Polarizing the Case Rick Friedman Trial Guides

Calling the Defense Expert's Bluff

In "Polarizing the Case: Exposing & Defeating the Malingering Myth," Friedman provides what he calls "a guidebook for wrapping the malingering defense around the defense lawyer's neck and strangling him with it."
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Advanced Depositions - Trial Guides

Settle Your Case with Advance Depositions

With over 99% of civil legal cases settling before jury verdict, Trial Guides asked some of its authors to comment about how their book can be used...
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$13.3 Million Verdict During COVID-19 Using From Hostage to Hero

Plaintiffs’ attorney Chris Madeksho shared with us strategies from From Hostage to Hero that he used to win the case:

Sari’s book helped me organize my voir dire so that I could examine the panel in an organized way given the time constraints (30 minutes per panel) that parties were given. Further, Sari’s book gave clear advice on how to “make it about the jury” by using their language and their ideas in opening and closing. The jury “got it” because of this advice.

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$10.8 Million Medical Malpractice Verdict during COVID-19

On August 25, 2020, Blair County, PA, attorneys Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin received a $10.8 million-dollar verdict for their clients in a medical malpractice case. Plaintiffs’ attorney Brendan Lupetin shared with us strategies from Trial by Human, Voir Dire and Opening Statements, and Nick’s recorded lectures that he used to win the case.
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From Hostage to Hero Book Review

From Hostage to Hero Reviewed by Jason Skuda

“Jurors are, for all intents and purposes, hostages.” This concept begins Sari de la Motte’s advice on approaching jury trials. As hostages, jurors are the trial’s first of two “victims.” They arrive unhappy, discombobulated, and, more often than not, scared. The plaintiff’s lawyer must free the jurors by creating a safe space for jurors to express themselves in voir dire and to act on the plaintiff’s behalf when they deliberate.

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Trial Guides 15th Anniversary, a word from our Founder

Fifteen years ago this month, I turned down offers from three major legal publishers and published the first two books for Trial Guides. The books...
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Trial by Human Nick Rowley

Nick Rowley on Settlement Using Trial by Human

“You won’t get the top dollar settlements if the opposition doesn’t fear you as a trial lawyer. You won’t get the top dollar settlements if you haven’t prepared your case for trial. The insurance companies have a system, they get reports, and they know what their risk exposure is. Settlements are based on risk assessment and the level of fear of loss that the defense decision makers have. Every book on trial law applies to working up your case, preparing it for mediation, taking effective depositions, doing an effective discovery, and getting the highest dollar settlements.
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Show the Story book review

Show the Story reviewed in Trial News

Book review of Show the Story in Trial News:

Veteran Seattle trial attorney William S. Baily and his brother Robert W. Bailey, a California-based trial consultant, have produced Show the Story, an indispensable guide to visual presentation during trial. They teach attorneys how to think in pictures and diagrams—as well as words—in order to present their case in the most compelling manner possible. To do so, the Baileys mine their own extensive trial experience, but they also turn to other experts for added insights: plaintiff and defense attorneys, judges, law professors, graphic-production artists, and consultants. The result is a compendium of advice on what works visually in a trial setting and, just as importantly, what does not.

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Twelve Heroes One Voice Trial Magazine Book Review

Helping Heroes: a Review of Twelve Heroes in Trial Magazine

Book Review by Kathleen Nastri in Trial Magazine (July, 2012)

Trial lawyers committed to their craft will be taken to the next level by Twelve Heroes, One Voice: Guiding Jurors to Courageous Verdicts. Carl Bettinger’s book acknowledges some of the best resources on trial practice and then takes another step. He shows us how to use our storytelling skills and passion to make convincing presentations and win jurors’ hearts.

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Twelve Heroes - Legal Storytelling

Legal Storytelling: A Review of Twelve Heroes One Voice

Book Review: Twelve Heroes argues that all humans—including jurors—are "wired" to use stories to make sense of the world around them. But to effectively appeal to jurors’ story sense, attorneys must first understand story structure itself. To that end, Twelve Heroes elucidates the most fundamental components of story such as: heroic story structure and classic story characters and elements like the Hero, the Villain, the Victim, the Mentor, and the Lie.

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Dynamic Cross Examination Jim McComas Trial Guides

Winning Hard Cases with Dynamic Cross-Examination

Book Reviews of Case Analysis and Dynamic Cross Examination: If you do not buy, read, and re-read Case Analysis and Dynamic Cross-Examination after hearing Rick Friedman describe the method they explain as the "biggest break of my legal career," then nothing I could say will make you do so. And yet there are many more reasons to read them!
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12 Heroes 1 Voice

The True Heroes in the Courtroom - a review of Twelve Heroes, One Voice

Book Review of Twelve Heroes, One Voice: I recently finished a fantastic book by one of the best trial lawyers in the country, Carl Bettinger. Every lawyer who presents his or her client’s case to a jury should read Twelve Heroes, One Voice. Buy this wonderful book. Learn to empower your jurors to become heroes. Tell them the story that lets them write the last chapter of justice for your clients.
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