| |
 |
|
|
Vol. 73, No. 6, June 2000 |
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.
Michael Coffino, U.W. 1994, is an intellectual
property lawyer with Donahue, Gallagher, Woods & Wood in
Oakland, Calif.
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.
Douglas O. Smith, Marquette 1983, is
a principal and shareholder of General
Counsel S.C., Brookfield.
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 Now!
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.
Thomas H. Boyd, Iowa 1987, practices
with Winthrop & Weinstine PA in Saint Paul, Minn.
Next Page
|
