Writing and storytelling skills invaluable to SFU English alumnus and video game lawyer

Have you ever been paid to play a video game? Negin Alavi has—not as a video game tester, but as a technology, online gambling, and video game lawyer. In addition to law school, Alavi credits her SFU English degree for helping her become a litigator and solicitor.

During her undergraduate studies in English, Alavi developed writing and storytelling skills that proved to be invaluable on the path to becoming a lawyer. She continues to use those skills in her practice today.

“My English degree helped me develop my skills as a writer and storyteller,” Alavi says. “I am not a perfect writer (or storyteller) by any means, but I read a lot of material, discussed a lot of material, wrote a lot of essays, and got helpful feedback on my ability to do all of the above.”

Before becoming a lawyer, Alavi had various jobs. In two of these positions, SEO copywriter and journal publication editor, she found that the knowledge and skills she gained during her degree were essential to her success.

As an SEO copywriter, Alavi needed to adapt her writing style to different audiences. She understood how to do this because she had been exposed to various authors in her English classes. Reading texts by writers of different genders, cultural backgrounds, and experiences, from different historical periods, made it possible for her to emulate these diverse voices.

As an editor, Alavi gave feedback to engineering graduate students writing for journals. She used a different skill set as an editor than she did as a writer. She focused on preserving the authors’ voices and content, while correcting errors in clarity, grammar, and punctuation.

“I think, ultimately, explaining the different rules of grammar and punctuation to the engineers I was working with guided the editing process for the journal publications,” Alavi says. “I wanted to explain to them why I was making certain changes. I thought back to when I was getting graded on my essays; how professors would mark up my paper. I tried to emulate that.”

Once she entered law school, Alavi noticed that some students struggled with their writing, whereas she felt well-prepared to take on the challenge of legal writing. She had also “stretched her reading muscles” during her English degree and found that experience helpful during law school as well.

“Law school will teach you how to be a lawyer,” she says. “What English does for you, in a way that no other degree will do for you, is having you read a variety of texts and distill them in a way that makes sense.”

Today, as both a litigator (a lawyer who engages in the litigation process, which can include appearing in court) and solicitor (a lawyer who drafts contracts and legal opinions), Alavi uses her reading, writing, and storytelling skills to do her job well.

“Litigators need to tell clear, compelling stories to the judge, opposing counsel, and even their own clients,” she says. “They need to be able to read and write large volumes of text, pinpoint important information, think about it critically, and produce a narrative that makes sense and is accurate.”

Alavi also needs to use these same skills when she drafts contracts.

“Think of a contract like a story,” she says. “You start off with setting the stage. Who are the parties to the contact? They are the characters in your story. What is the background? Why are they here? Then, from there, you weave a story of who does what, what happens next, and how the story ends.”

As a solicitor, Alavi also drafts legal opinions. For example, some clients bring her video games and ask her to try them out to see if they contain a gambling element. Then, she drafts an opinion as to whether they do, and whether they are lawful to market to Canadians. In this situation, she again sees a storytelling element.

“Who are you addressing the legal opinion to?” she asks. “Why do they want the opinion? Set the stage with the law, the client’s situation, and tell the story of what could happen if the client decides to proceed with their proposed actions.”

To SFU English students who may aspire to become a lawyer, Alavi advises them to stop comparing themselves to where they feel they “should be”. It may take time to achieve career goals, but that’s okay. She remembers herself as being a “solidly average” undergraduate student, who didn’t win big scholarships, and who took the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) six times before getting into the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC.

“I was never told it was okay to struggle with getting a job you like,” Alavi says. “The road was totally worth it for me. It just took me some time to be able to do it. I want to normalize the idea that you don’t need to be perfect to end up in a career you love.”

Watch Negin Alavi discuss how her SFU English degree prepared her for a career as a video game lawyer!