Book Reviews
This Month's Featured Selections
Reading People: How to Understand
People and Predict Their Behavior - Anytime, Anyplace
By Jo-Ellan Dimitrius & Mark Mazzarella
(New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1999).
295 pgs. $11.16.
Reviewed by Michael A. Coffino
With its air-brushed author's photo and cocksure subtitle,
Reading People has the unmistakable look of a self-help book.
Like many such books, it has dual authors, one a personality, the other
a writer. In this case, the personality is Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, a
well-known jury consultant in Los Angeles who helped pick juries in the
Rodney King, John DuPont, McMartin Preschool, and O.J. Simpson cases.
Indeed, Reading People would be little more than that were it
not for Dimitrius's colorful anecdotes drawn from her trial experiences.
These entertaining examples go a long way toward redeeming a book which
is otherwise filled with such banalities as the authors' advice that one
should always keep a clean car because you can tell a lot about a person
from the condition of her automobile.
The premise of Reading People is that from a person's dress,
demeanor, grooming, or background, we can decipher personality traits
that indicate how he or she might decide a legal case. To Dimitrius, who
works primarily with criminal defense lawyers, there are clues to be
found in designer eyeglasses, well-worn shoes, the odd colloquialism,
even a small bruise. One of her anecdotes is about a juror in the O.J.
Simpson trial who was dismissed after Dimitrius noticed a bruise on her
face and the juror admitted being beaten by her boyfriend. Another
concerns the amusingly misinterpreted testimony of a Wyoming rancher who
observed that a certain disheveled woman looked as though "she'd been
rode hard and put away wet."
But the book's next step - ascribing social significance to such
idiosyncrasies and venturing surmises about their pre-dictive power -
relies far too much on stereotypes and easy truths. In one typical
passage, Dimitrius writes that "long beards and mustaches may reveal
liberal political leanings." In another she offers the unflinching
conclusion that "by comparing someone's tone of voice with both body
language and words, you can usually determine his or her true
emotions."
Dimitrius frequently reminds us that in her line of work, decisions
about who will sit on a jury can have life or death consequences. True,
jury selection is a critical part of a trial. But it is presumptuous to
think that with a few tricks prospective jurors can be reduced to
categories.
The best parts of Reading People are its improbably
juxtaposed stories. Discussing her reliance on intuition, Dimitrius
tosses off at one point, "one of the most memorable occasions was the
trial of an English cabdriver accused of killing four people, whose
bodies were never found." In the end, these asides are far more
illuminating of the book's various people-reading points than are its
exhaustive lists and endless truisms about the importance of being
observative.
Punitive Damages and Business Torts: A
Practitioner's Guide
Thomas J. Collin, Editor
(Chicago, IL: ABA Antitrust Law Section, 1998).
206 pgs. $89. Order, (800) 285-2221.
Reviewed by Douglas O. Smith
Law school is not the place to learn the law. Law students learn how
to find the law, and if they are lucky, they begin to think like
lawyers. Once in practice, lawyers must discover what the law is in the
context of the particular kinds of legal work they are doing. One of the
best ways to do that is to find a secondary reference that outlines the
basics of the particular area of law; gives citations to other secondary
sources, law review articles, and seminal cases; and shows the reader
what issues are really important and should be explored on behalf of
their clients.
Punitive Damages and Business Torts is the prototype for
what lawyers need to have when venturing into an area of law in which
they are less than completely expert. Commercial litigators and contract
lawyers of all types will benefit from the analysis of an area that
often seems, to those of us who do not do this work regularly, without
rules. The handbook covers the nature and origin of punitive damages,
the standards courts use to determine liability for punitive damages,
the criteria courts use to determine the measure of punitive damages,
bifurcation as a procedural tool in punitive damage cases, expert
witnesses, judicial review, and even the tax implications of punitive
damages. Each area is covered concisely, but the important issues and
principles are all addressed.
Two features of the writing are especially useful to practitioners.
First, the footnotes are copious, dealing with applicable statutes,
majority and minority rules, prominent cases, and useful secondary
sources. Second, two different appendices provide a discussion of
"representative cases" that combine tort and antitrust claims seeking
punitive damages, and then a state-by-state review of the availability
of punitive damages, whether the state receives a share of the award,
statutory caps, availability of bifurcation, and the standard of proof
that applies to the award of punitive damages. Between the footnotes and
the appendices, research in this area should be focused and
efficient.
Billed as "a compact guide to the principles and practice of punitive
damages in business litigation," this handbook provides both the basics
and the tools necessary to learn the details in a well-organized and
easily understood way. The 15 contributors know their area of practice
and write straightforwardly, and the editing makes it seem as if it is
really a book, with a single theme and approach, rather than a
collection of essays. Lawyers who deal with punitive damages claims will
save time and serve their clients well if they have and use this book
before they give advice or undertake to make or to defend a claim for
punitive damages. Learning the law should always be this easy.
Wisconsin Trial Practice
By R. George Burnett, Gregory B. Conway, Frank T. Crivello,
Merrick R. Domnitz, Mark R. Feldmann, James M. Fredericks, David G.
Hanson, Michael J. Hogan, Robert L. Jaskulski, Dean E. Mabie, Robert L.
McCracken, John D. Murray, Anna M. Pepelnjak, Hon. Jacqueline D.
Schellinger, Thomas P. Schwaba, Keith R. Stachowiak, John R. Teetaert,
Susan R. Tyndall, Hon. Lee E. Wells, William R. Wick, and Alyson K.
Zierdt (Madison, WI: State Bar CLE Books, 1999). 585+ pgs.
$145.
Reviewed by Thomas H. Boyd
Order
It Online
Wisconsin Trial Practice provides a well-balanced
combination of scholarship, experience, and research and keeps in focus
the practical application of the information presented. This objective
has been achieved through the efforts of an outstanding group of
attorneys and judges who authored and edited this manual.
The book is divided into 15 discrete chapters organized
chronologically and spanning from the preparation for trial through jury
selection, opening statements, presentation of evidence and examination
of witnesses, closing arguments, jury instructions, verdicts, and the
entry of judgment. This comprehensive book also contains separate
chapters dealing with trial objections and preserving the record for
appeal, jury management, motion practice during and following the trial,
and bench trials.
These chapters are authored by distinguished Wisconsin attorneys and
complemented by judicial commentary from a host of experienced trial and
appellate court judges. Each chapter contains helpful checklists that
summarize the material and supply useful aids for accomplishing the
detailed tasks, and valuable and insightful practice tips. The
combination of formats provides an effective blend of basic information
with savvy insight to communicate effective methods for practice and
presentation before Wisconsin state trial courts.
Wisconsin Trial Practice is an invaluable book on trial
practice. Whether new or experienced, any attorney trying cases in
Wisconsin state court will find this book an extremely useful tool. This
guide is the perfect companion volume to Wisconsin Civil Procedures
Before Trial, and related forms can be found in the Wisconsin
Civil Litigation Forms Manual, both also published by State Bar CLE
Books.
The Scientific Basis of Child Custody
Decisions
Edited by Robert M. Galatzer-Levy
& Louis Kraus
(New York, NY:
John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1999).
468 pgs. $85.
Reviewed by Victor Dana Brooks
Custody and physical placement cases are among the most difficult
handled by the courts. The results of the placement order cannot be
predicted, and yet the court has no choice but to make a decision.
Judges and lawyers with little relevant training outside the law are
asked to assess and make decisions based on testimony of psychologists.
The Scientific Basis of Child Custody Decisions is intended to
provide a "reliable reference that could clarify thinking about the
psychological issues in the case."
The editors, Robert M. Galatzer-Levy, M.D., of the Institute for
Psychoanalysis at the University of Chicago, and Louis Kraus, M.D., of
the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at Evanston Hospital,
gathered articles written by experts in several areas of psychological
study. Their goal is to provide an abstract of currently accepted
scientific thinking in the field. Each chapter focuses on a different
topic, beginning with legal and ethical issues, and continuing through
chapters that analyze childhood and adolescent development and the
effects of divorce on that development. The book ends with chapters that
address special issues that are sometimes raised: remarriage, adopted
children, medically ill children, gay/lesbian relationships, and high
conflict divorces.
Since different authors wrote each chapter, the writing styles vary,
but are accessible to the lay person. Each chapter gives a clear
statement of the knowledge currently available, the conclusions that
might be drawn from that information, and, in most cases, what areas are
as yet unexplored or unproven. Each chapter is separately documented,
giving sufficient information for additional research. An advocate could
easily structure direct or cross examination of a psychologist based on
the information contained in the appropriate chapter. In summary, this
book is an excellent reference for practitioners who are involved in
child custody and physical placement disputes.
The Limits of Privacy
By Amitai Etzioni
(Boulder, CO: Basic Books, 1999).
280 pgs. $17.50.
Reviewed by R. Michael Waterman
In an age when individuals demand more protection of their private
records, habits, and lifestyles, George Washington University professor
Amitai Etzioni's The Limits of Privacy advances the notion that
Americans' individualist sense of unfettered privacy is detrimental to
the common good. With carefully limited rights of privacy, society would
be a better place to live.
The Limits of Privacy focuses on Etzioni's communitarian
thinking and social philosophy, which is premised on the notion that a
good society seeks a carefully crafted balance between individual rights
and social responsibilities. Etzioni applies that societal model to five
specific societal concerns - HIV testing of infants, sex offender or
"Megan's laws," computer encryption keys, government issued personal
identification cards, and medical record disclosures.
For each societal concern, Etzioni compiled an impressive amount of
empirical data documenting the nature and extent of particular societal
ills and the political efforts intended to alleviate them. According to
Etzioni, individual privacy often contributes to the cause of these
social problems and it too often inhibits efforts to cure the ills. For
example, valuable medical research data could be obtained from private
medical records, but an individual's privacy interest in those medical
records prohibits dissemination of the data. Similarly, sophisticated
computer encryption software allows terrorists, organized crime members,
and foreign spies to enjoy unfettered communications and operations in
this country, but government authorities do not have the means to decode
and decipher the illicit communications. Etzioni suggests that by
placing careful limits on an individual's privacy, society as a whole
will benefit.
While The Limits of Privacy discusses some basic
constitutional issues that surround privacy, the book primarily focuses
on public policy and sociology. The Limits of Privacy is not a
legal resource, and most practitioners will find little use for this
book in their daily practices. Still, The Limits of Privacy
provides a unique and practical look at issues where social concerns and
individual privacy collide.
Wisconsin
Lawyer
