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| Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges | 
 enlarge | Authors: Antonin Scalia, Bryan A. Garner
Publisher: Thomson West
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $29.42
You Save: $0.53 (2%)
New (18) Used (9) Collectible (1) from $29.42
Avg. Customer Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 2945
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 269
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0314184716
Dewey Decimal Number: 340.0711
EAN: 9780314184719
ASIN: 0314184716
Publication Date: April 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fatuous May 26, 2008
12 out of 113 found this review helpful
I heard Scalia, a little man who has a bullying personality, interviewed about this book on radio. He lamented the use of contractions which, he felt, diminished the "eloquence" of judicial opinions. If he's not smart enough to know that the impoverishment of opinion expression, not just judicial, is due to the vapid reasoning of our current leaders and their crippled expression, then he's certainly not smart enough to offer suggestions on how to be persuasive. It's clear to anyone familiar with Scalia's dogmatic sensibility that as regards many important matters facing this country, his mind has already been made up. As a loyal member of Opus Dei, he is committed to denying reproductive rights to women and doing everything he can to diminish any vestiges of tolerance and humanity which the legal system should nourish. In public appearances he continues to be glib and insulting, inviting not arguments that might persuade him but similarly clever one-liners that are the standard of his sophistry.
 Written for lawyers, but valuable for everyone June 7, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
We all need to make arguments. Whether it is something as benign as trying to decide where to have lunch or something as serious as whether Mom needs to be place in an enhanced care facility, we need to be able to think, write, and speak clearly about what we want to do. How do we form the argument? Does our order of presentation matter? What should we know about the person or board we are presenting to?
This little book by Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner is written for lawyers who go before judges, but almost everything in here can be easily translated into everyday life. The craft of a lawyer is just a special case of the kinds of reasoning, arguing, disputing, and presenting we do almost every day of our lives.
Do not think this is a book on Scalia's judicial philosophy. The authors point out several times that you must know the philosophy and predilections of the judge you are going before and adjust your arguments accordingly. They also remind the reader several times that they are writing for lawyers presenting to judges and not advice they would give judges.
The book consists of 115 little chapters that run from a single paragraph to a few pages. These are divided into four broad groups: General Principles of Argumentation, Legal Reasoning, Briefing, and Oral Argument. While these last three are clearly legal terms, you can simply thing of them as Building Your Argument, Presenting Your Argument Through Concise Writing, and Arguing Your Case Verbally. Isn't it obvious how you can use these things at work, in your community, and even within your social settings?
While we normally associate legal writing with dry as dust and inscrutable prose, this book is light, lively, and has nice touches of humor. The authors cite wonderful authorities on language, argument, presentation, writing, and speaking and provide a nice list of works for additional reading at the end. There is also a helpful index to find just the sections you are looking for.
I think this book is terrific and have placed with my very favorite references on writing and language. If you care what I think, you should get this book, read it, and enjoy the benefits of these talented and brilliant minds.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
If you need to persuade a judge, you need this book June 2, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Whether or not you agree with Justice Scalia's opinions from the Supreme Court, this book as a primer on briefs and oral argument is excellent. I wish that I had this book for moot court. The brief writing section was far better than any of the books I had to help me. The oral presentation section identified solutions to problems that frustrated me. If you are not a lawyer you will likely find the oral argument section interesting and helpful, but find the minutia of the brief writing section boring. As a lawyer, I will reread this book from time to time.
Justice Scalia recognizes there are other viewpoints; he discusses them but then explains why his view is better.
The book presents all viewpoints and follows with their own and why theirs is better. For example, the book points out that although they believes underlining is a crude throwback to the typewriter , Bluebook approves the use of underlining. The book states that underlining is unnecessary in the 21st century with a word processor. They follow with suggesting that Bluebook should be revised. The book suggests using italics where you would have used underlining. They add that very limited use of italics is far better than liberal use. Justice Scalia's differences of opinions extend to his coauthor.
Bryan Garner, author of Garner's Modern American Usage, The Elements of Legal Style and editor in chief of Black's Law Dictionary did not agree with Justice Scalia on all points. Some section headings state a definite rule, followed by "or not." For example: "Consider using contractions occasionally--or not." These sections take the form of majority opinion vs. minority opinion. Mr. Garner's opinion is presented, Justice Scalia follows with his opinion and his analysis on why Mr. Garner was wrong and why Justice Scalia is right.
The book is organized logically, and with brevity.
The book in its 245 pages discusses:
* the general purposes of oral argument,
* legal reasoning, brief writing, and finally
* the crafting of the oral argument itself.
It discusses these topics more thoroughly than some books that are three times its size. Subsections have a clear heading and to the point discussion. Most subsections, although fully treated, are one to two pages long, some less than a page.
Finally
The book shows how to tailor your arguments for a singular audience, the judge, distinguished even from arguing before a jury. It gives tactics to use with difficult judges, lazy judges, and their law clerks. It gives the view from the bench when the lawyer reacts to bad questions from the judge. It describes the likely outcomes, and it offers way to avoid confrontation, while still making your argument. It is a good book.
A joy to read May 21, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is a fantastic product by America's wittiest Justice and one of the foremost legal writers today (Bryan was entrusted with revising the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure).
It is really a product that means different things to two different audiences. First, it serves as an exemplary checklist for the legal advocate. No matter what forum an attorney appears in - your local town adminstrative agency all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, this functions as a comprehensive checklist of things that we were taught in law school - and promptly forgot.
For the lay person, it offers more than just a highly entertaining read. First it demystifies the judicial process for a public whose perceptions of the justice system have been unfortunately based on half-baked Hollywood products, from L.A. Law to Ally McBeal.
But in the classical sense, it is also a treatise on decision making, rhetoric, and the balancing we all perform as humans. In this, it follows, perhaps consciously, the great classics to which it repeatedly alludes.
A great read.
 Nothing New for Practitioners August 5, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you are a practitioner seeking insightful wisdom from a Supreme Court Justice to improve your advocacy skills, this book is not for you. Those who have taken a basic legal writing and/or moot court course will not find any new information here. Essentially, the authors have compiled highlights from a legal writing textbook, added a few quotes from famous judges and a few examples from their own experience, and billed this as a book of wisdom. It appears that most of the book was written by co-author Bryan Garner, drawing on the material from his past publications on the same subject, with Justice Scalia merely placing his name on the cover in order to sell more copies. This is evident by comparing the writing styles of the co-authors when they disagree at a few points in the book. Garner's entries read like the rest of the book; Justice Scalia's entries read like one of his court opinions. Overall, if you are a practitioner, you likely already have a legal writing book stashed away in a box from law school that will serve you just as well.
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