An insightful and delightful book for anyone with an interest in people and persuasion

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	• Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges Antonin Scalia, Bryan A. Garner Thomson West, 2008 - 269 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Written for lawyers, but valuable for everyone

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

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Exceptional

You do not have to be a Lawyer in order to appreciate the value of this exceptional book. I found it to be informative, educational and worth reading more than once. Well done!

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Interesting read, A must read for any litigator

Considering the author, this book, good or bad, is a necessary read. Justice Scalia sits on the highest court in the land and has for 20 some odd years. There are many interesting points and even a bit of humour just to show the court is human. Making your case is a lesson in human interaction, we're all human and thus on equal footing, if you have a case to make, make it. Be concise, understand the judge has read your brief and is not stupid(?!) don't pick your nose or chew your nails lol.

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A Solid Book for the Student of Advocacy

A good (quick) read overall. The majority of the advice is pretty orthodox, but there are some very interesting isolated topics throughout the book, including the sections on the logical sequencing of writing and Garner's push to move substantive citations away from the text.

An insightful and delightful book for anyone with an interest in people and persuasion

My only exposure to the courts has been the unfortunate experience of defending various complaints from my ex that continue to be served even to this day, 10 years after the divorce. So I'm no attorney and most of the time I've been in a courtroom, I'd gladly have been somewhere else. But still, when I'm not feeling trapped in the details of my personal situation, I've found the workings of the court and how motions and trials are decided to be quite fascinating. I'm an engineer, but I think the (sometimes) logical world of law might have been fun. The significance of some of Scalia's book, e.g., the minutiae of whether to use contractions, was probably lost on me. But I bought it based on some enticing interview snippets in the WSJ Law Blog and I was definitely not disappointed.

I enjoyed the insight it offered into just how the whole thing works and found myself agreeing, on a number of occasions involving, surely, the more obvious points, that I'd noticed precisely that same thing myself but hadn't been sure to what degree it might be generalized. It explained things. I found lots of good advice that I'm sure will be portable to the far more ordinary life I lead having nothing to do with the law but a lot to do with getting along with people around me and, on occasion, trying to persuade them to my point of view.

I also had a great time. The book was waiting for me Friday evening when I got home from work and by Saturday evening, I'd finished it completely. Along the way, I learned a lot and I also laughed a lot, out loud, probably every 4 or 5 minutes, at some new, insightful and humorously phrased observation about life or the law.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

In their professional lives courtroom lawyers must do these two things well: speak persuasively and write persuasively. In this noteworthy book, two of the most noted legal writers of our day Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner systematically present every important idea about judicial persuasion in a fresh, entertaining way. Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges is a guide for novice and experienced litigators alike. It covers the essentials of sound legal reasoning, including how to develop the syllogism that underlies any argument. From there the authors explain the art of brief-writing, especially what to include and what to omit, so that you can induce the judge to focus closely on your arguments. Finally, they show what it takes to succeed in oral argument. The opinions of Justice Scalia are legendary for their sharp insights, biting wit, and memorable phrasing. The writings of Bryan A. Garner, editor in chief of Black s Law Dictionary®, are respected inside and outside legal circles for their practical guidance on the art of writing and advocacy. Together the Scalia-Garner team has produced a fresh, innovative approach to a timeless topic.

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