About the Book
Let us endeavor to see things as they are, and then enquire whether we ought to complain. Whether to see life as it is, will give us much consolation, I know not; but the consolation which is drawn from truth if any there be, is solid and durable: that which may be derived from errour, must be, like its original, fallacious and fugitive. Samuel Johnson, Letter to Bennet Langton (1758) Attorneys and clients make hundreds of decisions in every litigation case. From initially deciding which attorney to retain to deciding which witnesses to call at trial, from deciding whether to ?le a complaint to deciding whether to appeal a verdict, attorneys and clients make multiple, critical decisions about strategies, costs, arguments, valuations, evidence and negotiations. Once made, these de- sions are scrutinized by an opponent intent on exploiting the consequences of any mistake. In this intense and adversarial arena, decision-making errors often are transparent, irreversible and dispositive, wielding the power to bankrupt clients and dissolve law ?rms. Although attorneys and clients may regard sound decision making as incidental to effective lawyering, sound decision making actually is the essence of effective lawyering. An attorney’s knowledge, intelligence and experience are inert re- urces until the attorney decides how to deploy those skills to serve the client’s interests. Those decisions, in turn, largely determine a case’s course and outcome.
Table of Contents:
EVIDENCE.- Prior Research on Attorney-Litigant Decision Making.- A Current Assessment of Attorney-Litigant Decision Making In Adjudicated Cases.- CAUSES.- Psychological Attributes of Decision Errors.- Institutional Impediments to Effective Legal Decision Making.- CONSEQUENCES.- Legal Malpractice Liability For Settlement Counseling and Decision Errors.- Ethical Implications of Attorney-Client Counseling and Decision Making.- SOLUTIONS.- Obstacles to Becoming an Expert Decision Maker.- Personal Expertise in Legal Decision Making.- Group Expertise In Legal Decision Making.- Peer Review, Client Evaluations and Law Firm Audits.- Conclusion.
About the Author :
Randall Kiser is the principal analyst at DecisionSet®, a decision services and professional development company in Palo Alto, California. Mr. Kiser, a decision analyst and an attorney, has worked closely with litigants, insurers and attorneys in assessing risks, evaluating litigation alternatives and improving individual and organizational decision-making skills. He is the author of How Leading Lawyers Think (Springer, 2011) and the lead author of the widely read article, “Let’s Not Make A Deal: An Empirical Study Of Decision Making In Unsuccessful Settlement Negotiations” (Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, September 2008). Mr. Kiser received his law degree in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall), and obtained his undergraduate degree in 1975 from the University of California, Davis (Highest Honors). His legal education is complemented by the award in 2002 of a certificate in leadership from the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University.
Review :
From the reviews: "... this tome should be near at hand in the office of every lawyer engaged in predicting litigation outcomes... Anyone with sufficient interest in this subject, particularly attorneys, should buy the book and keep it, if not on their night-stands, at least on their desks." (Negotiation Law Blog, February, 2010) "This is an important book. ... Everyone associated with litigation--lawyers, business executives, law professors--should read this book. ... it provides a useful summary of the results of 35 years of research by psychologists and economists in the judgment and decision making field ... . Beyond Right and Wrong will make its way as professors adopt it for use in law and business school courses and as corporate legal departments discover its value in reducing the cost of litigation." (Michael Palmer, Amazon, February, 2010) "So the book is a practical, how-to work backed by scholarship (but not weighed down by it). It should be of interest for professional responsibility as well as trial practice and alternative dispute resolution." (Trialadnotes.blogspot.com) "This book is dense with information ... If you're serious about improving your decision-making skills - whether as a lawyer, or a client or an executive or a negotiator - spending the hours required to read this book will be well worth the effort. This is an important, fundamental piece of research that deserves a place of primacy on any peacemaker's bookshelf." (Doug Noll, On The Peacemaker's Bookshelf, May 2011) "This is an exceptional book. Through laborious empirical research, Mr. Kiser has come up with a number of insightful observations about the training of lawyers and the practice of law. ... it's worth noting that the book is very well-written. Mr. Kiser has all of the statistical data and a command of the math, but has presented the topic in a very readable and entertaining style. I'm looking forward to reading his subsequent book, "How Leading Lawyers Think"." (Stephen Cavanagh, amazon.com) "In the book, Mr. Kiser discusses various factors that might contribute to the poor quality of lawyers' decisions. ... it's worth noting that the book is very well-written. Mr. Kiser has all of the statistical data and a command of the math, but has presented the topic in a very readable and entertaining style." (Stephen Cavanagh, Amazon, November, 2011)
