Legal brief submitted as a comic book
Attorney Bob Kohn found a novel (ho ho) way to condense a legal brief — by turning it into a comic book.
Attorney Bob Kohn found a novel (ho ho) way to condense a legal brief — by turning it into a comic book.
Lawyer and licensing expert Bob Kohn didn't like the settlement ruling in the Department of Justice's (DoJ) ebook price-fixing lawsuit against Apple, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster. In opposition, he submitted a 55-page amicus brief — which the judge said was far too long. How long should it be, then? Five pages. Five pages out of 55. What to do?
Easy: make it a comic book!
Kohn got one of his daughter's friends to illustrate the brief, and, while it doesn't go into quite as much depth as we imagine the original document did, it manages to convey his argument in a clear, concise way. He argues that the price fixing should be legal, as it serves as a countermeasure to Amazon's "predatory" pricing below marginal cost.
We don't know that it will catch on, but it certainly demonstrates that comics are a fantastic way to convey a lot of information in a fast, memorable way.
Take a look at Kohn's five-page comic-book brief here (PDF).