On Trial: Lessons from a lifetime in the courtroom

“Read it and learn.”  — Alan M. Dershowitz, Author of Supreme Injustice

On Trial: Lessons from a lifetime in the courtroom is a book that even the busiest lawyer should take time to read. Written by a distinguished trial attorney and based on essays that first appeared in the New York Law Journal, it distills the author's forty years of courtroom experience into a highly readable trove of wisdom and common-sense advice on the art of advocacy.

Henry Miller covers every phase of trial, with a liberal sprinkling of learned quotations from sources as diverse as Montaigne and Mark Twain. His own insights, though, may prove the most useful.

“Tell them it's your first case,” he advises novice attorneys, while also warning that it's bad form to try this more than five times.

He provides the “Ten Commandments of Settlement.” (“No. 4. Thou shalt not bargain as if thou were born yesterday.”)

And a helpful “Cross-Examination Survival List.” (“No. 15. Act like you're getting somewhere.”)

From jury selection tips to trying a case where the judge and jury hate you, these essays are filled with candor, maxims and lessons learned the hard way. On Trial: Lessons from a lifetime in the courtroom will help attorneys at all stages of practice to navigate around pitfalls at trial—and to face the unavoidable with grace and dignity.