Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer's Guide to Proving Liability

by Rick Friedman, Patrick Malone

Rick Friedman has been called the insurance industries' worst nightmare. His successful career has been distinguished by multi-million dollar verdicts and precedent-setting case law. Among many of his landmark cases are the $152 million awarded to a State Farm agent in Bellott v. State Farm, $84 million awarded to a disabled doctor in Ceimo v. Paul Revere, and $16.5 million awarded to a disabled worker in Ace v. Aetna Life Insurance Company. His verdicts to date total over $300 million. Friedman is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, an invitation-only group that limits its membership to 100 of the leading trial lawyers in the country. Patrick Malone is one of the leading attorneys in the eastern United States who represents victims of serious personal injuries against drug manufacturers, hospitals, and others in the medical industry. He frequently teaches lawyer groups about cutting edge techniques in trial advocacy. His verdict in Benedi v. McNeil PPC remains one of the largest collected judgments against a pharmaceutical company. Malone was an award-winning investigative journalist before attending Yale Law School. Like Rick Friedman, he is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. Now, they share their secrets of proving liability in serious plaintiff’s cases of all kinds. Friedman and Malone help you consider your theme and strategy for trial using their "Rules of the Road" technique, and then take you from the pleading through discovery and trial.

Genres: Law, Legal, Nonfiction

316 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Sydnee O'Donnell]

Nice real-world examples in the appendices and throughout the book. Strains credibility a little that the first example of a Rule of the Road in Appendix A's master list ("Business of insurance is highly specialized, with policyholders particularly vulnerable and dependent on their insurance company") doesn't fit the authors' very first requirement of a Rule: that it must prescribe specific conduct by the defendant.

[Amanda]

Part of one of my New Years resolutions, to do more to keep improving my trial lawyer skills. This is a good book - outlines an approach that is pretty similar to the way we already litigate cases, but definitely gave me some new ideas about how to take that to the next level. It is mostly focused on med mal, perosnal injury, and bad faith insurance cases but I could see how to translate some of it to Plaintiff's employment stuff.

[Randy Harvey]

For a new lawyer starting out and doing plaintiff's work, this is the most important book I have ever read on the practice of the law--specifically trial prep. The author is no less quality than the book, taking time to help those new to the profession to start well and give the best to our clients.

[Gertrude Whitman]

Highly technical, relentlessly rigorous and undeniable; recommended reading list at the end begins with “anything by Gerry Spence,” and after subsequently reading 14 books by Spence, the best books I’ve ever read, I will be completing the entirety of the list (and at least 3 more by Spence xD)

[Morgan Lyons]

I sometimes wonder if it's worth reviewing books like this, because they're so niche to the industry that my opinion probably isn't going to sway people either way. This book is so foundational to plaintiff's lawyers that I'm sure most of them have already read it, but even if I gave it 5 hundred stars, I doubt a single nonlawyer would pick it up, and why would they? At any rate, I am decidedly not giving this 5 stars, because while the principles and techniques described are doubtless incredibly useful in certain areas of plaintiff's work, the authors go out of their way several times to explain why they don't work especially well in auto-accident personal injury cases, which is 95 percent of what I do.

[Felix]

I really liked this book and found the advice worth considering. I was disappointed more time was not spent on basic auto cases (only one chapter). This book helped me sharpen my focus regarding discovery and trial evidence.

[Melissa]

This is actually a practical law book. Who knew?

[Zeb Snyder]

This book offers wonderful insights into how to put together a case. I'll be referring to it often.

[Izarra Moore]

Absolutely indispensable reading for trial plaintiffs attorneys. (Full disclosure: I worked on this book as an editor.)

[Phil]

A very good book.

[Craig Drummond]

An excellent and detailed guideline on how to handle an injury case. A must-read for an attorney taking on complex injury clients.