#ExeterEmployability
Exeter Law School's Digital Employability Hub
#ExeterEmployability
Exeter Law School's Digital Employability Hub
Posted by #ExeterEmployability
14 July 2026
WORKSHOP
Storytelling shapes how people understand information, make meaning and decide what matters. This workshop brings together two strands of J’s work: more than 25 years as a writer and theatre director using storytelling as a tool for change, and recent work examining how stories shape legal reasoning, public engagement and climate advocacy. Working with organisations including ClientEarth, The Lifescape Project and the Royal Observatory, J has developed a practical approach that helps participants understand how narrative structure can strengthen strategy, advocacy, communications, fundraising and organisational impact, which he is delighted to bring to University of Exeter students and staff at this unique and highly interdisciplinary workshop in October 2026.
Combining practical teaching, discussion and live application, the workshop introduces storytelling structures and techniques drawn from professional practice and adapted for organisational, legal and advocacy contexts. Together, we will explore how narrative shapes attention, meaning and memory, and why certain ways of organising information are more likely to engage audiences and remain memorable. Participants then apply these frameworks to examples from their own context, working with real projects, communications challenges or work in development, with an emphasis throughout that is practical and collaborative: building confidence, experimenting with ideas and developing approaches that can be used immediately. Participants will leave understanding how storytelling shapes meaning, attention and memory; equipped with practical frameworks applicable across legal strategy, communications, policy, advocacy, fundraising and organisational storytelling; with a clearer grasp of audience, structure and narrative sequencing; and having practised applying storytelling tools to live challenges.
This event is open to all current students of the University of Exeter and is made possible with the generous support of the Alumni Annual Fund. If you register and are then unable to attend, you are required to provide 24 hours notice in writing so that your place can be offered to another student. Thank you for your understanding.
Date: Wednesday 14 October, 17:00 ā 19:00
Venue: TBC
J works at the intersection of law, leadership, research and storytelling. A multi-award-winning artist, J spent 25 years leading not-for-profit organisations and creating innovative public engagement projects before retraining in law in 2024 and achieving an LLM (Master of Laws) in International and Human Rights Law. In January 2026 was elected to the Executive Committee of the Human Rights Lawyers Association. J brings this experience to organisations that want to think more deeply about how they design processes, make decisions and communicate complex ideas to strengthen the impact of their work, supporting NGOs, legal teams and research institutions in consultancy roles across law, research and public engagement: offering deep legal research and analysis, strategy and creative problem-solving, process design, and cross-sector collaboration and public engagement. Current clients include the Foundation for International Law of the Environment, ClientEarth and Climate Spring. For more information about Jās work, please visit https://spooner.earth.
