Vol. 75, No. 8, August 2002

Book Reviews

• First Among Equals: How to Manage a Professional Group
• Stack and Sway: The New Science of Jury Consulting
• Trends in Land Use Law from A to Z
• Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing
• Wisconsin Secured Transactions Under Revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Forms and Practice Manual.

• To review a book

First Among Equals is a guide for professionals who are practice group or team leaders in a firm, and who need to call on new skills after spending years concentrating only on their own performances. This book provides useful advice on managing a group or negotiating with firms to define leadership roles.

Professionals may be skeptical of the usefulness of group activities, and they need to be shown the benefits. Senior firm members may hinder success by refusing to recognize that a leader's uncompensated or nonbillable time is good for the firm. If a firm wants successful practice groups, say the authors, the firm's senior members and group leaders should explicitly agree on how many uncompensated hours the group leader will need. This precludes the surprise end-of-year negative review after the billable time has gone down.

The authors believe that good group leaders become trusted advisers who motivate and challenge group members. One-on-one interactions are crucial, and the authors provide advice on how to make those work, as well as how to avoid the group meetings in which "minutes are taken, but hours are wasted."

What does the group leader add to a firm? Successful leaders increase productivity, retain promising staff, and increase income. They also plan for the future, integrate new hires, and motivate and challenge group members.

The authors are experienced management consultants who offer a wealth of useful suggestions on how to be an effective group leader. They also have a Web site dedicated to the book and have included their email addresses and telephone numbers for those who may need them.

Stack and Sway: The New Science of Jury Consulting

By Neil J. Kressel & Dorit F. Kressel (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2002). 302 pgs. $27.50. Order, (303) 444-3541.

Reviewed by C. Michael Hausman

Jury consultants in the last several decades have become "of counsel" status to many attorneys and law firms in the quest to either level the litigants' playing field or help attorneys to pick or "stack" jurors by helping them ascertain whether the jurors would render the "right" verdict in the case. Stack and Sway details the history and development of the techniques jury consultants use in assisting lawyers in selecting jurors.

The topics covered are voluminous. However, whether the authors are dealing with hidden influences or sophisticated research methods to figure out the best strategies for swaying a jury panel or are analyzing in detail the underpinnings of several famous recent jury decisions, the authors endeavor to document and reference numerous studies and publications to provide an in-depth analysis of each aspect they cover.

The authors believe that attorneys who retain selection consultants should be required to divulge this engagement to the opposite party to allow it a better opportunity to decide whether to hire its own expert. This requirement would cause the other party to direct greater attention to the jury selection process to offset any "edge" the other side might have obtained. However, the authors note that this recommendation does not address the concern of parties who cannot afford to hire a jury consultant.

In the chapter devoted to "Saving the Jury," the authors probe the judicial system's failure to engage jurors more actively, thus fostering apathy and poor decision making among jurors. Suggestions including increasing jury pay, lessening time-wasting, and permitting note taking are explored. Overall, the book offers some interesting insight on how this area of jury involvement could be improved.

Stack and Sway, in a scholarly way, approaches many of the issues of concern: racial injustice in jury selection, economic considerations in using jury consultants, scientific reliability of modern social science, psychology, market research, and so on. This book is most helpful to trial lawyers who want more information about jury consulting techniques.

This book is an excellent source of detailed research documentation on jury consulting techniques and approaches.

Trends in Land Use Law from A to Z

Edited by Patricia E. Salkin (Chicago, IL: ABA State and Local Government Law Section, 2001). 504 pgs. $110. Order, (800) 285-2221.

Reviewed by Neal A. Nielsen III

This is a compilation of 14 essays by various legal scholars and practitioners, edited by Patricia E. Salkin, a law professor, associate dean, and director of the Government Law Center at Albany Law School.

As the title implies, these essays cover a range of topics that provide a fairly comprehensive look at the current state of American zoning and land use planning law. The level of scholarship and the currency of the material are impressive. Indeed, the lead article concerning the Palazzolo regulatory takings case was written after the U.S. Supreme Court had heard oral argument in the case, and the book went to press before the Court issued its opinion.

Topics include regulatory takings and exactions, comprehensive planning and "Smart Growth," the federal influence on land use planning through the EPA's total maximum daily load regulations under the Clean Water Act, the emerging environmental justice (EJ) movement and how EJ concerns now affect federal and state regulatory agencies as a result of a Clinton administration executive order, sign regulation and free speech, zoning of adult uses and religious land uses, and the siting of cellular towers. The appendix contains a helpful drafting checklist and several sample agreements.

Trends in Land Use Law from A to Z was prepared under the auspices of the ABA Section on State and Local Government and is published by ABA Publishing. Salkin and several contributors share section and American Planning Association affiliation. A planner's bias in favor of regulatory schemes and holding the public interest paramount over private property rights sometimes shows through. The author of the Palazzolo article, for example, failed to even consider that the Supreme Court might find a viable regulatory takings claim when the regulation predated the claimant's ownership. The author of the Smart Growth chapter praises the regulatory scheme in Oregon without acknowledging that many Oregonians consider this a failed experiment in social engineering. Nevertheless, the quality of the work renders it valuable.

This book will be appreciated by anyone who practices zoning and planning law and will be most valuable to those who represent the public sector.

Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing

By Jane Margolis & Allan Fisher (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002). 172 pgs. $24.95. Order, (800) 356-0343.

Reviewed by Sarah M. Hatch

This book examines why female students are underrepresented in university programs teaching computer science, which studies computer programs or "code." Unlocking the Clubhouse is the result of an interdisciplinary study in which the authors tracked more than 100 men and women at the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science (SCS) from 1995 to 1999. SCS is one of the nation's top three computer science programs.

The impetus behind the study is that society needs female programmers to ensure that women contribute to the evolution of technology. The authors ask: Do factors in childhood determine whether computer science will attract women? What do women interested in this area experience during elementary and secondary education and in college? How do women fit into the "hacker" and "geek" cultures that predominate the field? What are the attributes of women who excel in computer science classes? What changes can be made to attract and retain women?

The research produced thought-provoking results. In seemingly innocuous ways, experiences in childhood and beyond often encourage more boys than girls to cultivate an interest in computers. Although drawn to the field, many women studied report feeling like outsiders in computer classes, in part because they often reject the prevalent male-dominated cultures. Women also approach computer science with different life-balance objectives, by pursuing diverse interests, while men tend to "dream in code." The study showed the attraction to programming often differs between the genders, with women focusing on larger societal goals, like furthering medical research, and men focusing on code for the art of coding itself. As both foci pertain to inherent aspects of computer science, the effect is that men and women are reading metaphorically from different pages of the same book. The diversity of code thereby produced enriches society, but the authors found that these differences cause many women to feel alienated.

In response to this data, Margolis and Fisher conducted workshops for high school teachers on attracting women to the field and promoting computer science as a career. They also developed similar strategies for colleges. However, the authors note that women's attitudes and socioeconomic status are undeniable factors. Women leaving SCS tend to view intelligence and talent as innate abilities or the result of a "computer gene," while those remaining, including women consistently at the top of their class, often view these things as the result of perseverance. Women in the study who could afford to reject the pecuniary rewards of programming often changed majors.

Carnegie Mellon implemented the authors' suggestions. Acknowledging the divergent attractions of men and women to the field, SCS now introduces students to contextual applications of computer science early in their academic careers. In combination with revised admissions policies, the number of women enrolled at SCS increased from 7 percent in 1995 to 42 percent in 2000, twice the increase in enrollment of comparable institutions. Women are now almost as likely as men to complete the program.

The authors regret that the composition of the SCS student body did not allow a comprehensive study of race and ethnicity. An interesting and worthwhile second project would be to develop a means to ensure that all men and women of color have a voice in the development of technology.

Margolis and Fisher deliver an insightful and revealing glimpse into what it takes to survive as a computer science student and to ensure that women participate in technology other than only in the role of computer user.

Wisconsin Secured Transactions Under Revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Forms and Practice Manual.

By Anthony C. Marino (Brooklandville, MD: Data Trace Publishing Co., 2001). $197.91. Order, (800) 342-0454.

Reviewed by J.P. Fernandes

As Wisconsin (and the rest of the country) shifts from the original laws of secured transactions written by Prof. Llewellyn to the new and improved Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, most practitioners at some point will have to deal with these changes. Rather than attending yet another seminar on the differences between "Old-9" and "New-9" or investing hours reading a treatise that really does not tell you how to actually do anything, consulting this manual with forms, by Anthony C. Marino, is a viable option.

The manual is organized with the practitioner in mind and the book's easy-to-use format is one of its greatest attributes. The manual's text is composed of 14 chapters, 13 of substantive content and one of forms - which also are provided on disk. The book begins with an explanation of the transition period from the Old-9 to the New-9 and highlights important dates, deadlines, the consequences of improper filings, and so on. The remaining 12 sections generally follow the new Article 9's structure, examining the new definitions through the revised Code's enforcement and remedies provisions. Throughout the manual, new terms are highlighted in bold text so the reader can easily spot them, and "Practice Pointer" text boxes routinely appear, offering brief tips for the working lawyer.

The forms chapter provides a hard copy of the 72 model documents that also are on the accompanying disk. The forms range from basic notice and filing letters to lengthy security agreements and all are easily accessible with today's word processing programs. Furthermore, the manual's excellent forms index makes finding the right document painless.

The manual's only real downside is that the manual and particularly, the forms are written from the secured lender's perspective and are not very favorable to the debtor. In a perfect world, the forms might be written with both sides in mind so practitioners representing commercial borrowers would have more to work with. However, the manual's author candidly discloses this perspective up front.

The manual comprehensively covers routine secured transactions under the new Article 9. What makes this work so helpful is that Wisconsin practitioners can efficiently extract what they need without giving up any real substantive information.

Wisconsin Lawyer