The Devil's Advocates: Greatest Closing Arguments in Criminal Law Paperback – September 11, 2007

I simply cannot heap enough praise. Oh...how I wished I had this audiobook - of nineteen disks - when I studied criminal justice and trial practice in law school.What makes this book extraordinary? The audiobook provides dramatic recreations of the great speeches before juries or stirring appellate arguments before the Supreme Court coupled with comprehensive and intelligent contextualization. The cases and arguments are explained within the framework of American history and jurisprudence. For example,in discussing the landmark case of Mapp v. Ohio which created theexclusionary rule for evidence obtained in violation of the Bill of Rights, the authors delve into the history of the Warren Court, the biographies of the justices, the social changes in the 1960's and the entire legal history of search and seizure from the days before the American Revolution to the time of the argument and beyond. Yes, it is the marvelous background and explanation that makes this a five star book. Thinking of a gift for that young adult who just took her LSAT or gained admission to an Ivy League law school? This is IT.

The first case was a case I had never heard of, and was happy to learn about the case. It would never happen now, but it was interesting to see how the Supreme Court went "down" to the state, Tennessee, to try a case at the state level. It was tried at the state level and then actually retried with witnesses, lawyers for both parties, and viewing evidence they would not normally see at the Supreme Court. I found this book, overall, to be a great book learning about closing arguments. It was not too long, and covered arguments in both the 1800s and 1900s. I truly enjoyed this book.I received my book on time and in the brand-new condition as advertised. I recommend this seller also.

This book reads like a book of short stories, each one describing a criminal trial. They don't all actually detail the closing arguments, but all are interesting. Lief provides plenty of background information to set the stage for the story, he introduces the attorneys and others involved in the case, and then tells the story, pointing out why the particular case is noteworthy. I plan on reading Lief's other two closing argument books too.

Well written book, the authors don't really cover that much of the closing arguments for some of the cases and there is more history and reasoning for those chapters. The history and reasoning is not a bad thing I just expected more closing arguments since that is what the book is supposed to cover. The choice of cases was pretty good, however, some of the older cases were a tough read. Good overall.

I really liked this book. I did not know the intriguing background of most of these cases. This book highlights some of the important legal history of our country. Large portions of the book were transcripts of opening or closing statements. As an attorney, I found this fascinating, but it might not be for everyone.

These are major criminal cases (closing args) that set judicial precedence in the United States. The audio-book is incredible, and so is the book.Note: You may/may-not enjoy this if you are not interested in the law. But even if you are not legally inclined, they do a good job of providing context for the judicial opinions of these great cases.My favorite cases:Mapp v. Ohio -- exclusionary ruleMiranda v. Arizona -- assertion of 5th and 6th ammendment rightsTrial of Aaron Burr -- Treason!

I have found this book helpful in many ways during my law school career. It is a wonderful book and very well put together. It relays the stories behind the closing arguments and you will not want to put it down. I used it in my Trial Advocacy course when writing my closing statement and I think you will find it useful even if you aren't in law school! It is so interesting!

My son who is an attorney loves this book.

Nice

NOT RELEVANT FOR THE INDIANS