Raising the Bar is an instructive, entertaining and inspiring guide for young Maryland lawyers. Presented in brief, one-to-three page articles written in an engaging conversational style, the practice tips, observations, and lessons on trial technique found in Raising the Bar are easy to digest and easy to put into action. Raising the Bar’s eminently useful — and practical — succinct portions of advice have been collected and compiled from the best of Paul Sandler’s weekly columns in The Daily Record over the past two years. In twelve chapters - 294 stimulating pages — Mr. Sandler focuses primarily on the essential skills of the effective advocate. Eight chapters address: Rhetoric; Pleading Fundamentals; Jury Research; Depositions; Opening Statement and Closing Argument; Witness Examination; Use of Expert Witnesses; and, Appeals. Mr. Sandler rounds out the collection with four chapters of valuable information and insight on issues of special interest to younger lawyers.

Raising the Bar is a unique book. Collected here are articles on argument and persuasion, reflecting Paul Sandler's fascination with the principles and power of rhetoric and his conviction that these tools must be mastered to achieve mastery as an advocate for your client. Opening statement and closing argument, as well as the litigator's crucial relationship with the jury, are addressed in practical terms, with many specific suggestions. Some of Mr. Sandler’s most valuable insight and best advice is found in his articles on pleading causes of action, conducting depositions, and examining lay and expert witnesses at trial. As might be expected from the author of four highly regarded books on these topics, Raising the Bar is filled with concrete examples of proven strategies and effective techniques. Appellate advocacy, family practice and the basics of Maryland divorce law, as well as a young lawyer's primer on dealing with the media, are also addressed in this collection. Finally, and perhaps most importantly as evidenced by the fact that the topics come first and last in this collection, Raising the Bar includes a dozen or so columns focusing on matters of special significance to “the young lawyer” and to “the public interest.”

Paul Sandler has studied and practiced the art and science of trial advocacy for over thirty years, working very hard to refine his litigation skills. Mr. Sandler’s career-long drive to achieve excellence in the courtroom has gone hand-in-hand with a generous impulse to share his knowledge and experience with colleagues, especially with those newest to the profession. Raising the Bar aims to help young lawyers to develop and enhance their advocacy skills, and to encourage them to practice law with civility and professionalism. Readers of Raising the Bar will come away from the book inspired with a sense of purpose and enthusiasm for the practice of law and equipped with the tools to excel as trial attorneys. For those who missed the original columns in The Daily Record — and for those who read all of them and asked if they could be reprinted in a single volume — MICPEL is proud to present this superb collection of “the best of Sandler” in Raising the Bar.

Book: $39………………Inv. # 2703-05
Pub date: 2005
Pages: 312

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