How Leading Lawyers Think

In this book, 78 leading attorneys in California and New York describe how they evaluate, negotiate and resolve litigation cases. Selected for their demonstrated skill in predicting trial outcomes and knowing when cases should be settled or taken to trial, these attorneys identify the key factors in case evaluation and share successful strategies in pre-trial discovery, negotiation, mediation, and trials. Integrating law and psychology, the book shows how skilled attorneys mentally frame cases, understand jurors’ perspectives, develop persuasive themes and arguments and achieve exceptional results for clients.

A law professor and author teaches non-attorneys how to think like a lawyer to gain advantage in their lives—whether buying a house, negotiating a salary, or choosing the right healthcare. Lawyers aren’t like other people. They often argue points that are best left alone or look for mistakes in menus “just because.” While their scrupulous attention to detail may be annoying, it can also be a valuable skill. Do you need to make health care decisions for an aging parent but are unsure where to start? Are you at crossroads in your career and don’t know how to move forward? Have you ever been on a jury trying to understand confusing legal instructions? How to Think Like a Lawyer has the answers to help you cut through the confusion and gain an advantage in your everyday life. Kim Wehle identifies the details you need to pay attention to, the questions you should ask, the responses you should anticipate, and the pitfalls you can avoid. Topics include: Selling and buying a home Understanding employment terms Creating a will and health care proxy Navigating health concerns Applying for financial aid Negotiating a divorce Wehle shows you how to break complex issues down into digestible, easier-to-understand pieces that will enable you to make better decisions in all areas of your life.

Joel Trachtman's book presents in plain and lucid terms the powerful tools of argument that have been honed through the ages in the discipline of law. If you are a law student or new lawyer, a business professional or a government official, this book will boost your analytical thinking, your foundational legal knowledge, and your confidence as you win arguments for your clients, your organizations or yourself.

“The beauty of the ABCDE model and toolkit is that it is simple but not simplistic, it’s user-friendly and works in practice.” Joanne Gubbay, Former Head of Learning and Development, Slaughter and May Lead your team of lawyers to new heights with this tried-and-tested toolkit, based on 25 years’ practical experience of getting the best out of lawyers. Leading Lawyers distils 25 years of experience at helping people do just that into one easy-to-read practical toolkit. Based on the successful ABCDE methodology, this guide will help you identify your natural leadership style, identify the various needs and personalities in your team of lawyers, and align everything to become a truly impactful and supportive leader. Packed with real-life inspiring examples, ready-made tools and memorable tips, Leading Lawyers will help you reflect on your own communication preferences, and use what you learn to get different stakeholders and different personalities on board. From scoping the project with a client to reviewing progress and success, from on-boarding a new team member to tackling a stubborn problem, there are examples each step of the way and opportunities to plan how to use the approach in practice, so you can become an even more effective team leader. SALLY SANDERSON is a multi-award-winning consultant to law firms. Specialising in leadership, emerging leaders, people and project management, she uses personality profiling to increase self-awareness and speed up development. Her ABCDE approach has been used by thousands of lawyers across the world with outstanding results.

This book tackles the basics of legal reasoning in twelve chapters, including the principles of classic logic, deductive and inductive reasoning, application of the Socratic method to legal reasoning, and formal and material fallacies.

This primer on legal reasoning is aimed at law students and upper-level undergraduates. But it is also an original exposition of basic legal concepts that scholars and lawyers will find stimulating. It covers such topics as rules, precedent, authority, analogical reasoning, the common law, statutory interpretation, legal realism, judicial opinions, legal facts, and burden of proof.

Let us endeavor to see things as they are, and then enquire whether we ought to complain. Whether to see life as it is, will give us much consolation, I know not; but the consolation which is drawn from truth if any there be, is solid and durable: that which may be derived from errour, must be, like its original, fallacious and fugitive. Samuel Johnson, Letter to Bennet Langton (1758) Attorneys and clients make hundreds of decisions in every litigation case. From initially deciding which attorney to retain to deciding which witnesses to call at trial, from deciding whether to ?le a complaint to deciding whether to appeal a verdict, attorneys and clients make multiple, critical decisions about strategies, costs, arguments, valuations, evidence and negotiations. Once made, these de- sions are scrutinized by an opponent intent on exploiting the consequences of any mistake. In this intense and adversarial arena, decision-making errors often are transparent, irreversible and dispositive, wielding the power to bankrupt clients and dissolve law ?rms. Although attorneys and clients may regard sound decision making as incidental to effective lawyering, sound decision making actually is the essence of effective lawyering. An attorney’s knowledge, intelligence and experience are inert re- urces until the attorney decides how to deploy those skills to serve the client’s interests. Those decisions, in turn, largely determine a case’s course and outcome.

This book explains the secrets of leadership from leading lawyers who have taken their talent to new heights by combining legal expertise with exceptional leadership skills. It shows how leading lawyers capitalize on their advocacy and analytical skills and combine them with their visionary insights to reach new levels of success. It also demonstrates how to use advocacy and creativity, persuasion and inspiration, and team building to service clients and build successful organizations.