Trial Strategy = Poker strategy?
This week I have something a little different for WHEN LAWYERS WRITE. Instead of my usual focus on fiction written by lawyers, I am actually presenting a nonfiction book written for lawyers. However, given that this is Nevada Day (observed), the anniversary of Nevada’s entry into the union, Lawyer’s Poker, by Northwestern University School of Law’s Prof. Steven Lubet seems an appropriate choice.
In Lawyer’s Poker, Prof. Lubet offers tips for better lawyering through poker, comparing the decision making required for a trial with that of the card game. From the publisher’s description:
The theory and practice of poker will be immediately recognizable to every attorney who has ever made a strategic choice in the face of uncertainty. Lawyers are faced with a never-ending stream of decisions that require swift action, but that are necessarily made based on spotty information. The most obvious decision is whether to settle or proceed to trial, but there are also many other, smaller decisions along the way--which depositions to take, which motions to file, which theories to pursue, which questions to ask--each one influenced to one degree or another by one opponent's behavior. Poker games are much the same. Each player must continually decide whether to raise, call, or fold without seeing some or all of the other players' cards.
Las Vegas’ beloved mayor Oscar Goodman reviewed the book, saying "A most clever mingling of the likes of legendary poker player Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, with the master legal tactician Clarence Darrow. Juxtaposing the color and strategies of poker playing greats with the mastery of great lawyers in "trials of the century" creates a fascinating read for a gambler, lawyer, or just the average Joe."
Although I don’t see any fiction among his publications, Prof. Lubet has an impressive range of publications. In addition to op-eds in a variety of prominent newspapers, he wrote a popular textbook Modern Trial Advocacy as well as Murder in Tombstone: The Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp. He’s won awards for his column for American Lawyer Magazine , and NPR's Morning Edition has broadcast his humorous commentaries
I’d recommend this one for those of you Christmas shopping for the lawyers in your life.
And remember – if you are a practicing lawyer (law prof., judge, etc.) with a book on the market, I’d like to put your name and title here!
