lawyer

Gillian Drake brings a whole new spin to the concept of courtroom drama.

The one-time literary casting director at Washington's Arena Stage has built a thriving consulting practice teaching lawyers how to use the techniques of the stage to win cases and influence juries.

Her On Trial Associates Inc., based in Rockville, employs a stable of well-known area actors and directors to help lawyers plan trial strategy, prepare witnesses, punch up their own courtroom demeanor and create effective visual aids.

"You learn very quickly in the theater that everything on stage tells a story," said Ms. Drake, who studied for three years in the 1970s under legendary method acting instructor Stella Adler.

"The faces, the furniture, the body language, the voices, the lights, the clothes, the buttons on the clothes -- they're all choices you have to make to help tell your story."

Ron Simon, a lawyer and satisfied On Trial client at the D.C. firm Connerton, Roy & Simon, said some of his partners were skeptical at first about the idea of using actors, but he "instinctively" embraced the idea.

"I think there's something of a ham in most lawyers, but it seemed basic to me that a case is like a dramatic story you're trying to tell," he said.

The theatrical professionals used by the company to critique his trial strategy proved far more talkative and specific than other mock juries he had used, he said.

"She has a great ear for what's being said and how an audience or a jury hears it," added John Hume, a partner at Perkins, Coie, who used On Trial to prepare witnesses to testify.

"The key thing you want from any witness is to communicate their version of the truth effectively," said Mr. Hume. "The courtroom is a very foreign environment, with its own language, its own rules, its own commitment to truth. Gillian helps people bring out their truth very, very effectively."

Although she is the daughter of a lawyer, Ms. Drake had no inkling of her entrepreneurial calling when she arrived in Washington in 1981 after studying in New York and earning an advanced degree in fine arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

She recalled that a lawyer friend approached her after seeing her production of Wallace Shawn's play "Marie and Bruce" at the Woolly Mammoth Theater downtown.

"He told me, 'I want what your actors do. I want to be intensely real and larger than life,'" she said. "That's been my directorial signature -- being very real and theatrical."

A small ad in a local trade newsletter attracted nine lawyers to the first "Acting for Lawyers" seminar, held in Arena's Old Vat Room. Among the techniques that you didn't see in "The Paper Chase": breathing exercises, smacking one's lips to the tune of "Yankee Doodle" and group jumping-jack sessions.

From that modest beginning has blossomed an entire playbill of services, including pretrial strategizing, oral advocacy training, witness preparation, jury selection consulting and mock trials. Individual coaching and witness preparation start at $150 an hour, and class fees now range from $475 a person to group rates starting at $2,000 a day.

Among the stage tricks: bending at the waist (Johnnie Cochran-style) to show informality; opening some daylight between your body and your upper arms when you sit (think: Hillary Clinton) to "fill the space" and indicate confidence in your message; and moving from right to left when discussing a weak part of your case -- opposite from the left-to-right motion that people are used to when taking in information.

Ms. Drake is quick to say her techniques are not used to conceal but to reveal, not to fool a judge or jury with acting tricks but to use the insights of theater to make a witness or a case as convincing as possible.

"When you're accused in a lawsuit, it can be a shocking thing, something that upsets your sense of who you are," she said. "The plaintiff, by contrast, is the aggrieved party. He has no trouble speaking in a clear, straightforward voice."

She added, "When an actor takes on a role, he first finds out what in the character matches his personality and what doesn't, and then builds on the similarities. That's exactly what we do at On Trial -- rebuilt a character or a case so that the lawyer or the witness can present the very best version of their case."