Trial Notebook: A Practical Primer on Trial Advocacy

by James W. McElhaney

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0897070461
• ISBN13: 9780897070461
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: ABA Section of Litigation
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Real-world tools for the courtroom.

Teaches the nuts and bolts of trial practice in a crystal clear, highly informative way, starting with creating the trial notebook and progressing through the entire sequence of the trial.This is not a "Nutshell" for first-year law students; it's a 700-page How-To manual for anybody and everybody who wants to be effective in the courtroom. Written in plain English for lawyers whose understanding of "litigation" (McElhaney mocks the word) may be still be swimming in law-school abstractions. McElhaney's examples allow the reader to understand HOW a lawyer's "magic" works on the jury, and --when something goes wrong-- why it goes wrong. Chock full of vivid word pictures that drive home the subtleties involved in picking a jury, taking an effective deposition, negotiating through the rules of evidence, impeaching a witness, and so on. The book is a toolbox, and McElhaney is a master teacher of his craft. The book somehow manages to be chatty yet concise, educational AND thoroughly entertaining. Representative chapter titles include "The Horse Shed," "Trouble in the Woodshed," "The Perry Mason Trap," and "Getting Along With Judges." All good stuff.