Your Brain and Law School

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781611632262
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (322 download)

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Book Synopsis Your Brain and Law School by : Marybeth Herald

Download or read book Your Brain and Law School written by Marybeth Herald and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the latest research, this entertaining, practical guide offers law students a formula for success in school, on the bar exam, and as a practicing attorney. Mastering the law, either as a law student or in practice, becomes much easier if one has a working knowledge of the brain's basic habits. Before you can learn to think like a lawyer, you have to have some idea about how the brain thinks. The first part of this book translates the technical research, explaining learning strategies that work for the brain in law school specifically, and calling out other tactics that are useless (though often popular lures for the misinformed). This book is unique in explaining the science behind the advice and will save you from pursuing tempting shortcuts that will take you in the wrong direction. The second part explores the brain's decision-making processes and cognitive biases. These biases affect the ability to persuade, a necessary skill of the successful lawyer. The book talks about the art and science of framing, the seductive lure of the confirmation and egocentric biases, and the egocentricity of the availability bias. This book uses easily recognizable examples from both law and life to illustrate the potential of these biases to draw humans to mistaken judgments. Understanding these biases is critical to becoming a successful attorney and gaining proficiency in fashioning arguments that appeal to the sometimes quirky processing of the human brain. This book is part of the Context and Practice Series, edited by Michael Hunter Schwartz, Professor of Law and Dean of the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Your Brain and Law School was a finalist in the Best Published Self-Help and Psychology category of the 2015 San Diego Book Awards

Law and Neuroscience

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Publisher : Aspen Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1543823319
Total Pages : 1004 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Law and Neuroscience by : Owen D. Jones

Download or read book Law and Neuroscience written by Owen D. Jones and published by Aspen Publishing. This book was released on 2022-10-27 with total page 1004 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The implications for law of new neuroscientific techniques and findings are now among the hottest topics in legal, academic, and media venues. Law and Neuroscience—a collaboration of professors in law, neuroscience, and biology—is the first and still only coursebook to chart this new territory, providing the world’s most comprehensive collection of neurolaw materials. This text will be of interest to many professors teaching Criminal Law and Torts courses, who would like to incorporate the most current thinking on how biology intersects with the law. New to the Second Edition: Extensively revised chapters, updated with new findings and materials. New chapter on Aging Brains Hundreds of new references and citations to recent developments. Over 600 new references and citations to recent developments, with 260 new readings, including 27 new case selections Highly current material; 45% of cases and publications in the Second Edition were published since the first edition in 2014 Professors and students will benefit from: Technical subjects explained in an accessible manner Extensive glossary of key terms Photos and illustrations enliven the text Professors of any background can teach this course

Law School Without Fear

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Law School Without Fear by : Helene S. Shapo

Download or read book Law School Without Fear written by Helene S. Shapo and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resource added for the Paralegal program 101101.

Is International Law International?

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190696419
Total Pages : 433 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis Is International Law International? by : Anthea Roberts

Download or read book Is International Law International? written by Anthea Roberts and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes the reader on a sweeping tour of the international legal field to reveal some of the patterns of difference, dominance, and disruption that belie international law's claim to universality. Pulling back the curtain on the "divisible college of international lawyers," Anthea Roberts shows how international lawyers in different states, regions, and geopolitical groupings are often subject to distinct incoming influences and outgoing spheres of influence in ways that reflect and reinforce differences in how they understand and approach international law. These divisions manifest themselves in contemporary controversies, such as debates about Crimea and the South China Sea. Not all approaches to international law are created equal, however. Using case studies and visual representations, the author demonstrates how actors and materials from some states and groups have come to dominate certain transnational flows and forums in ways that make them disproportionately influential in constructing the "international." This point holds true for Western actors, materials, and approaches in general, and for Anglo-American (and sometimes French) ones in particular. However, these patterns are set for disruption. As the world moves past an era of Western dominance and toward greater multipolarity, it is imperative for international lawyers to understand the perspectives and approaches of those coming from diverse backgrounds. By taking readers on a comparative tour of different international law academies and textbooks, the author encourages them to see the world through the eyes of others -- an essential skill in this fast changing world of shifting power dynamics and rising nationalism.

Logic Made Easy: How to Know When Language Deceives You

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Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393347613
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (933 download)

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Book Synopsis Logic Made Easy: How to Know When Language Deceives You by : Deborah J. Bennett

Download or read book Logic Made Easy: How to Know When Language Deceives You written by Deborah J. Bennett and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005-07-17 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The best introduction to logic you will find."—Martin Gardner "Professor Bennett entertains as she instructs," writes Publishers Weekly about the penetrating yet practical Logic Made Easy. This brilliantly clear and gratifyingly concise treatment of the ancient Greek discipline identifies the illogical in everything from street signs to tax forms. Complete with puzzles you can try yourself, Logic Made Easy invites readers to identify and ultimately remedy logical slips in everyday life. Designed with dozens of visual examples, the book guides you through those hair-raising times when logic is at odds with our language and common sense. Logic Made Easy is indeed one of those rare books that will actually make you a more logical human being.

One L

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Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 13 : 1429939567
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis One L by : Scott Turow

Download or read book One L written by Scott Turow and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2010-08-03 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One L, Scott Turow's journal of his first year at law school and a best-seller when it was first published in 1977, has gone on to become a virtual bible for prospective law students. Not only does it introduce with remarkable clarity the ideas and issues that are the stuff of legal education; it brings alive the anxiety and competiveness--with others and, even more, with oneself--that set the tone in this crucible of character building. Each September, a new crop of students enter Harvard Law School to begin an intense, often grueling, sometimes harrowing year of introduction to the law. Turow's group of One Ls are fresh, bright, ambitious, and more than a little daunting. Even more impressive are the faculty. Will the One Ls survive? Will they excel? Will they make the Law Review, the outward and visible sign of success in this ultra-conservative microcosm? With remarkable insight into both his fellows and himself, Turow leads us through the ups and downs, the small triumphs and tragedies of the year, in an absorbing and thought-provoking narrative that teaches the reader not only about law school and the law but about the human beings who make them what they are. In the new afterword for this edition of One L, the author looks back on law school from the perspective of ten years' work as a lawyer and offers some suggestions for reforming legal education.

The Impact of Behavioral Sciences on Criminal Law

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199773300
Total Pages : 540 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis The Impact of Behavioral Sciences on Criminal Law by : Nita A. Farahany

Download or read book The Impact of Behavioral Sciences on Criminal Law written by Nita A. Farahany and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-02-20 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the ongoing genomics and neuroscience revolution and its implications for criminal law.

Legal Insanity and the Brain

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1509902325
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Legal Insanity and the Brain by : Sofia Moratti

Download or read book Legal Insanity and the Brain written by Sofia Moratti and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-10-20 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark publication offers a unique comparative and interdisciplinary study of criminal insanity and neuroscience. Criminal law theories and ideologies which underpin the regulation of criminal insanity have always been the subject of controversy. The history of criminal insanity is characterised by conceptual and empirical tension between two disciplinary realms: the law and the mind sciences. The authors in this anthology explore in depth the state of the art of legal insanity and the numerous intricate, fascinating, pioneering and sophisticated questions raised by the integration of different criminal law and behaviour theories, diverse disciplines and methodologies, in a genuinely interdisciplinary perspective. This volume will serve as a practical guide for the comparative legal scholar and the judge, as well as stimulating scholarly reading for the neuroscientist, the social scientist and the philosopher with interdisciplinary scientific interests.

Great Minds Think Differently

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781641058957
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (589 download)

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Book Synopsis Great Minds Think Differently by : Haley Moss

Download or read book Great Minds Think Differently written by Haley Moss and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book aims to be ambitious in its approach. Lawyers are leaders in our communities and I expect it to be no different in the realm of neurodiversity. Neurodiversity might be a relatively new concept for some readers, but we interface with people who think differently than us each day. It is neither better nor worse, just different, and different can be extraordinary. We can be extraordinary in how we work with our neurodiverse colleagues, friends, family members, and clients. My hope is that this book makes including neurodiverse populations in our profession and interacting with us within the legal system becomes more natural and equitable"--

The Legal Analyst

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226238369
Total Pages : 714 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis The Legal Analyst by : Ward Farnsworth

Download or read book The Legal Analyst written by Ward Farnsworth and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 714 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are two kinds of knowledge law school teaches: legal rules on the one hand, and tools for thinking about legal problems on the other. Although the tools are far more interesting and useful than the rules, they tend to be neglected in favor of other aspects of the curriculum. In The Legal Analyst, Ward Farnsworth brings together in one place all of the most powerful of those tools for thinking about law. From classic ideas in game theory such as the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” and the “Stag Hunt” to psychological principles such as hindsight bias and framing effects, from ideas in jurisprudence such as the slippery slope to more than two dozen other such principles, Farnsworth’s guide leads readers through the fascinating world of legal thought. Each chapter introduces a single tool and shows how it can be used to solve different types of problems. The explanations are written in clear, lively language and illustrated with a wide range of examples. The Legal Analyst is an indispensable user’s manual for law students, experienced practitioners seeking a one-stop guide to legal principles, or anyone else with an interest in the law.

Downward Causation and the Neurobiology of Free Will

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3642032052
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Downward Causation and the Neurobiology of Free Will by : Nancey Murphy

Download or read book Downward Causation and the Neurobiology of Free Will written by Nancey Murphy and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-09-30 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How is free will possible in the light of the physical and chemical underpinnings of brain activity and recent neurobiological experiments? How can the emergence of complexity in hierarchical systems such as the brain, based at the lower levels in physical interactions, lead to something like genuine free will? The nature of our understanding of free will in the light of present-day neuroscience is becoming increasingly important because of remarkable discoveries on the topic being made by neuroscientists at the present time, on the one hand, and its crucial importance for the way we view ourselves as human beings, on the other. A key tool in understanding how free will may arise in this context is the idea of downward causation in complex systems, happening coterminously with bottom up causation, to form an integral whole. Top-down causation is usually neglected, and is therefore emphasized in the other part of the book’s title. The concept is explored in depth, as are the ethical and legal implications of our understanding of free will. This book arises out of a workshop held in California in April of 2007, which was chaired by Dr. Christof Koch. It was unusual in terms of the breadth of people involved: they included physicists, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, philosophers, and theologians. This enabled the meeting, and hence the resulting book, to attain a rather broader perspective on the issue than is often attained at academic symposia. The book includes contributions by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, George F. R. Ellis , Christopher D. Frith, Mark Hallett, David Hodgson, Owen D. Jones, Alicia Juarrero, J. A. Scott Kelso, Christof Koch, Hans Küng, Hakwan C. Lau, Dean Mobbs, Nancey Murphy, William Newsome, Timothy O’Connor, Sean A.. Spence, and Evan Thompson.

The LSAT Logic Puzzle Book

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Publisher : Nova Press
ISBN 13 : 1944595090
Total Pages : 178 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (445 download)

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Book Synopsis The LSAT Logic Puzzle Book by : Jeff Kolby

Download or read book The LSAT Logic Puzzle Book written by Jeff Kolby and published by Nova Press. This book was released on 2021-01-15 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) has the reputation of being one of the hardest entrance exams given; it is a reputation well earned. We have compiled some of the hardest LSAT logic puzzle games, including 13 official LSAT games that tormented aspiring lawyers on recent LSAT tests. Although the purpose of this book is entertainment, it also includes a thorough discussion of the foundations of logic and the actual meanings of some common words. Think you know the meaning of the word "or," or the meaning of the word "some," or the meaning of the phrase "if..., then...." You might be surprised and intrigued by their actual definitions. This book will introduce you to numerous analytic techniques that will help you immensely, not only in solving logic puzzles, but also in school, business, and life! For this reason, solving logic puzzles can be a rewarding and satisfying experience.

Feed Your Brain

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Publisher : Exisle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1775592936
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (755 download)

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Book Synopsis Feed Your Brain by : Delia McCabe

Download or read book Feed Your Brain written by Delia McCabe and published by Exisle Publishing. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the ultimate guide to getting your brain in tip-top shape and keeping it healthy via the foods you eat. With a worldwide ageing population, and cases of dementia as well as severe depression and anxiety alarmingly on the rise, the need to look after your brain optimally has never been more important. It has now been proven beyond a doubt that it is possible to improve focus and memory, reduce stress and anxiety, and think more clearly simply by enjoying a diet rich in the right nutrients. In Part 1 of Feed Your Brain, Delia takes you through her 7-step program, simply and clearly explaining the science behind how the brain works, and showing how vitamins, minerals, fats, oils, carbohydrates and proteins affect brain function. Part 2 of the book features delicious, quick and easy recipes that can form the basis of your new diet while also providing you with inspiration to come up with your own ideas in the kitchen.

How to Crush Law School

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (427 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Crush Law School by : Charles Buist Esq

Download or read book How to Crush Law School written by Charles Buist Esq and published by . This book was released on 2020-05-25 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to Crush Law School(c) is the book I wish I could have read the summer before my 1L year. Great law students do not necessarily work harder than their colleagues. Instead, they typically have an informational advantage to combine with their excellent work ethic. In other words, they are privy to useful bits of wisdom that give them a slight edge over their competition. Unfortunately, only a fraction of law students learn the secrets to success in law school, and thus most law students are at a tremendous disadvantage. How to does one obtain information other law students don't have? How does one gain an edge? How to Crush Law School solves the enigma; it clears up the ambiguities. In this concise book, the author explicitly reveals the secrets to success in law school and shares his most valuable bits of law school wisdom. This step-by-step guide to crushing law school reveals the following: How to prioritize law school tasks and manage time to achieve optimal efficiency; How to manage your mind and utilize neuroscience to perform at your best; How to leverage focus, willpower, habit, motivation, momentum, and positivity to gain an edge; How to approach the various types of law school exam questions, including issue-spotters, traditional essays, and multiple-choice questions; and How to write a perfect answer on a law school exam. ABOUT THE AUTHOR I don't like to brag about myself in the third person, so my "about the author" may be a bit unusual. Here goes. I graduated from the University of South Carolina, School of Law in 2016, where I served as a research editor for the South Carolina Law Review. While in school, I had the honor of working as a tutor of legal research and writing. I accumulated a lot of law school accolades, including CALI awards in legal writing, advanced legal writing, income tax, and criminal procedure. During law school, I received a joint master's degree from the Vermont Law School in environmental law and police. Thereafter, I clerked for Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. in the United States District Court, and then I clerked for Judge David R. Duncan at the United States Bankruptcy Court. After law school, I went back to business school and received an MBA from the University of South Carolina, where I focused on marketing, new venture analysis, and intellectual property strategy. While completing my MBA, I worked as a research editor for one of my favorite professors in law school. If you read all of that, thank you for your interest. I'm flattered, and I hope you enjoy the book and crush law school.

Engage the Brain

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Publisher : ASCD
ISBN 13 : 141662631X
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (166 download)

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Book Synopsis Engage the Brain by : Allison Posey

Download or read book Engage the Brain written by Allison Posey and published by ASCD. This book was released on 2018-11-20 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research on the brain has shown that emotion plays a key role in learning, but how can educators apply that research in their day-to-day interactions with students? What are some teaching strategies that take advantage of what we know about the brain? Engage the Brain answers these questions with easy-to-understand explanations of the brain's emotion networks and how they affect learning, paired with specific suggestions for classroom strategies that can make a real difference in how and what students learn. Readers will discover how to design an environment for learning that Makes material relevant, relatable, and engaging. Accommodates tremendous variability in students' brains by giving them multiple options for how to approach their learning. Incorporates Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and guidelines. Uses process-oriented feedback and other techniques to spark students' intrinsic motivation. Author Allison Posey explains how schools can use the same "emotional brain" concepts to create work environments that reduce professional stress and the all-too-common condition of teacher burnout. Real-world classroom examples, along with reflection and discussion questions, add to the usefulness of Engage the Brain as a practical, informative guide for understanding how to capture the brain's incredible power and achieve better results at all grade levels, in all content areas.

Education for the Human Brain

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Publisher : R&L Education
ISBN 13 : 1475800940
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (758 download)

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Book Synopsis Education for the Human Brain by : Timothy B. Jones

Download or read book Education for the Human Brain written by Timothy B. Jones and published by R&L Education. This book was released on 2013-05-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Education for the Human Brain: A Road Map for Natural Learning in Schools is an all inclusive book on understanding and implementing a natural and brain-compatible instructional strategy from early childhood to adult learners.

Minding the Law

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Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674020200
Total Pages : 467 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Minding the Law by : Anthony G. AMSTERDAM

Download or read book Minding the Law written by Anthony G. AMSTERDAM and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this remarkable collaboration, one of the nation's leading civil rights lawyers joins forces with one of the world's foremost cultural psychologists to put American constitutional law into an American cultural context. By close readings of key Supreme Court opinions, they show how storytelling tactics and deeply rooted mythic structures shape the Court's decisions about race, family law, and the death penalty. Minding the Law explores crucial psychological processes involved in the work of lawyers and judges: deciding whether particular cases fit within a legal rule ("categorizing"), telling stories to justify one's claims or undercut those of an adversary ("narrative"), and tailoring one's language to be persuasive without appearing partisan ("rhetorics"). Because these processes are not unique to the law, courts' decisions cannot rest solely upon legal logic but must also depend vitally upon the underlying culture's storehouse of familiar tales of heroes and villains. But a culture's stock of stories is not changeless. Amsterdam and Bruner argue that culture itself is a dialectic constantly in progress, a conflict between the established canon and newly imagined "possible worlds." They illustrate the swings of this dialectic by a masterly analysis of the Supreme Court's race-discrimination decisions during the past century. A passionate plea for heightened consciousness about the way law is practiced and made, Minding the Law/tilte will be welcomed by a new generation concerned with renewing law's commitment to a humane justice. Table of Contents: 1. Invitation to a Journey 2. On Categories 3. Categorizing at the Supreme Court Missouri v. Jenkins and Michael H. v. Gerald D. 4. On Narrative 5. Narratives at Court Prigg v. Pennsylvania and Freeman v. Pitts 6. On Rhetorics 7. The Rhetorics of Death McCleskey v. Kemp 8. On the Dialectic of Culture 9. Race, the Court, and America's Dialectic From Plessy through Brown to Pitts and Jenkins 10. Reflections on a Voyage Appendix: Analysis of Nouns and Verbs in the Prigg, Pitts, and Brown Opinions Notes Table of Cases Index Reviews of this book: Amsterdam, a distinguished Supreme Court litigator, wanted to do more than share the fruits of his practical experience. He also wanted to...get students to think about thinking like a lawyer...To decode what he calls "law-think," he enlisted the aid of the venerable cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner...[and] the collaboration has resulted in [this] unusual book. --James Ryerson, Lingua Franca Reviews of this book: It is hard to imagine a better time for the publication of Minding the Law, a brilliant dissection of the court's work by two eminent scholars, law professor Anthony G. Amsterdam and cultural anthropologist Jerome Bruner...Issue by issue, case by case, Amsterdam and Bruner make mincemeat of the court's handling of the most important constitutional issue of the modern era: how to eradicate the American legacy of race discrimination, especially against blacks. --Edward Lazarus, Los Angeles Times Book Review Reviews of this book: This book is a gem...[Its thesis] is easily stated but remarkably unrecognized among a shockingly large number of lawyers and law professors: law is a storytelling enterprise thoroughly entrenched in culture....Whereas critical legal theorists have talked among themselves for the past two decades, Amsterdam and Bruner seek to engage all of us in a dialogue. For that, they should be applauded. --Daniel R. Williams, New York Law Journal Reviews of this book: In Minding the Law, Anthony Amsterdam and Jerome Bruner show us how the Supreme Court creates the magic of inevitability. They are angry at what they see. Their book is premised on the conviction that many of the choices made in Supreme Court opinions 'lack any justification in the text'...Their method is to analyze the text of opinions and to show how the conclusions reached do not always follow from the logic of the argument. They also show how the Court casts its rhetoric like a spell, mesmerizing its audience, and making the highly contingent shine with the light of inevitability. --Mitchell Goodman, News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) Reviews of this book: What do controversial Supreme Court decisions and classic age-old tales of adultery, villainy, and combat have in common? Everything--at least in the eyes of [Amsterdam and Bruner]. In this substantial study, which is equal parts dense and entertaining, the authors use theoretical discussions of literary technique and myths to expose what they see as the secret intentions of Supreme Court opinions...Studying how lawyers and judges employ the various literary devices at their disposal and noting the similarities between legal thinking and classic tactics of storytelling and persuasion, they believe, can have 'astonishing consciousness-retrieving effects'...The agile minds of Amsterdam and Bruner, clearly storehouses of knowledge on a range of subjects, allow an approach that might sound far-fetched occasionally but pays dividends in the form of gained perspective--and amusement. --Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, Washington Times Reviews of this book: Stories and the way judges-intentionally or not-categorize and spin them, are as responsible for legal rulings as logic and precedent, Mr. Amsterdam and Mr. Bruner said. Their novel attempt to reach into the psyche of...members of the Supreme Court is part of a growing interest in a long-neglected and cryptic subject: the psychology of judicial decision-making. --Patricia Cohen, New York Times Most law professors teach by the 'case method,' or say they do. In this fascinating book, Anthony Amsterdam--a lawyer--and Jerome Bruner--a psychologist--expose how limited most case 'analysis' really is, as they show how much can be learned through the close reading of the phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that constitute an opinion (or other pieces of legal writing). Reading this book will undoubtedly make one a better lawyer, and teacher of lawyers. But the book's value and interest goes far beyond the legal profession, as it analyzes the way that rhetoric--in law, politics, and beyond--creates pictures and convictions in the minds of readers and listeners. --Sanford Levinson, author of Constitutional Faith Tony Amsterdam, the leader in the legal campaign against the death penalty, and Jerome Bruner, who has struggled for equal justice in education for forty years, have written a guide to demystifying legal reasoning. With clarity, wit, and immense learning, they reveal the semantic tricks lawyers and judges sometimes use--consciously and unconsciously--to justify the results they want to reach. --Jack Greenberg, Professor of Law, Columbia Law School