With Rules of the Road, Rick Friedman revolutionized the way plaintiff lawyers structure their cases; with Polarizing the Case, he gave us the weapons to fight back against the most common and insidious defenses raised by our opponents. Now, in Rick Friedman on Becoming a Trial Lawyer, Friedman turns to the inner obstacles that keep us from reaching our full potential as trial lawyers. Combining nuts-and-bolts practical advice with inspirational insights, he guides us on the journey every trial lawyer must take, from the struggle to gain trial experience to the search for happiness in a career fraught with conflict and frustration. Along the way he addresses topics as diverse as common mistakes made by even the most experienced trial lawyer to the benefits of psychotherapy. The perfect gift for yourself--or for any other trial lawyer in your life.
Hardcover: 197 pages; 1st edition (2008); ISBN: 978-1934833049
Publisher: Trial Guides, LLC
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I: Entering the Jungle
- Why Be a Trial Lawyer?
- Individual Billing Unit or Trial Lawyer?
- Educating Yourself
- Do You Have What It Takes?
- Your First Trial
- Beyond Technique
- You and Your Opponents
- Part II: Traps in the Jungle
- Beware of Formulas
- Do Not Expect Perfection
- Forget Playing It Safe
- More Is Not Better
- Strategic Detachment: Don't React to Every Attack or Issue
- Your Lawyer Status Carries No Wieght with the Jury
- Forget About Looking Good
- Don't Try to Fool the Jury
- Don't Assume the Jury Will respond to Your Favorite Arguments
- The Limits of Logic and Sympathy
- Don't Gorge on Experts and Starve for Lay Witness
- Spend More Time with Witnesses and Clients
- Jurors Don't Need to Like You or Your Client
- Embrace Your Conservative Values
- Silence Can Be Your Friend
- You Must Ask for Money
- Superstition
- Part III: At Home in the Jungle
- Therapy
- Winning
- Losing
- Settlement
- Physical Health
- Family and Friends
- Competitors and Comrades
- Partners and Staff
- The Key to Unhappiness
- Afterward
- Recommended Reading List