Randi McGinn, one of America’s leading trial lawyers, teaches you her innovative methods through the compelling narrative of one of her most important cases. McGinn’s experience shows you how to prevail against corporations and insurers with seemingly unlimited funds, who are willing to deploy any tactic to win. Her trials have resulted in changes in corporate and police department practices and have resulted in substantial verdicts and settlements for her clients.
Through the lens of this case and many others, Randi teaches you how to:
- Begin every investigation by visiting the scene, where you can pick up details that no pile of reports can show.
- Look for elements in a case that make it into a compelling story for the jury.
- Find rules that the defendant broke, then explain them clearly to the jury.
- Work one hundred hours for every hour in the courtroom—and line up one hundred rabbits in hats for every one rabbit the jury sees you produce.
- Balance work, parenting, and life as a trial lawyer.
- Painstakingly research incidents similar to your client’s to show the defendant’s pattern of negligence.
- Find heroes and heroines, whether they’re your clients or others involved in the case.
- Look for villains in your case story, both obvious and hidden.
- Practice transformative law, where McGinn gives defendants in her cases the chance to make things right before trial begins.
- Change laws at the state and local level by harnessing the force of ordinary people who are harmed.
- Reveal an expert’s ridiculous claims in court with cross-examination techniques.
- See through the flimflam of an expert profiler.
- As a woman in court, dress to show the jury your intelligence and not your body.
- Speak truth to power, and make them hear you.
- Learn to use the advantages of being female in court.
- Overcome an opponent that uses a shadow jury.
- Conduct jury selection by connecting with the jurors about your case.
- Establish the value of your client’s life by comparing it to the defendant’s life.
- Use the lessons from competitive sports to learn how to lose, and how to win.
- Lay your heart on the jury rail in closing.
- Set a number you’ll agree to in settlement and stick to it—no matter what.
- Introduction
- Finding a Story Worth Telling
- A Grandmother’s Anguished Question
- Standing in Your Client’s Shoes
- Elizabeth Garcia’s Last Workplace
- Finding a Violation of Safety Rules
- Rules from the Bloody History of Convenience Stores
- One Hundred Hours Work for Every Hour in the Courtroom
- Life on the Front Lines of an Allsup’s Convenience Store
- Heroes and Heroines
- A Hero and an Antihero Arise
- Uncovering the Villains in Your Case
- Villains in Elizabeth Garcia’s Case
- Beyond the Money
- Would Allsup’s Make a Change?
- Cross-Examining the Best Experts Money Can Buy
- Excluding the Allsup’s Expert Profiler’s Hocus-Pocus
- What Should I Wear in Court
- Speaking Truth to Power
- There Is No Crying in Court
- Seeking Justice, Not Sympathy, In Elizabeth Garcia’s Case
- You Don’t Know a Woman until You’ve Met Her in Court
- Allsup’s Attempt at Shock and Awe
- Finding Courageous Jurors to Be the Heroes and Heroines of Your Case
- Jury and Trial Highlights in Elizabeth’s Case
- Learning to Lose and Taking Care of Your Client
- A Turning Point in the Case and Closing Argument
- The Verdict and Its Aftermath
- Appendices
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What Legal Leaders Are Saying
— Lisa Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of Suspicion Nation, and legal analyst for CNN, CBS News, and MSNBCA riveting read! Changing Laws, Saving Lives is required reading for lawyers who not only want to help ordinary people fight powerful companies, but who want the tips on how to win.
— Judith Livingston, Member of the Inner Circle, Lawyer of the Year in 2011 and 2013, Best Lawyers Magazine, New YorkSuperb trial strategies delivered in a story like a John Grisham thriller. A must-read for any serious trial lawyer.
— Roger Dodd, coauthor of Cross-Examination: the Science and Techniques, listed in Superlawyers for both Florida and GeorgiaThis book reads like a novel while exposing trial techniques, tactics, and strategies.
— Rick Friedman, President of the Inner Circle of Advocates, coauthor of Rules of the Road™ and The Elements of TrialOne of the best trial lawyers in America has written a unique trial book – one that manages to be both entertaining and educational. The chapters on gender in the courtroom, and losing at trial are the best ever written on these subjects and alone are worth the price of the book.
— Zoe Littlepage, member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, and named one of America’s Premiere Lawyers by Fortune and American Lawyer magazinesFull of plain-spoken, heartfelt, and inspiring litigation techniques. Randi provides hundreds of invaluable tips on being a better lawyer, and wraps that advice inside compelling stories that stick with you.
— Patrick Malone, coauthor of Rules of the Road™, author of Winning Medical Malpractice Cases, member of the Inner Circle of AdvocatesThis book ruined a perfectly good night’s sleep, but that was my fault for picking it up after sundown. Little did I suspect that a ‘law book’ would glue my eyeballs to every page. Suspense, awe, thrills, bad guys galore, and justice at the end. This book has it all.
— Roxanne Barton Conlin, first woman president of the AAJ, member of the Inner Circle of AdvocatesThis book will engage and inform you, whatever your level of experience. It is a rich, informative, and compelling story told by a master storyteller. No wonder her verdicts are legendary!
— Nora Freeman Engstrom, Professor of Law, Stanford Law SchoolAs captivating as a legal thriller and as informative as any textbook, Changing Laws, Saving Lives is the rare work that manages to mix concrete guidance with encompassing insights—leaving the reader entertained, informed, and inspired. It is a must-read for trial lawyers, law students who aspire to join their ranks, and all those who care about the on-the-ground operation of the American civil justice system.