LibGuides: Trial Advocacy Research Guide: Opening Statements and Closing Arguments

About Opening Statements and Closing Arguments

The following titles are dedicated to that aspect of trial practice that involves addressing the jury. Be aware that there are many fine sample opening statements and closing arguments located in some of the treatises on trial practice and, in particular, in American Jurisprudence Trials. For books on oral communication generally, see the page titled "effective oratory." These titles are listed in alphabetical order.

Texts

Annotated Opening Statements by Peter Perlman; ATLA Staff (Editor); Rich Hailey (Introduction by)
Call Number: KF8915.P47 Law Main Stacks
ISBN: 0941916693
Publication Date: 1994-05-01
This book offers insight into strategies, preparations, and practices used to develop winning opening statements. Using nine separate cases, it covers a broad range of case types, including: products liability, construction negligence, premises liability, and medical negligence.
Closing Arguments : the Art and the Law by Stein, Jacob A.
Call Number: Available via Westlaw
Publication Date: 2005-
This book provides strategies, techniques and other tools for building a convincing summation. The text includes: a discussion of the law of closing argument, illustrations of closing arguments from civil and criminal cases across a broad spectrum of actions, and egal maxims, quotations, aphorisms and proverbs for use in constructing tailored closing arguments.
The Devil's Advocates: Greatest Closing Arguments in Criminal Law by Michael S. Lief; H. Mitchell Caldwell
Call Number: KF 220 .L54 2006 Law Main Stacks
ISBN: 0743246683
Publication Date: 2006-08-29
Forensic Rhetoric: the Force of Closing Arguments by Susanna Shelton Clason
Call Number: KF8924.C58 Law Main Stacks
ISBN: 9781593323837
Publication Date: 2010-04-01
The author focuses on the closing argument rhetorical practices of five trial attorneys. The author's goals were to 1) learn how participants utilized rhetorical strategies in closing argument; 2) better understand how they selected those strategies; and 3) examine why they employed the strategies they did through the central categories of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Also available via LUC Ebook
In the Interest of Justice by Joel Seidemann
Call Number: K 181 .S45 2004
ISBN: 006050966X
Publication Date: 2004-09-28
Drawing from some of the most well-known courtroom cases of our time, this text collects more than two dozen of the most memorable opening and closing arguments made by top prosecutors and defense attorneys in the last 100 years.
Opening Statements and Closing Arguments by Ronald J. Matlon
Call Number: KF8915.M376 Law Main Stacks
ISBN: 9780962418129
Publication Date: 1992-10-01
Opening Statements: Winning in the Beginning by Winning the Beginning by Gianna, Dominic J.
Call Number: Available online via Westlaw
ISBN: 9780314628640
Publication Date: 2004 -
This work explains the concepts of predecisional and evidentiary bias, provides critical dos and don'ts, and illustrates the way to deliver jury-oriented openings. Numerous illustrations elaborate on the principles provided.
Scott Baldwin on Jury Arguments by Scott Baldwin; Francis H. Hare
Call Number: KF 8915 .B353 Law Main Stacks
ISBN: 9780471164623
Publication Date: 1995-12-31
This book provides a complete analysis of the author's philosophy and strategies of jury arguments and guidelines for preparation and presentation of jury arguments.

Subject Guide

Tom Keefe

Email Me

Library Catalog Search Box

Advanced Search