> In thinking about our own law, most people would acknowledge the existence of literary and rhetorical features but these are generally considered irrelevant to the true work of law, and in many cases are judged to conflict with that work.

I found this unsupported assertion surprising.

I haven't watched many legal dramas, but my secondhand impression of both TV and film is that they tend to make the US legal system seem a lot more dramatic, and a lot less procedural, than it really is.

Professors and visiting lawyers explicitly acknowledge narrative building as a skill throughout my time in law school.