Sunday

Reptiles in the Jury Box


There's a new book coming out in May or June 2009 that you'll want to read. It's about reptilian thinking, and more, sitting in the jury box.

Don Keenan and David Ball have both contributed great thoughts to the cause of the lawyer's craft. Now they have honed their skills on understanding and coping with the subconscious process that works inside the mind of jurors.

Taking cues from such diverse sources as Karl Rove's tactics and teachings, Claude Rapaille's marketing concepts, Freud's analysis of the subconscious, and the strategies of New York's Moe Levine, these trial masters have penned a book titled "Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff's Revolution".

It promises to be a new approach and a new way of thinking to deal with the issues that tort reform (or, perhaps more accurately, but controversially, referred to as tort "deform"). Of course Barnes & Noble is taking preorders, along with Balloon Press.

Keenan is no trial slouch, either. He's racked up 142 million dollar + verdicts and settlements, a remarkable track record. Among his works, Ball has written what many people strongly believe to be the Bible on recovering damages, "David Ball on Damages." These are two powerhouse minds.

From everything said so far about it, "Reptile" promises to teach a great many lessons about the real workings inside the Jury Box, something that any good lawyer needs to understand more about.

This promises to be a book to get, read, then study hard.