Book Review: Litigation Logic- A Practical Guide to Effective Argument, by Paul Bosanac
Litigation Logic– A Practical Guide to Effective Argument is an interesting book. As stated in the introduction:
This book is dedicated to presenting informal fallacies through legal arguments…
The product description on Amazon is:
Learning to use, and defend against, informal fallacies are the keys to effective argument. This one-of-a-kind book examines informal fallacies and features a three-page Legal Logic Flow Chart to help identify the appropriate informal fallacy and counter them. Through the flow chart this book provides two legal examples on which to practice using the chart. This book is ideal for any lawyer who wants to craft a flawless argument.
The focus of the book is principles of logic utilized in legal arguments.
The book defines informal fallacies as arguments that are flawed, but not in a technical sense. Examples include personal attacks, appealing to bias and prejudice and something you occasionally see in Mississippi courtrooms: appeals to regionalism. The book goes into detail indentfying improper arguments and provides examples from mostly U.S. Supreme Court cases.
I view this book as an academic book as opposed to a practical guide that will be used by trial attorneys. Litigators should know what arguments are improper, but little time is devoted to the subject in law school or bar review exams. This book would be very useful as required reading in law school trial practice and ethics classes. In fact, a law school ethics course that uses this book as a text would be more useful than traditional approaches to ethics courses that are based on case books.
I disagree that the book is ideal for any lawyer who wants to craft a flawless argument. I view it as a theory type book and not a practice book. It is a good book that is worth reading, but it is not going to provide a roadmap for arguing cases.
