BOOK REVIEW - PREPARING WITNESSES

The 2nd edition of 'Preparing witnesses : a practical guide for lawyers and their clients' by Daniel I. Small came out in 2004. Contents: Lawyer and witness--Preparing ourselves--Why prepartions matters--What preparation means--Basic principle to being a witness--Rule 1:take your time--Rule 2: always remember you are making a record--Rule 3: tell the truth--Rule 4: be relentlessly polite--Rule 5: don't answer a question you don't understand--Rule 6: if you don't remember, say so--Rule 7:don't guess--Rule 8:keep it simple--Rule 9: be careful with documents/prior statements--Rule 10:use your counsel--Making an impact--Adapting to the situation--The party witness--The expert witness--The physician as witness--The criminal defendant--The ethics of witness prparation. It contains real-world examples.

OPENING AND CLOSING ARGUMENTS

A new book of famous opening and closing arguments: 'In The Interest of Justice: Great Openings and Closing Arguments of the Last 100 Years' by Joel J Seidemann, New York, Regan Books, 2004. The arguments are presented as well a comentary on the effectiveness. Included are such cases as O.J. Simpson, Adolf Eichmann, Scopes trial, Martha Stewart, Timothy McVeigh up to Beth Myerson. Interesting read.

TWO ARTICLES OF INTEREST ON TRIAL ADVOCACY FROM CILP

Bohrer, David C. Casenote. Knocking the eagle off the patent owner's
shoulder: Chiron holds that jurors don't have to be told that a patent is
presumed valid. (Chiron Corp. v. Genentech, Inc., 363 F.3d 1247, Fed.
Cir. 2004.) 21 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 259-288 (2004).


Wilenfeld, Joshua. Note. Newly compelling: reexamining judicial construction of juries in the aftermath of (Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 2003) 104 Colum. L. Rev. 2291-2327 (2004)

MORE ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM THE RECENT ACQUISITIONS LIST

CALL # KF 8918 B66 2003.
AUTHOR Bocchino, Anthony J.
TITLE Problems in trial advocacy / Anthony J. Bocchino, Donald H.
Beskind.
IMPRINT Notre Dame, Ind. : National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 2003.

CALL # KF8931.5 2004.
AUTHOR Bocchino, Anthony J.
TITLE Practice commentaries--Federal rules of evidence / Anthony J.
Bocchino, David A. Sonenshein.
IMPRINT Notre Dame, Ind. : National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 2004.

CALL # KF8947 .L36 2004.
AUTHOR Lange, Michele C. S., 1977-
TITLE Electronic evidence and discovery : what every lawyer should know
/ by Michele C.S. Lange, Kristin M. Nimsger.
IMPRINT [Chicago] : Section of Science & Technology Law, ABA, c2004.

CALL # KF 8950 S63 2004.
AUTHOR Small, Daniel I., 1954-
TITLE Preparing witnesses : a practical guide for lawyers and their
clients / Daniel I. Small.
IMPRINT Chicago, Ill. : American Bar Association, General Practice, Solo
and Small Firm Section, c2004.

OTHER RELATED BLOGS ON THE INTERNET

A blog titled How Appealing hosted by legalaffairs.org, the website of Legalaffairs Magazine describes itself as the Web's first blog devoted to appellate litigation. It is updated regularly, contains alot of related cases plus articles of interest.

RECENT BOOKS OF INTEREST FOR TRIAL ADVOCACY

New Acquisitions of Possible Interest to Trial Advocacy
CALL # KF9645 .A4 2003.
AUTHOR Adams, James A.
TITLE Pretrial motions in criminal prosecutions / James A. Adams,
Daniel D. Blinka.
IMPRINT Newark, NJ : LexisNexis Matthew Bender, c2003.

CALL # KF251 .G37 2004.
AUTHOR Garner, Bryan A.
TITLE The winning brief : 100 tips for persuasive briefing in trial and
appellate courts / Bryan A. Garner.
IMPRINT New York, NY : Oxford University Press, c2004.

CALL # KF8816 .A2 2004.
TITLE O'Connor's federal rules, civil trials.
IMPRINT Houston, Tex. : Jones McClure Pub., c2004.

CALL # KF4750 .L54 2004.
AUTHOR Lief, Michael S.
TITLE And the walls came tumbling down : legal arguments that changed
the way Americans live, from protecting free speech to winning
women's suffrage to defending the right to die / Michael S.
Lief, H. Mitchell Caldwell.
IMPRINT New York , NY: Scribner, c2004.