Customer Reviews

Win Your Case: How to Present, Persuade, and Prevail--Every Place, Every Time

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Any practicing trial lawyer would benefit from this book. I have tried in excess of eighty jury trials and am constantly on the lookout for means and methods of improvement. Spence's approach is different from any other. His de-emphasis on traditional trial "techniques" favoring instead to focus on knowing one's true self, and recognizing the profound uniqueness of each of us, is the linch-pin of his approach. Only when we truly know ourselves can we hope to know our clients, opponents, witnesses and the decision-maker, be it judge or jury. And whereas most professional advocates have been taught to remain emotionally removed from their cases and causes, Spence suggests that genuine care is required if one is to win consistently. This care must, of course, be channeled and applied thoughtfully. This book contains many examples of Spence's methods applied to different stages of the trial process (voir dire, opening, direct exam, etc.) and to specific fact patterns.

Does it work? The proof is in the pudding. Spence has amassed a string of trial victories, civil and criminal, unmatched by any other contemporary trial attorney. All attorneys should buy and absorb this book. All clients should buy this book and give it to their attorneys.

Every litigator has heard that you need to tell a story at trial. And most have heard that you need a theme. A lawyer's credibility is important at trial. More than a few, perhaps, have themselves uttered these lines to themselves and to others. But what does it actually mean, and how are we to do it? Even those who have been to trials, actually stood in the well of the courtroom and even won, often don't seem to know. "Runaway jury" they will mutter when they lose. Or what about the famous criminal defense attorney who begins his closing with the stirring: "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the state has not satisfied its burden in this case." Not that he didn't commit this brutal bloody murder, but that the state has not satisfied some legalistic opaque formula of weighing. Trials often seem to a test of who can do the least bad job -- if both sides drone out their scripts of openings, not daring to look over the podium at the jurors then who can tell who's doing the better job. Why can't litigators tell their stories convincingly? First, they may not believe their own stories enough. Second, institutional pressures, the "platooning" of responsibilities prevalent in large firms and just simple fear, fear of doing other than the plodding jobs they have seen in court, fear of reaching out and trying to understand the feeling of the decision makers, and their fears may stand in the way. Also, there is ignorance. There are countless ways to do things at trial poorly and a mere handful of people who do them really well. Spence's book addresses the fear, the ignorance and how to be crdible and why. The example sequences of client inteviews, voire dire, direct examinations and crosses are breathtaking particularly if you have sat at trial listening to the direct by your side in a case you helped prepare thinking "what the heck is our guy talking about, I don't understand" (and how will the jurors?) Every trial lawyer should read this, but I hope they don't because it will just make my job harder.

I enjoy Gerry Spence and love his attitude and dedication to the common man. I loved How to Argue and Win Everytime and this began as better than that. But by midway through I felt my expectations were violated as this was billed as not just a courtroom book, which is interesting, but a practical application book. While much of what he says certainly has application anywhere my personal disappointment was in the heavy trial legal application through 75% of the book. If I was a lawyer this would be a superb book - just not exactly what I thought but he has lots to teach us.

Gerry Spence has a rather eloquent way of describing what charisma is: "Charisma is the controlled transfer of raw emotion."

It seems the whole book revolves around his definition of charisma. Once you have raw emotion you could then use tools like visual aids (and the book goes into details of this sort but always reminding the reader to be real) and so forth to transfer raw emotion to someone else (or a jury), in a controlled way.

It is the charisma that helps you present, persuade and prevail every place, every time, as the book's subtitle promises. And the book certainly transfers.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I have read most of his other books. Its application to lawyers and others on how to persuasively win their cases using many of the same methods taught at the famous Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming is invaluable. Easily the best book on trial advocacy I have ever read, more useful than his prior excellent book released ten years ago, How To Argue and Win Every Time. It should be required reading in every law school.

I listened to the audio book, which is long but wonderful! Once you get through the book you will have learned several very valuable lessons. Mr. Spence provides several approaches for winning your case and learing how to be genuine and convincing. He advocates an emotional and honest investment in your situation and he tells you exactly how to do it. It works, and although many of his cases give court room stories, anyone can apply it to their own life outside the court room. We often interrogate others while being interrogated in life. Check it out!!

Spence gives many useful lessons. Listen to them with, as Spence puts it, your "third ear." Lawyers from all sorts of practice areas should listen and learn about "psychodrama." Listen. Feel your client's predicament. Spence gives new meaning to the teaching of Michael Tigar that "nothing you learned in law school teaches you to listen or to care."

Spence has a fair amount of bombast. His cowboy style fits few people. But that's his point. This CD will help you find your own voice.

As other reviewers have said, Win Your Case falters when Spence attempts to translate his trial lawyer strategies to other contexts. Certainly much of what Spence teaches translates in some ways to the boardroom, city hall, and other places. But Spence's useful examples in Win Your Case focus on trials of personal injury and criminal defense cases. Spence shines most brightly in those areas.

I am not an attorney, however I have done plenty of pro se cases on my own, and I have done a better job than 90% of the attorneys out there. I can say this because, I have hired a few attorneys in my life and most of them are incompetent and really lazy; they'll give an initial sell talk in order to get your money up front.

However, this book gives you personal insight on how to pursue your own case, and some know how of what attorneys handling you case should be doing. It is a must read for those interested in making their case a wining one.

The book is a classic read for any attorney or law student. The real message in the book is tell you client's story at trial from their perspective. The book gives you tips for reaching this understanding and ways to access your cases differently. The book was in good condition and arrived as expected.Win Your Case: How to Present, Persuade, and Prevail--Every Place, Every Time

I was expecting to read insightful thoughts about how to win my case. What I didn't expect was to read insightful thoughts about how to enjoy my life and how to improve myself. And all that with a really smooth writing style that you find enjoyable to read for many hours.