Preface. The Civil Courtroom: Use of This Handbook

• Author: John Hollander
• Pages: 13-15

the civil courtroom: use of this handbook

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preface

The Civil Courtroom:

Use of This Handbook

Who Should Read This Book

   on practical courtroom skills for

civil litigators. Novice lawyers who seek to develop or

improve their skills should incorporate into their own

practices the techniques described in the following pages;

more experienced counsel may nd here a systematic ap-

proach to what has been randomly structured; and those

who teach courtroom skills may also pick up some help-

ful tips and organization of thought.

I have little experience in criminal matters, but I have

observed that the courtroom behaviour of prosecutors

and defence counsel diers from that of civil litigators.

While many of the suggestions and ideas in this book re-

late to litigators in general, if you practice in the eld

of criminal law, the lessons described here may not be a

perfect t as the experiences within a civil and criminal

courtroom dier. For example, In criminal law, it is un-

usual for the accused to testify — instead, defence coun-

sel must speak for the accused. Sometimes, the accused

cannot sit at counsel table, and often, the accused has or