Until now, only the twelve jurors who sat in judgment were able to appreciate these virtuoso performances, where weeks of testimony were boiled down and presented with flair, wit, and high drama. For five years the authors researched every archive from those of the "L.A. Times" to the dusty stacks of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and readers can now lose themselves in the summations of America's finest litigators.

Clarence Darrow saves Leopold and Loeb from the gallows in the Roaring Twenties. Gerry Spence takes on the nuclear power industry for the death of Karen Silkwood in a modern-day David and Goliath struggle. Vincent Bugliosi squares off against the madness of Charles Manson and his murderous "family" in the aftermath of their bloody spree. Clara Foltz, the first woman to practice law in California, argues passionately to an all-male jury, defending her place in the courtroom. Bobby DeLaughter brings the killer of civil-rights leader Medgar Evers to justice after thirty years and two mistrials. Aubrey Daniel brings Lt. William Calley, Jr., to justice for the My Lai massacre. William Kunstler challenges the establishment after the '68 Chicago riots in his defense of yippie leaders known as the Chicago Seven.

Each closing argument is put into context by the authors, who provide historical background, a brief biography of each attorney, and commentary, pointing out the trial tactics used to great effect by the lawyers, all in language that is jargon-free for the benefit of the lay reader.

Reviews

In a country where celebrity lawyers are worshipped like divas, it's surprising that until now no one has collected their most glorious arias‘the closing arguments of front-page cases. Here Lief (a deputy DA in Ventura, Calif.), Caldwell (a professor of law at Pepperdine University) and Bycel (dean of UWLA School of Law) have assembled the "ten greatest arguments" delivered by American advocates in civil and criminal trials in the last century. Included are some obvious choices: Clarence Darrow's impassioned plea to spare Leopold and Loeb from the gallows; Robert Jackson's magisterial condemnation of Hitler's henchmen at Nuremberg; Gerry Spence's folksy attack on the Kerr-McGee nuclear power plant on behalf of Karen Silkwood; Vincent Bugliosi's methodical devastation of the Manson family. Readers will enjoy second-guessing the editors: Is Donald Re's close in the DeLorean trial "greater" in advocating on behalf of a notorious client than Johnnie Cochran's (overlooked here, as is Daniel Petrocelli)? Is William Kunstler's argument in the Chicago 7 trial "great" or is it merely a famous lawyer's last word in a famous case? Does the snippet of Clara Shortridge Foltz's argument presented here, in which she wittily exposes the opposing counsel's sexism, outrank the close of, say, Thurgood Marshall in Brown v. Board of Education? Unfortunately, the editors' brief commentaries shed little light on why these particular arguments make their top-10 list. They virtually ignore opposing counsel's arguments, except in the case of My Lai Lieut. William Calley Jr. Repeatedly, they praise the top-10 closures for focusing the evidence and talking "horizontally" to the jury, but surely there's magic unaccounted for. (July)

Henry G. Miller " New York Law Journal" As much about history as advocacy.

The authors have pooled their legal and academic expertise for this unique combination of primary-source material, annotation, and commentary gleaned from the oral summations at ten famous American trials. The ten cases chosen for analysis provide all the ingredients for memorable finales: historical relevance, political importance, social significance, and the popular notoriety of the litigants. Each chapter places the verbatim material into a historical, social, and legal context the reader can understand and appreciate. Included in the selection are excerpts from trials that typified the trauma of their times: the 1971 prosecution of Army Lieutenant William Calley Jr. for the massacre of civilians in the Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai; William Kunstler's spirited defense of the Chicago Seven, accused of conspiracy to disrupt the 1968 Democratic National Convention; the prosecution of the Mississippi segregationist who assassinated Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers; and Clarence Darrow's 1924 defense of Leopold and Loeb, who had confessed to a cold-blooded thrill killing. The book would satisfy those with a general interest in history or political science; law students and legal practicioners could learn useful rhetorical strategies.ÄPhilip Y. Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Law Lib., First Judicial Dist., New York