Win Your Case: How to Present, Persuade, and Prevail--Every Place, Every Time Paperback – November 28, 2006

This is a very good book. Written straight from the heart. It is greed that attracts many lawyers to read about Mr. Spence and his successes. Others may simply be hoping for morsels of trial skills that can save or better them. I was initially skeptical of Mr. Spence; I thought he might be a limelight- and publicity-seeking opportunist of the same genre of Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, Melvin Belli, and/or other high profile trial lawyers. Not so with Mr. Spence. His record speaks for itself. He quite generously shares the internal insights that set him apart from other mega-successful trial lawyers. If you are a lawyer that confines yourself to advice, research, settlement negotations, and/or bench trials, away from the ultra-risky human connection with jurors, this may not be such a compelling read. If you want to be an effective trial lawyer with little or no fear of trying cases before juries, this is a special book. What amazed me is how Mr. Spence sprung from such humble, tragedy-filled beginnings to the height of the legal profession. Mr. Spence has persuaded me that all intellectual force springs from internal feelings. Having spent the last 30 years believing that "feeling" is a dumbed-down substitute for intellect and reason, I am convinced by this book that, in suppressing feeling, I have been missing an important part of life. Anyway, this is a book that should be taken seriously, and I came away from having a suspicious opinion about Mr. Spence, to an admiration and appreciation of his great intellect (in spite of his discounting advanced intellect as a human virtue).

Jerry is very candid. He shares all of the ways he has found successful in jury trials. As a trial lawyer, it was nice to read and evaluate my approach. One problem: Jerry Spence has hypnotic charisma. It is very hard to take a jury through weeks of testimony, cause them to relax and then get them on the edge of their seat when that is where you need them. Read the book, but there is only one Jerry Spence.

Love wins. Develop your emotional quotient and do your homework.

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.

Fast, easy reading with scripted scenarios to show you exactly how the flow should go - not just abstract instructions.

Gerry Spence is undoubtedly an amazing trial lawyer, but I think the content of this book is definitely an acquired taste, as is Spence's style in general. I felt more like it was a personal philosophy book than a real "how-to" manual for trial work. I much prefer the more scientific approaches to trial that rely on psychology and empirical research. That being said, some people may really like this approach. I just couldn't get into it.Additionally, Spence has an extreme bent towards plaintiff's work, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be a little tiresome at points in the book. There were also portions that I felt were shameless plugs for his Trial Lawyers College. A sort of "if you haven't gone you will never understand."

First, I was put off by the title of this book. I thought it might be more hot air from a sales guy with a few tricks up his sleeve. Worth ten to twenty minutes of flipping through chapter titles but not much else.I am glad I didn't judge the book by its title. I could probably boil most of the message down to authenticity. Good speakers are authentic - they don't hide themselves or from themselves. This isn't so new (although a new context) but Spence does something interesting here while delivering the message of authenticity- he reminds you to speak to and connect with the power people, the decision makers. I would take a scared young woman trembling in fear but with true emotional connection in front of a jury than a slick prosecutor anytime, he tells us. He reminds us that law is an emotional discipline no matter how much we want to take emotion out of it. We lawyers are the chosen champions of a trial by contest. We stand the best chance of winning when we bring our feelings with us.He reminds us that most of us decide with felling and bend our intellect to match it. If you know that, then you remember to connect first and foremost. And connection comes from authentic emotion. I'm glad I bought this book. I practice divorce law - an area many lawyers stay away from bc of the emotion in it, but that's a reason I love what I do (although stressful and exhausting as well).

This is the absolute bible when it comes to psychology and persuasion. The chapters are so detailed that it really requires multiple readings and lots of note-taking to process the wisdom instilled but it is so worth it.This isn't a book about civil procedure per se -- it's a book about everything else. Before your case, studying what jurors think, how to do a real focus group, extracting information and reading a room, lessons that can be used for depositions, and then of course trial practice.The book is very honest about treating each other as humans and embracing what we have (or don't have) to create emotional connections that are lasting.