In this book, 78 leading attorneys in California and New York describe how they evaluate, negotiate and resolve litigation cases. Selected for their demonstrated skill in predicting trial outcomes and knowing when cases should be settled or taken to trial, these attorneys identify the key factors in case evaluation and share successful strategies in pre-trial discovery, negotiation, mediation, and trials. Integrating law and psychology, the book shows how skilled attorneys mentally frame cases, understand jurors' perspectives, develop persuasive themes and arguments and achieve exceptional results for clients.

The second edition of Children s Testimony is a fully up-to-date resource for practitioners and researchers working in forensic contexts and concerned with children's ability to provide reliable testimony about abuse. * Written for both practitioners and researchers working in forensic contexts, including investigative interviewers, police officers, lawyers, judges, expert witnesses, and social workers * Explores a range of issues involved with children's testimony and their ability to provide reliable testimony about experienced or witnessed events, including abuse * Avoids jargon and highly technical language * Includes a comprehensive range of contributions from an international group of practitioners and researchers to ensure topicality and relevance

The main rationale of the conventions on international transport law is to limit the liability of the carrier. However, an aspect common to these conventions is that in cases of "wilful misconduct" the carrier is liable without any financial limitation. "Wilful misconduct" denoting a high degree of fault is an established term in English law. The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules relating to International Carriage by Air (Warsaw Convention) of 1929 was the first international convention on transport law where the term was employed. A definition of "wilful misconduct," which can be found in later conventions regarding carriage of goods and passengers as well, was implemented in the Hague Protocol of 1955, amending the Warsaw Convention. However, the question as to exactly which degree of fault constitutes "wilful misconduct" has to date remained controversial and unanswered. This work seeks to answer this question. To this end, the historical background of the term, together with its function and role in marine insurance law, case law and international transport law, are examined from a comparative perspective.

The Supreme Court's involvement in many hot political and personal conflicts makes crucial an understanding of its internal workings and evolution. This book gives students a firm historical and institutional base upon which to evaluate contemporary Supreme Court decisions and the impact of those decisions on the lives of ordinary citizens. The author analyzes several issues, including: how the Supreme Court works; what key institutional norms have developed over time to make it work efficiently; and how popular support for the Supreme Court changes over time.

"A groundbreaking book . . . revealing the systemic, everyday problems in our courts that must be addressed if justice is truly to be served."--Doris Kearns Goodwin

Attorney and journalist Amy Bach spent eight years investigating the widespread courtroom failures that each day upend lives across America. What she found was an assembly-line approach to justice: a system that rewards mediocre advocacy, bypasses due process, and shortchanges both defendants and victims to keep the court calendar moving.

Here is the public defender who pleads most of his clients guilty with scant knowledge about their circumstances; the judge who sets outrageous bail for negligible crimes; the prosecutor who habitually declines to pursue significant cases; the court that works together to achieve a wrongful conviction. Going beyond the usual explanations of bad apples and meager funding, "Ordinary Injustice" reveals a clubby legal culture of compromise, and shows the tragic consequences that result when communities mistake the rules that lawyers play by for the rule of law. It is time, Bach argues, to institute a new method of checks and balances that will make injustice visible--the first and necessary step to reform.

A fresh look at one of the most important landmarks in the passage of the Ottoman Middle East to modernity during the late nineteenth century, this book explores the "Nizamiye" court system. The author offers an innovative conceptualization to serve as an alternative to common--yet poorly grounded--wisdoms about legal change in the modern Middle East. Employing a socio-legal approach, this study is focused on "law in action," as experienced in and outside the "Nizamiye" courts of law.

In the first comprehensive accounting of the US Supreme Court's race-related jurisprudence, a distinguished historian and renowned civil rights lawyer scrutinize a legacy too often blighted by racial injustice. The Supreme Court is usually seen as protector of our liberties: it ended segregation, was a guarantor of fair trials, and safeguarded free speech and the vote. But this narrative derives mostly from a short period, from the 1930s to the early 1970s. Before then, the Court spent a century largely ignoring or suppressing basic rights, while the fifty years since 1970 have witnessed a mostly accelerating retreat from racial justice. From the Cherokee Trail of Tears to Brown v. Board of Education to the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, historian Orville Vernon Burton and civil rights lawyer Armand Derfner shine a powerful light on the Court's race record-a legacy at times uplifting, but more often distressing and sometimes disgraceful. For nearly a century, the Court ensured that the nineteenth-century Reconstruction Amendments would not truly free and enfranchise African Americans. And the twenty-first century has seen a steady erosion of commitments to enforcing hard-won rights. Justice Deferred is the first book that comprehensively charts the Court's race jurisprudence. Addressing nearly two hundred cases involving America's racial minorities, the authors probe the parties involved, the justices' reasoning, and the impact of individual rulings. We learn of heroes such as Thurgood Marshall; villains, including Roger Taney; and enigmas like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Hugo Black. Much of the fragility of civil rights in America is due to the Supreme Court, but as this sweeping history also reminds us, the justices still have the power to make good on the country's promise of equal rights for all.

"This book explores the origins of the so-called "punitive turn" in penal policy across Western nations over the past two decades. It demonstrates how the context of neoliberalism has informed penal policy-making and argues that it is ultimately neoliberalism which has led to the recent intensification of punishment"--

This book covers areas such as contact between parents and children, where a child should live and with whom, where a child should go to school, domestic violence and many other issues where agreement may not be possible. It sets out the law in a way you will be able to understand and apply. and contains a wealth of practical tips to ensure that you present yourself and your case well throughout proceedings. It will guide you in drafting statements, addressing the court, answering questions during cross-examination and dealing with professionals at court.

The U.S. Constitution is a blueprint for a free society as well as a source of enduring conflict over how that society must be governed. The competing ways of reading our founding document shape the decisions of the Supreme Court, which acts as the final voice on constitutional questions. This breezy, concise guide explains the central conflicts that frame our constitutional controversies, written in clear non-academic language to serve as a resource for engaged citizens, both inside and outside of an academic setting. After covering the main points of conflict in constitutional law, Marietta gives readers an overview of the perspectives from the leading schools of constititional interpretation--textualism, common law constitutionalism, originalism, and living constitutionalism. He then walks through the points of conflict and competing schools of thought in the context of several landmark cases and ends with advice to readers on how to interpret constitutional issues ourselves.

The World Court Digest continues the Fontes Iuris Gentium, a series that presents the decisions of the Permanent Court of International Justice, up to 1990. The new volume covers the period from 1996 to 2000. All important pronouncements of the Court in its judgments and advisory opinions, are systematically arranged under specific topics taken from substantive and procedural international law. The World Court Digest provides reliable access to the decisions of the most significant international judicial organ on questions as important as the aerial incident at Lockerbie, the crimes of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the use of nuclear weapons and the use of force in the Yugoslavian context.

Procedure is not just a programme or a nexus of formalities. It is something done by legal experts and lay participants in a highly concerted ensemble. Procedure frames and advances all law-relevant activities. This book, written by three authors from different disciplinary backgrounds, provides an in-depth comparison of criminal defence work in different legal cultures. Via an ethnographic comparison, this book also shows how defence work responds to the challenges of different procedural regimes and how it contributes to their individual outcomes. Criminal Defence and Procedure opens up new horizons for legal comparison, inviting novel understandings of procedural law as well as possibilities of legal reform.

The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the advisory role of the International Court of Justice in light of its jurisprudence and overall contribution over a period of more than 55 years. The author highlights the "organic connection" between UN organs and the Court and the Court 's contribution as one of the UN 's principal organs to the Organisation. The basic argument of this study is that the advisory function should be understood as a two-sided process involving the interplay between UN organs and the ICJ. The request for and the giving of an advisory opinion is a collective coordinated process, involving more than one organ or part of the Organisation.

Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court from 1967 to 1991. He was the first African American to hold that position, and was one of the most influential legal actors of his time. Before being appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon Johnson, Marshall was a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Federal Judge (1961-1965), and Solicitor General of the United States (1965-1966). Marshall won twenty-nine of thirty-two cases before the Supreme Court - most notably the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, which held segregated public schools unconstitutional. Marshall spent his career fighting racial segregation and legal inequality, and his time on the court establishing a record for supporting the "voiceless American." He left a legacy of change that still affects American society today. Through this concise biography, accompanied by primary sources that present Marshall in his own words, students will learn what Marshall did (and did not do) during his life, why those actions were important, and what effects his efforts had on the larger course of American history.

"The Pursuit of Justice" is a realistic yet hopeful analysis of how the law works in practice rather than in theory. The multi-chapter discussion recognizes that decision makers in the law -- judges, lawyers, juries, police, forensic experts and more -- respond systematically to the incentive structures with which they are confronted. In turn, incentives are a function of economic and institutional design. While these chapters shed light on how perverse incentives result in adverse outcomes, each chapter also suggests institutional reforms that would create better incentives within the legal system.

"The Pursuit of Justice" is a realistic yet hopeful analysis of how the law works in practice rather than in theory. The multi-chapter discussion recognizes that decision makers in the law -- judges, lawyers, juries, police, forensic experts and more -- respond systematically to the incentive structures with which they are confronted. In turn, incentives are a function of economic and institutional design. While these chapters shed light on how perverse incentives result in adverse outcomes, each chapter also suggests institutional reforms that would create better incentives within the legal system.

Based on the author's more than 35 years of experience as a successful expert witness, this revised and expanded edition of Expert Witnessing and Scientific Testimony: A Guidebook demonstrates how to properly present scientific, criminal, and forensic testimony and survive the onslaught of cross-examination in court. It presents material in a step-by-step format for scientists or business professionals who find themselves thrown into the situation of testifying in a legal action. New Features in the Second Edition: Features two new chapters on fraud and medical malpractice testimony Updates and expands the original chapters The book addresses the courtroom experience by illustrating actual cases and experiences in procedure, strategy, cross-examination, and the exposure of personal history. It stresses that the primary role of an expert witness is to clarify and simplify complex technical, scientific, criminal, or forensic issues. Examples of experts with years of experience as witnesses highlight what to do and what not to do in providing quality testimony. Expert Witnessing and Scientific Testimony: A Guidebook, Second Edition is an excellent aid for preparing to give expert testimony. Its real-life examples and practical suggestions to avoid common pitfalls ease your path to testifying in the courtroom. It is a valuable resource in warding off the stresses that accompany a high-pressure and high-value legal situation.

Religious liberty is often called "the first freedom." For many years, few decisions made by the Supreme Court have been more significant for ordinary Americans than those concerning issues of church and state. By what criteria do the justices make these holdings? This analysis reaches beyond legal doctrines and focuses on four important aspects of change in the American religious landscape: increasing religious diversity; the rise of secularism; the growing political influence of gay and lesbian groups; and the pushback from conservative Christians engendered by these trends. The author examines how these have influenced how the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has dealt with church-state cases.

During the last thirty years, the judiciary has undergone an unprecedented expansion in its size and power. Judges now have more influence over our private and public lives than ever before. The effect of this change has been to transform the judiciary from an inward-looking elite into an increasingly heterogeneous professional body. 'The New Judiciary' examines the developments which have taken place in the appointment, training and scrutiny of judges as a result of the expanding judicial role. It highlights the increasing tension between the requirements of judicial independence and accountability which these changes are producing. The traditional insulation of the judiciary from all external influences is being challenged by the need for greater openness and public scrutiny of the judicial process. The passing of the Human Rights Act 1998, incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law represents another stage in this process by expanding the policy-making role of the senior judiciary still further. As a result, the continuing modernisation of the judiciary, which is the subject of this book, will be a increasingly important feature of the legal and political process in the years ahead.

Adversarial Justice and Victims' Rights explores the extent to which reforms that offer victims enhanced rights to information and participation across England and Wales, Ireland and South Australia can address sexual assault victims' procedural and substantive justice concerns. The rights, status and treatment of sexual assault victims has emerged as a significant 21st-century concern, occupying the forefront of legal commentary on international policy agendas. Informed by the voices of 26 high-level criminal justice professionals, legal stakeholders and victim support workers, and a quantitative dataset, this book considers whether legal representation can address some of the problems of the prosecution process for sexual assault victims in Victoria and, indeed, in other adversarial jurisdictions that employ similar legislative frameworks. While acknowledging the value of victim-focused reforms, the book contends that cultural changes to the ways in which sexual assault victims are perceived and treated are necessary in order to improve victims' experiences of the legal process. Reconceptualising the role of sexual assault victims from 'witnesses' to 'participants' will also increase the likelihood that victims' rights and interests will be considered alongside those of the state and the accused. Situating its findings within broader debates about the role, rights and treatment of sexual assault victims in adversarial justice systems, the book outlines prospects for the transfer of policy and practice between jurisdictions. Adversarial Justice and Victims' Rights will be of great interest to academic and policy stakeholders engaged in criminology, law and socio-legal studies, as well as students researching sexual violence and victims' access to justice.

This book, now in paperback, focuses on the world's first publicly-funded body to review alleged miscarriages of justice, set up in the wake of notorious cases such as the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six. Bringing together critical perspectives from campaigners, prominent criminal appeal practitioners and academic specialists, it centres on the different aspects of the CCRC's tasks, in particular, the limitations placed on it by its governing statute that hinder its claimed independence from the appeal courts and its working practices which prevents the referral of cases in which victims may be factually innocent. The book compares the CCRC with existing systems in Scotland, the US and Canada that deal with alleged wrongful convictions. Thoroughly undermining its operations, this study argues that the CCRC's help to innocent victims of wrongful conviction is merely incidental.

This book focuses on the world's first publicly-funded body- the Criminal Cases Review Commission- to review alleged miscarriages of justice, set up following notorious cases such as the Birmingham Six in the UK. Providing a critique of its operations, the book shows that its help to innocent victims of wrongful conviction is merely incidental.

It is a pleasure to write this Foreword to the second, expanded edition of Ian Blackshaw's well-respected book on the extra-judicial settlement of sports disputes through mediation and arbitration. Prof Blackshaw is a master of his subject who explains in clear and straightforward terms the various forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods available for dealing with a wide range of different kinds of sports disputes, which are on the increase, not least because of the huge sums of money that are nowadays at stake in sport at the elite level. As I have written elsewhere, "[t]he unique investment of competitive egos, emotions, expec- tions, and money in international sports almost guarantees a dividend of highly charged disputes.... . [and] [t]he structure for resolving them is complex. " Dispute resolution, is one of the most critical issues which overshadow the sports arena. As Prof Blackshaw rightly points out however, ADR is "not a panacea" for settling all kinds of sports disputes, and so the role of the courts must not be underestimated. This is true in both Europe and the United States of America, where I practice and teach international sports law. The expanded version of this book includes a more in-depth study of the functions and role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and also a review of the contribution of CAS to an emerging so-called 'Lex Sportiva'.

In his Judicial Deliberations: A Comparative Analysis of Judicial Transparency and Legitimacy (Oxford 2004), the American-French scholar Mitchel Lasser has, among other things, tried to re-establish the strengths of the French cassation system. Using Lasser's approach and ideas as a starting point, in this book judges from the French, Belgian and Dutch Cassation Courts reflect on the challenges that their Courts are facing. The book also contains a series of contributions from scholars analyzing the wide range of factors that determine the legitimacy of these courts' decisions. Specific attention is given to the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights that has been so important for the moral legitimacy of the European legal order, and to courts in post-communist systems, which face many similar challenges and are even under greater pressure to modernize. The book is a multidisciplinary contribution to the international debate about the legitimacy of the highest courts' rulings as well as the concept of judicial leadership and offers a new perspective in the USA versus Europe debate. It is recommended reading for academics, judges, policymakers, political scientists and students. Nick Huls is a Professor of socio-legal studies at the Faculty of Law of the Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University's Faculty of Law, The Netherlands. Maurice Adams is a Professor of law at Tilburg University, The Netherlands, and part-time Professor of comparative law at Antwerp University in Belgium. JaccoBomhoff is a Lecturer in law at the Law Department of the London School of Economics in the UK.

After its failure to bring an end to the Balkan wars of the 1990s, the European Union has worked hard to close the infamous 'capabilities-expectations gap' in the field of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). In a very short timeframe, the EU agreed to the following: the institution of new political and military bodies; peculiar structures and procedures to ensure political guidance and strategic direction; principles for consultation and cooperation with non-European allies and other international organisations such as the UN and NATO; measures to enhance the Union's military and civilian capabilities; and the adoption of an acquis securitaire, including a European Security Strategy. The most striking manifestation and raison d'etre of the ESDP is the European Union's capacity to move beyond the paper security structures and back its diplomatic efforts by action on the ground. With the launching of more than twenty ESDP operations in barely five years' time, the EU has affirmed its operational capacity in ESDP. While most of the early ESDP missions were fairly successful, they have also revealed shortfalls, bottlenecks as well as broader issues in crisis management. In this book, prominent academics and leading practitioners explore this wide variety of policy and legal aspects of ESDP and present the lessons which should be taken to heart now that the EU is facing its 'maturity test' as an international crisis manager in high-risk theatres around the world. The book will be an important tool for decision-makers, officials and academics involved in the further development of ESDP. Its contents incorporate the text and potential effects of the Lisbon Treaty and the ECJ's judgment in the Small and Light Weapons/ECOWAS case. Dr Steven Blockmans is a Senior Research Fellow in EU law and Deputy Head of Research at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague.