Customer Reviews

Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer's Guide to Proving Liability

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Over the last 5 years I only battle against lawyers paid by the big business insurance industry. My practice is insurance breach of contract law and auto. I hold myself out as a trial lawyer because I do not accept the crap offers from the claims assessment software that every insurer uses to evaluate human life. To that end, in order to do right by your clients you must challenge the insurers of your clients or the people who harm your clients (we can not sue the insurer of the negligent driver directly) And you must be armed with proven techniques that work. That is what this book is, one of those books you tab, highlight, copy, reuse, a reference tool. This book is a must, an absolute must for anyone dealing with insurers in any capacity. It is chocked full of useful, practicable information that you can use right away. It teaches you how to teach a jury on what 'reasonable' means when they delay and deny meritorious claims. If you are a mill and settle every case without filing, accepting the low ball offers, not doing right by your client, etc., then just keep doing what you've always done and you'll get what you always gotten. But if you correct the injustices, fight for what is right, are on the side of society that helps people, not corporations, then you must by this book and use it. I have read all of David Ball's books, attended ATLA juror bias college, conventions, books on closing, jury bias, Jury Works, TLC, NITA, etc. and with all of that I found this book very useful. I refer to it before every deposition, trial, etc. I do not know the authors of the book, (I wish I did) but they are super accomplished trial lawyers. I speak from my heart on a book that will help people who care about people - and that means winning jury trials because that is the only check on our society. Remember what Thomas Jefferson said, "the right to a jury trial is more important that the right to vote." If you practice insurance bad faith law, auto law, or any law where insurance is involved, you must own this book. (...)

This is an excellent book. It focuses the attorney on the very essentials of his case. These essentials, or rules, must be easy to understand and convey, and must be indisputable. The authors give advice and numerous examples on how to run all aspects of the case - from the complaint to discovery, use of experts and of documents, and trial techniques -using these simple Rules of the Road. This is a great organizing principle, and one I am going to apply immediately to my cases.

We plaintiff's attorneys can get bogged down in the every day tactics and pitched battles. This book helps you focus on the overall strategy, making your tactics serve the strategy. A must read for any trial attorney.

"Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer's Guide to Proving Liability" by Rich Friedman and Patrick Malone, Trial Guides, LLC, Portland, OR, second Ed., 2010. ISBN0-978-1-934833-17-9, HC 188/335 pages. 20 Chapters, 14 Appendices A-N, & Index 13 pgs.

A Revised & Updated 2nd. Edition clarifying definition of Rules of the Road and distinguishing between Rules & Principles, Etc. A somewhat tedious but well rounded syllabus written by established professional plaintiff lawyers that provides a succinct explanation of essential elements to formulating a winning strategy and combat obstacles encountered in modern-day litigation. Special emphasis is given on steps to maximize legal methodologies following a specific but flexible format governed by adherence to an overall plan by creating indisputable standards for judges, juries and defendants to focus the reasoning and decision-making of the judge and jury.

The Appendices are informative and based on case material on discovery requests, bad faith opening statements and a formula on how to establish a foundation for winning liability case of diverse types, and a dissertation on establishing "standard of care".

Overall, this is a good read for a targeted audience where the opponent's gambit is combative, with ploys of ambiguity, confusion and complexity that may be effectively thwarted using Rules of the Road including appropriate response to Motion in Limine.

There should be 4 books in your shelf: Damages, Rules of the Road, Polarizing the Case and Reptile. Rules is a must no matter what type of personal injury case you are taking to trial. I also recommending reading Jim Perdue's books.

Fantastic book. This book should be required reading for all lawyers
that fight for the rights of sick and injured consumers. Follow the
rules presented in this book and you will be successful.

I'm relatively new to the trial lawyer business and this book has been really helpful in focusing my thoughts and efforts. Quite frankly, my previous efforts were more about working through a flow chart with the process therein supplying focus. I think this book details a better approach. For those not already familiar ...

This is a book about creating, and adapting "rules" which form the basis of selling your side of the case to a jury. But it is also more than that. It covers handling your own experts and deposing the other side's experts, interrogatories, document requests, opening, closing, crossing, ...

The point is, that you have to keep your focus during every litigation phase. Keeping focused means not getting sucked into the other side's tactics. Especially during depositions and flurries of motions. The rules technique helps - a lot.

Some additional niceness is that the appendixes are prodigious and supply lots of material for jump starting your own case. You'll need to formulate your own rules based on each fact pattern. You'll need to adapt as things change. However, the the price of the book.

Excellent book with real life practical examples. Teaches concepts that you just weren't' taught in law school.