The Art of the Lawsuit

In The View From the First Chair: What Every Trial Lawyer Really Needs to Know (LawyerAvenue Press, Sept. 2009), Martin L. Grayson writes "the verdict or judgement, tells not only who won or lost a case, it is also a ruling and a judgment on how you presented your evidence and arguments and conducted yourself as counsel. To a large extent, the verdict will be based on you." Grayson's work is a crash course on the litigation process, one that offers specific tips and insights into the legal and psychological art of the lawsuit, particularly at the state trial court level. Young litigators and law students who want to become litigators will get a sense of what is really required for trial preparation including insights into the mindset of the trial lawyer. The author, Martin L. Grayson, has been a litigator for 25 years, is a former member of the board of editors for the ABA Litigation Section's Litigation and a former Judge Pro Tempore for Los Angeles County Superior Court. See also Grayson's blog, Grayson On Trials.

Esther Cho, Reference/Government Documents Librarian, Loyola Law School, recommends this book for "law firm libraries that specialize in litigation as it details common sense for trial lawyers and it would be a good read for a new associate to begin to understand his or her profession." See her AALL Spectrum Blog review. Lets add academic law libraries for the benefit of law students planning on a career as a trial lawyer. [JH]