Sigma Alpha Iota

Winter 2021 12 12 P A N P I P E S By Hope Forsyth A ttorneys do not have a monopoly on juries. Granted, we may hope and work for a monopoly on a specific jury's attention and judgment at a specific time in the pursuit of justice. Nevertheless, we share the experience of assessment by jury—and many other similarities — with another type of artist: musicians. From the start of their professional training, both aspiring lawyers and aspiring musicians learn to integrate rich historical formation with swi current action. Law school is legendary for its entire-grade finals. Aer juris doctor candidates invest in intense study, outlining, and Socratic discussion reaching back to 18th-century Britain, their assessment comes down to a one-word command: Evaluate. Evaluate the applicable law and hypothetical facts from the past brought in a forum of law as it stands today. is educational system is preparation for practice. A fact finder or appellate panel does not amalgamate its decision from weekly pop quizzes and unit tests, but instead makes decisions based on counsel's real- time presentation of the case. Musicians endure the same process. Aer music degree candidates invest in study, ear training, and hours of daily practice of music spanning centuries, their assessments come down to one word: Perform. Perform a piece composed in the past but brought by the student into the soundwaves of the world as it stands today. 1 Again, this system reflects preparation and practice. An audience may not be called on to make decisions the way a jury is, but it too relies on and comes to conclusions about a musician's real-time performance of a piece. It can't be an accident that educational assessments of a musician's skill are called juries. 2 Like any comparison, of course, there are limits. A legal jury generally comprises laypeople with no background in the case or its features. ese laypeople are examined through the voir dire process and restricted from outside research or discussion. A musical jury is comprised of the student's professors, who are far from unbiased laypeople and who have specialized training, education, careers, and experience to inform them. I first noticed the intersections of legal and musical practice when I was earning my law degree and a dear friend was earning a graduate degree in violin performance. e jury comparison probably first arose over a glass of wine as we shared a sense of awed appreciation for the depth of the fields we were studying and a sense of intimidated urgency for the upcoming tests and performances we each faced. We understood the necessity of evaluation and the real-time qualities of practice but keenly felt the challenge to demonstrate mastery of three centuries of wisdom in three hours (me) or even three minutes (her). My older sister, who holds a degree in piano performance, shared similar insights from her college days. I went on to write my law review note on the significance of Russian neo-classical composer Dmitri Shostakovich in the development of American copyright law, 3 and I've continued to explore and appreciate the elegance of law, music, and their similarities as a practicing litigator. Consider a piece of choral music. Much of Western choral music is based on familiar major and minor scales, but occasionally a modal or atonal piece appears—sometimes enticing and captivating, sometimes eerie and ominous. Whatever the piece, it depends on a collection of voice parts. Usually one voice part has the melody of the piece and the other parts carry various harmonies. e melody can move, however, from part to part during the piece. And within harmonies, voice parts may cue from other voice parts by beginning a phrase on the same note where another part concluded, exchanging motifs, or listening for the proper timing of a movement. Sometimes voice parts encounter dissonance: multiple notes that clash when played against each other. is dissonance may have a resolution, but it may well not. Similarly, while much litigation falls into familiar areas, open questions and new considerations occasionally arise—sometimes attractive in their intrigue, sometimes unsettling in their risk of exposure to the client. Instead of a choir composed of multiple voice parts, litigation has multiple vocal parties. Like a melody shiing between vocal parts, burdens of proof or persuasion may shi depending on the elements of claims or defenses. In complex litigation, rhetorical motifs may thread through similarly situated plaintiffs or a joint defense. And legal theories may strike dissonance: pleading in the alternative, an unexpected ruling, or a circuit split. Such dissonance may or TRIAL AND TCHAIKOVSKY: Harmony Across Litigation and Music MUSIC & LAW

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