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."
Read more
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...
Read more

$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.

Read more

$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.
Read more

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.

Read more

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...
Read more
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.
Read more
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.

Read more
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.

Read more
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.

Read more
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!
Read more
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.
Read more
Case Analysis Jim McComas

Case Analysis reviewed in The Champion

Book Review: Cases are won and lost long before trials begin. A lawyer begins earning a not guilty verdict the moment the lawyer takes the case. The ability to perform well is intricately connected to the process of Case Analysis. It is an art that author James McComas honed as a public defender. Through this book, he passes this critical methodology on to each reader.
Read more
Rules of the Road Friedman Malone

Authors take "Rules of the Road" further down the road

Book Review "Rules of the Road, A Plaintiff’s Lawyer’s Guide to Proving Liability  Drawing on additional years of experience in their own cases, from teaching and working with and comparing experiences with plaintiff’s trial lawyers, Friedman and Malone have significantly advanced the process presented in the original book. This book is inexpensive and indispensable.
Read more
Trial in Action Trial Lawyers College

Trial In Action reviewed in the Whatcom County Bar

Book Review: From David Ball on Damages to Rules of the Road, numerous books written by experienced trial attorneys give perspective on how to successfully conduct jury trials. What persuades juries? What turns them off? Trial In Action: The Persuasive Power of Psychodrama is one of the newest books to broach the subject. In short, the authors explain how to use psychodrama in trial practice.
Read more
Trial in Action - The Power of Psychodrama Trial Lawyers College

Trial In Action reviewed in Trial Talk®

Book Review: Every now and then, a book comes along with new and revolutionary ideas that break the monotony of the traditional way of preparing and trying a case. Trial in Action: The Persuasive Power of Psychodrama is such a book. You’ve read Rick Friedman; you’ve read David Ball; you’ve read Gerry Spence. If you want to take the next step in your development as a trial lawyer, you owe it to yourself to read Trial in Action.
Read more
Trial in Action - National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Trial in Action Reviewed in The Champion

Trial in Action: The Persuasive Power of Psychodrama is a primer on psychodrama and an exceptional manual on trial skills. It is hard to sit still as you work your way through this book. The authors believe in the power of connection that comes from knowing ourselves and our clients and our willingness to confront the hard questions in our cases. The premise of the book is that "the power of psychodrama lies not in the intellect but in emotion, connection, and realization that as human beings we share many universal stories and are not alone."
Read more
Trial In Action Psychodrama Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College

Trial in Action: The Persuasive Power of Psychodrama

Book Review: Trial in Action: The Persuasive Power of Psychodrama is not a book that be­longs on your bookshelf where it can be ignored. It is not meant to collect dust while the trial lawyer tries his or her cases in the “ordinary” way. It is a book that should be read immediately and often be­ cause the better you know and under­ stand the principles, the more effective you will be as you try your next case. As an added bonus, the more you will enjoy trying cases.
Read more
Book Review: Grief & Loss - Identifying and Proving Damages in Wrongful Death Cases

Book Review: Grief & Loss - Identifying and Proving Damages in Wrongful Death Cases

A book review of Grief & LossGrief and Loss is an invaluable educational resource and deserves a spot on the bookshelf of any lawyer who represents families in wrongful death cases. The book will
help lawyers of all experience levels better 
understand their client’s grief and emotional suffering and, in turn, enable them to better communicate that pain to a jury.
Read more
Announcing A New Relationship between Trial Guides and AAJ

Announcing A New Relationship between Trial Guides and AAJ

Trial Guides is proud to announce an exciting new relationship with the American Association for Justice ("AAJ") as publisher for future AAJ Press publications. This relationship continues Trial Guides’ tradition of providing the most comprehensive, cutting-edge publications available to help you improve your practice and better represent your clients.
Read more
Rick Friedman: Taking it to the Next Level with Moral Core Advocacy

Rick Friedman: Taking it to the Next Level with Moral Core Advocacy

If you have the nuts and bolts of your trial strategy down and are concerned about the jury's perception of your credibility, consider Rick's new CD/DVD set Moral Core Advocacy. Many Trial Guides customers tell us they love listening to this lecture repeatedly during their commute. It is inspiring for plaintiff lawyers, and helps inspire both new and old trial lawyers for their next trial.
Read more
Becoming a Trial Lawyer by Rick Friedman Trial Guides

ATLA review of Rick Friedman's Becoming a Trial Lawyer

Book Review: Clarence Darrow once said, "The only real lawyers are trial lawyers, and trial lawyers try cases to juries." Increasingly, trial lawyers find it more and more difficult to follow that maxim. The number of jury trials completed each year continues to decrease. Jury trials are more complicated to prepare and more complex to present. Given these difficulties one may realistically ask, "Why become a trial lawyer?"
Read more
Become a Trial Lawyer - Trial Guides

Plaintiff Magazine Reviews Rick Friedman's Becoming a Trial Lawyer

Book Review: In his new and enthralling book, Becoming a Trial Lawyer, Inner Circle of Advocates member, Rick Friedman, presents not so much the by-now-common memoir of a dazzlingly successful trial lawyer, as much as direction for the individual who would be or remain a trial lawyer while maintaining an individual’s internal golden ratio – the necessarily delicate balance of the unique demands of that discipline and a well-proportioned life.
Read more
Polarizing the Case Rick Friedman

ATLA review of Polarizing the Case: Exposing and Defeating the Malingering Myth

Book Review: Polarizing the Case should be required reading for every plaintiff’s lawyer. Not only does Rick Friedman do a masterful job of formulating and describing a cogent, well-rounded and effective strategy for aggressively defeating the malingering defense, he shows the reader how to go about doing it in the real world. The reader understands immediately that the author has been in the trenches and is speaking from that experience rather than from an ivory tower.
Read more
Becoming a Trial Lawyer Trial Guides

Becoming a Trial Lawyer review by Howard Nations

Review of "Becoming a Trial Lawyer" by Howard Nations in AAJ's Trial Magazine:

Trial attorney Rick Friedman’s latest book, On Becoming a Trial Lawyer, offers useful advice to those who wish to pursue success as a trial lawyer without forfeiting a fulfilling life as a family member, friend, and member of society. The book has value for the prospective lawyer as well as the trial attorney who wants to better understand and cope with increased professional and personal pressures.

Read more
Polarizing the Case - Rick Friedman - Trial Guides

United Policyholders reviews Polarizing the Case

Book Review: Polarizing the Case is a book for trial lawyers written by Richard Friedman, one of the most successful trial lawyers in the United States. But anyone who has ever been a victim of an insurance company’s tactics designed to deny or underpay a legitimate claim might also find it interesting.

Read more
New Trial Guides Book - Moe Levine on Advocacy

New Trial Guides Book - Moe Levine on Advocacy

Moe Levine is perhaps the most influential source for America's leading trial lawyers. His books and videos have been their secret weapon for decades - well before Trial Guides existed.  This book took Trial Guides founder Aaron DeShaw three years to compile and edit, in cooperation with Levine's children.  The book collects all known material - much of which was unpublished during his life, and will make his ideas accessible to a larger audience of lawyers at a much lower price. Moe Levine on Advocacy is an incredible treasure trove of ideas for your future as a lawyer. Buy your copy today.
Read more
Trial Guides

Trial Guides Points the Way

I have started going to more seminars, reading more books, watching more video—trying to get beyond "the law" and generic trial techniques, and focusing specifically on how to win plaintiffs’ personal injury trials. It soon became apparent that a new publishing company predominates this niche, publishing and distributing some of today’s most important plaintiffs’ trial materials—Trial Guides.

Read more
Polarizing the Case Rick Friedman Trial Guides

NY Times Blasts Defense Medical Examinations

The New York Times released an investigative report on the strong bias of defense medical examinations - also known as "IMEs" (Insurance Medical Examination). These are doctors who trade the respect and moral obligations of their doctorate degree for massive payments from insurance companies to deny injury claims. This common practice in personal injury claims results in doctors denying real injury claims.
Read more
Becoming a Trial Lawyer Trial Guides

On Becoming a Trial Lawyer, an Introspective Journey of Self-Discovery

Rick Friedman has written what is arguably his most compelling book yet, Becoming a Trial Lawyer. Friedman examines reasons for becoming a trial lawyer, considers what psychologically is needed to succeed, and offers hope and encouragement for the burgeoning practitioner. This is a must-read for every trial lawyer.
Read more
Paul Luvera comes to Trial Guides

Paul Luvera comes to Trial Guides

Paul Luvera has been described as "a role model" by Gerry Spence. His recent $40.1 million verdict made national headlines, but it is only one of many major verdicts that have marked his career. Now, Luvera brings his acclaimed December 2008 lecture at the Fairmont in Seattle to Trial Guides as Paul Luvera on Trial Strategy.
Read more
Trial Guides Starts Selling on Amazon

Trial Guides Starts Selling on Amazon

With the release of the new book Rules of the Road, Trial Guides starts its relationship with Amazon.com.  Only certain books by Trial Guides will released on Amazon, with the full library only being sold on the Trial Guides web site.

View the new Trial Guides page on Amazon.com

View the Trial Guides product catalog on Amazon.com

Read more
Louisiana Advocates Trial Guides Colossus Aaron DeShaw

Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association Reviews Aaron DeShaw's Colossus Text

This month, Louisiana Advocates, the journal of the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association published an excerpt of Aaron DeShaw's book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know.
Read more