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The How-To-Win Trial Manual - 4th Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Ralph Adam Fine
Publisher: JurisNet, Inc.
Category: Book
Buy New: $85.00
New (4) from $85.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 311388
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 4th Edition
Pages: 450
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 1933833165
Dewey Decimal Number: 347
EAN: 9781933833163
ASIN: 1933833165
Publication Date: June 30, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Ralph Adam Fine pulls no punches. In the newly revised fourth edition of his highly acclaimed The How-To-Win Trial Manual, he shows why the traditional ways to try a case in court are suicidal, and he gives extensive examples of such suicidal advocacy by famous, high-profile, well-paid trial lawyers: Daniel M. Petrocelli in his representation of Jeffrey Skilling in the Enron trial; George McCall Secrest, Jr., in his representation of Kenneth Lay in the Enron trial; Robert G. Morvillo, in his representation of Martha Stewart; Robert G. Abrams and Ronald S. Katz, in their representation of opposing sides in a federal-court anti-trust case involving Caterpillar, Inc.; Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., in his representation of O.J. Simpson (even though Cochran won largely, in Ralph Adam Fine s opinion, because of the incompetence of the prosecutors, which The How-To-Win Trial Manual also shows). In each of his examples, Ralph Adam Fine shows how the lawyers should have done it, and this will help you hone your winning skills. Ralph Adam Fine also demonstrates why many of Irving Younger s famous Ten Commandments of Cross-Examination are not only also wrong, but why following them reduces significantly your chance of winning. Ralph Adam Fine s The How-To-Win Trial Manual shows you how to win by using your most powerful tool: The jury s belief that you, the lawyer, knows the truth of the case. He also shows you how to ask questions on both direct-examination and cross-examination in such a way so the jury will know the answers before the witnesses (whether lay or expert) respond. Simply put, if you phrase your questions so that the jury answers them the way you want before your witnesses answer and irrespective of what your adversary s witnesses may say on cro ss-examination, you will win! Ralph Adam Fine s The How-To-Win Trial Manual shows you how to do all of this and more. You and your clients deserve no less.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Great Book! May 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is easy to read, and packed with no-nonsense advice about how to try a case. Get it.
A Superb Nutshell on Trial Skills February 6, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Judge Fine has written an insightful and witty nutshell on trial advocacy. His book is succinct, easy to read and has plently of solid advice. It is one of the best books on trial skills available. He covers the basics of all major trial skills (i.e. opening, direct, cross, and closing). I wholeheartedly agree with the premise of his book: the reason why there are not better trial lawyers is that they have simply been taught the wrong way to try a case.
Although there are memorable lessons from every chapter, I particularly liked his chapter entitled, "Why Irving Younger Was Wrong." For the young lawyers reading this review, it is important to know that Younger may be the most famous trial advocacy instructor from the 20th Century. He is famous for creating the Ten Commandments of trial lawyers. The author successfully argues that five of the commandments are flat out wrong. Perhaps Younger's worst advice is to "save it for summation" (commandment number 10). Fine succinctly points out that this commandment is flawed because jurors have already made up their minds about the case before closing arguments. If you wait until then to make your point to the jury, it will be too late.
Another great chapter is "A Trial Is Not an Evidence Test." That chapter teaches that you should not try and prove to a judge and jury how much you learned in law school by obejcting to every piece of evidence that is offered by the other side. Instead, Fine points out that you must realize that making objections can be very detrimental to your credibility with the jury. In short, jurors find objections annoying and believe that you are trying to hide the truth when you make them.
What I have been looking for. This is the best! October 16, 2007
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
Ralph Adam Fine's approach to winning trials is insightful, and debunks many tenets of conventional wisdom about how to best represent one's client at trial. After practicing as a commercial and civil litigator for ten years, I was interested to see what Fine had to say about my own opinions and preconceptions in this regard.
Fine shows that many conventional ideas about how to examine witnesses, and how to present one's case, are simply wrong. And he wraps it into a single unifying theme, which is that the jury must see the lawyer, the advocate, as the truthgiver. The lawyer must be advocating his or her case at trial in everything he does, and everything he doesn't do. I loved reading about Fine's number one rule in direct examination--don't ask "what happened next" questions. Fine rightly points out that it is the lawyer's job (through skillful questioning--a technique that Fine also explains) to be responsible for controlling the testimony of each witness, and a cop-out for the lawyer to depend on a witness to testify in a manner advocating the lawyer's case. Quite right, when one thinks about it, but many trial advocacy clinics and seminars teach the "what happened next" approach in which the lawyer surrenders control of the testimony to the witness. Fine rightly considers this approach to be a cop-out by lawyers but almost all lawyers I have opposed in court have done this.
Fine provides similar insights about how to speak in opening and closing arguments (note that Fine calls it "opening ARGUMENT" because *everything* the lawyer does at trial is to argue the case, albeit within the rules.) This book's suggestion about how to construct opening argument is excellent, and alone was worth ten times the book's modest purchase price.
Essentially, Fine dissects the trial process and provides insight into each, from opening to closing, covering direct examination, cross-examination, how and when to object (startlingly, the answer is mostly "do not object" and here Fine makes his case incisively). Even more usefully, Fine explains how to handle opposing counsel's objections by "backing up but not backing down." A wonderful insight!
One thing I would like to have seen in this book would have been a separate chapter on how to conduct bench trials (trials in which there is no jury, such as most probate cases here in California). But really, Fine's approach should be pretty the same in bench trials and perhaps this is why the book lacks such a chapter. Still, Fine is an experienced Judge and I would welcome reading his thoughts on this subject.
The book itself is well-written with many pungent examples from actual trials in which Fine mercilessly criticizes (or rarely, praises) the techniques of actual lawyers in real trials. But he does this always with the purpose of illustrating his theory of the lawyer as truthgiver.
Much of what Fine says are concepts that many of us were groping towards in the backs of our minds--but Fine lays it out clearly and rigorously, in a sort of Unified Field Theory of trial advocacy. In doing so he validates some of our notions about how to be advocates, and overturns others. Some of his insights, such as his take on making objections (not to), and his rejection of the "what happened next" approach are genuinely novel. This book is a must for the trial lawyer, except for my opponents who I hope never discover this book.
enlightening book September 1, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Fine is an admirer and advocate of New York Appellate Court Judge Herbert Stern. Stern taught a superb 10-day jury-trial course at the University of Virginia. Fine takes it one step higher. You will put the opposition in the shade if you follow the tips in this book.
the best hands down June 16, 2007
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
I've read a bunch of trial ad books recently, playing catch up after ignoring trial ad in law school. I hadn't wanted to be a trial lawyer, but now that I have a taste of it, I live for it.
This book is the best, hands down, nothing else even close. I would not recommend it as your first introduction to trial ad. That intro should be (if you're getting there via books) Sidney Lubet's Modern Trial Advocacy. That too is an excellent book, thoroughly laying all the groundwork. For instance, you won't find the nuts and bolts of impeachment in RAF's book, but you will in Lubet's. But RAF's book will show you how to take those nuts and bolts and assemble a bulldozer.
If I had to crystalize RAF's approach to one concept, I'd say it's the insight that trials are about you the attorney as truth-giver. You start with that, and make every part of the trial your argument. Nevermind telling the story through the witness, you argue through the witness. It's your job to present your case, not anyone else's. The witness is your tool.
You'll find a better discussion elsewhere on a couple specific topics of trial ad. Handling expert witnesses is more fully discussed in The Power Trial Method, by Gross and Webber. And in particular David Ball's discussion of jury selection, in Theater Tips and Strategies for Jury Trials, is way beyond RAF and probably anyone else. (I bumped into another lawyer at a CLE recently who was gabbing on some of the same stuff about jury selection, he had attended some conference on the subject, but I don't know his source, and he gave only bits and pieces, and nothing beyond Ball's discussion.)
Win Your Case, by Gerry Spence, is great, a crucial read, but not quite the magic key to the kingdom that Spence makes it out to be. You come away with the notion that his overall approach works best if you choose your clients and cases to fit. I'm a solo attorney taking mostly public defendant appointments, so I get little chance to choose. Both Spence and RAF excel in presenting great examples of their points in action.
The Trial Lawyer, by David Berg, is another worthwhile and important read, but is more like the best of the conventional wisdom on trial ad, with notes from the front and commentary.
RAF skewers many of the sacred cows and current fashions in trial ad, naming names and taking no prisoners (half of what Irving Younger says is suicide).
RAF writes with the same simplicity and impact that he recommends you seek in taking your case to trial. The book is a breeze and a joy to read.
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