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Imperial Library
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Index
Cover
Welcome
Dedication
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Law school doesn’t teach laws.
Chapter 2: Lawyers must be honest, but they don’t have to be truthful.
Chapter 3: Lawyers are contextualists.
Chapter 4: You’re not a lawyer until you pass the bar.
Chapter 5: You can’t pass the bar until you’re a lawyer.
Chapter 6: All U.S. states except Louisiana have a primary heritage in English law.
Chapter 7: “Civil law” means two things.
Chapter 8: “Adversarial” isn’t necessarily bad.
Chapter 9: A legal ruling is the beginning, not the end, of the life of the law.
Chapter 10: Find one good case.
Chapter 11: Lawyers are incrementalists.
Chapter 12: In arguing before a California court, one may cite an unpublished case from Texas, but not an unpublished case from California.
Chapter 13: An appeal to an intermediate court is a right. An appeal to a court of last resort is a request.
Chapter 14: An Alabama Supreme Court case is not mandatory authority in a Minnesota court.
Chapter 15: A Supreme Court might be the lowest court.
Chapter 16: Requirement of a controversy
Chapter 17: Sometimes the U.S. Supreme Court overrules the U.S. Supreme Court.
Chapter 18
Chapter 19: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
Chapter 20: Federal courts have limited jurisdiction.
Chapter 21: Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
Chapter 22: A copyright doesn’t protect an idea.
Chapter 23: Most areas of interest have a corresponding area of law practice.
Chapter 24: Hire a lawyer, even if you are one.
Chapter 25: The law creates fictional characters.
Chapter 26: Corporations have standing. Trees do not.
Chapter 27
Chapter 28: Explain it to an eight-year-old.
Chapter 29: The theory of a case
Chapter 30: Insight doesn’t arrive head-on.
Chapter 31
Chapter 32: Give your witnesses a home base.
Chapter 33: A hostile witness can be helpful.
Chapter 34: Avoid asking a question in court if you don’t already know the answer.
Chapter 35: Ways to discredit a witness
Chapter 36: Witnesses were once “suits.”
Chapter 37: Put some length in your briefs, but keep your motions short.
Chapter 38: Research isn’t finished until the deadline arrives.
Chapter 39: Writing isn’t recording your thoughts; it’s thinking on the page.
Chapter 40
Chapter 41: Good argument trumps good facts… if you’re a student.
Chapter 42: Don’t try to prove you are objectively right; show that your position is preferable to the alternative.
Chapter 43: If the law is in your favor, pound the law. If the facts are in your favor, pound the facts. If neither is in your favor, pound the table.
Chapter 44: Always be the most reasonable person in the room.
Chapter 45: Make a logical argument.
Chapter 46: Tell a compelling story.
Chapter 47: Let your citations argue for you.
Chapter 48: Master the transitions.
Chapter 49: Sometimes passive voice is stronger.
Chapter 50: Something reasonable is reasonable, not “not unreasonable.”
Chapter 51: Stop talking when you’ve made your point.
Chapter 52: How to misunderstand a contract
Chapter 53: The Peerless Case
Chapter 54: A lawyer may not practice law with a non-lawyer, unless the non-lawyer is in jail.
Chapter 55: One cannot simply sue, but must sue for something.
Chapter 56: You can’t sleep on your rights.
Chapter 57: An injured party has a responsibility to minimize the damage.
Chapter 58: Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., 248 N.Y. 339 (1928)
Chapter 59: The Thin Skull Rule
Chapter 60: Most of what happens in a civil trial happened before the trial.
Chapter 61: The party that alleges bears the burden of proof.
Chapter 62: The party that alleges gets an extra chance to argue its case.
Chapter 63: Keep it slightly above room temperature.
Chapter 64: What’s in dispute—facts or law?
Chapter 65: When meaning is contested, look to intent.
Chapter 66: A lawyer may not reveal that a client intends to commit a crime.
Chapter 67: 4 types of boundaries
Chapter 68: There are more than 300 nations within the United States.
Chapter 69: Felonies, misdemeanors, and wobblers
Chapter 70: If you’re going to spray graffiti, don’t do it on the Post Office.
Chapter 71
Chapter 72: You’re allowed to puff.
Chapter 73: Intent can be essential; motive rarely is.
Chapter 74: Guilty act + guilty mind = Guilty
Chapter 75: A criminal defendant may have to conduct a criminal investigation.
Chapter 76: Contingency fees are prohibited in criminal cases.
Chapter 77: An hour can be 116 minutes long.
Chapter 78: Invoking the Fifth Amendment in a criminal trial prevents self-incrimination. Invoking it in a civil trial may induce self-incrimination.
Chapter 79: If a client brings a friend to a meeting with an attorney, privilege might be lost.
Chapter 80: You don’t know the rule until you know the exceptions.
Chapter 81: Circumstantial evidence can be more damning than direct evidence.
Chapter 82: Useful evidence isn’t necessarily admissible evidence.
Chapter 83: Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
Chapter 84
Chapter 85: The integrity of the system is more important to the court than the truth of one case.
Chapter 86: Not guilty doesn’t mean innocent.
Chapter 87: A guilty verdict isn’t binding.
Chapter 88: Winning the battle might not be worth the collateral damage.
Chapter 89: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
Chapter 90: Judges are biased.
Chapter 91
Chapter 92: States deliberately pass unconstitutional laws.
Chapter 93: Memory is a crime scene.
Chapter 94: Ronald Cotton exoneration
Chapter 95
Chapter 96: People act from a center of pain.
Chapter 97: There never was a Twinkie defense.
Chapter 98
Chapter 99: The other students are scared, too.
Chapter 100: You have to find a mentor; no one is going to make you a protégé.
Chapter 101: A career in law is continual preparation for a day that may never come.
About the Authors
Other books in the series
Newsletters
Notes
Table of Contents
Copyright
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