The Making of a Country Lawyer is the firsthand account of a beloved American attorney, a modern-day folk hero, a man who has devoted his life's work to the downtrodden and damned. It is the story of a wayward son who, at the age of twenty, suffered an immense and tragic loss. It is this single dark moment in Spence's life that transformed him, preparing him to be a trial lawyer, eventually handling such landmark cases as the defence of Randy Weaver and the vindication of Karen Silkwood. This is the stirring memoir of a man who has captured the American imagination at a time when our belief in our values and in ourselves has been shaken to the core, told as only Gerry Spence can.

The Making of a Country Lawyer is, like Clarence Darrow's The Story of My Life, the first-hand account of a beloved American attorney, a modern-day folk hero, a man who has devoted his life's work to the innocent and the damned. With the simple power of John Steinbeck, the bestselling author of From Freedom to Slavery now writes this painfully honest autobiography, revealing how he became one of the greatest trial lawyers of our time. 60 photos.

From renowned trial attorney and New York Times bestselling author Gerry Spence: a must own book for every lawyer and business professional seeking to make cutting-edge winning presentations--in court, at work, everywhere, any time. Gerry Spence is perhaps America's most renowned and successful trial lawyer, a man known for his deep convictions and his powerful courtroom presentations when he argues on behalf of ordinary people. Frequently pitted against teams of lawyers thrown against him by major corporate or government interests, he has never lost a criminal case and has not lost a civil jury trial since 1969. In Win Your Case, Spence shares a lifetime of experience teaching you how to win in any arena-the courtroom, the boardroom, the sales call, the salary review, the town council meeting-every venue where a case is to be made against adversaries who oppose the justice you seek. Relying on the successful courtroom methods he has developed over more than half a century, Spence shows both lawyers and laypersons how you can win your cases as he takes you step by step through the elements of a trial-from jury selection, the opening statement, the presentation of witnesses, their cross-examinations, and finally to the closing argument itself. Spence teaches you how to prepare yourselves for these wars. Then he leads you through the new, cutting-edge methods he uses in discovering the story in which you form the evidence into a compelling narrative, discover the point of view of the decision maker, anticipate and answer the counterarguments, and finally conclude the case with a winning final argument. To make a winning presentation, you are taught to prepare the power-person (the jury, the judge, the boss, the customer, the board) to hear your case. You are shown that your emotions, and theirs, are the source of your winning. You learn the power of your own fear, of honesty and caring and, yes, of love. You are instructed on how to role-play through the use of the psychodramatic technique, to both discover and tell the story of the case, and, at last, to pull it all together into the winning final argument. Whether you are presenting your case to a judge, a jury, a boss, a committee, or a customer, Win Your Case is an indispensable guide to success in every walk of life, in and out of the courtroom.

“A scathing indictment of how law is taught, practiced, and administered in this country . . . One of the best books ever written on the law.”—The Denver Post Renowned trial lawyer Gerry Spence takes an in-depth look at the American justice system and reveals a terrible truth: If you don’t have power or money, then you likely won’t receive justice either. The wealthy buy their way out of trouble, while the poor are punished. In an effort to combat this corruption, the author devises a number of reforms, tackling issues in every area of the system from law school to the courtroom. “Passionately eloquent and innovative, trial attorney Spence here argues the evils of the justice system itself and its abuse by monied interests such as corporations, ‘the most cruel, calculating, and accomplished criminals of all time.’”—Publishers Weekly

From Gerry Spence, one of America’s greatest trial attorneys and the New York Times bestselling author of How to Argue and Win Every Time, comes an explosive courtroom thriller of murder, passion, and the twists and treachery of law and justice. Gerry Spence is one of the greatest trial lawyers of our time. He has not lost a jury trial in fifty years and has never lost a criminal or a capital case. He has also represented many celebrated defendants and appeared on countless national TV talk shows. Spence now presents us with beautiful Lillian Adams, who is going on trial for the murder of her wealthy husband before Judge John Murray. The prosecutor, Haskins Sewell, however, is consumed by political ambition. He plans to advance his own career by framing Lillian for murder one and by railroading the judge into prison. A fast-paced, up-all-night courtroom thriller, Court of Lies is also a harsh indictment of today’s legal system. The country has 2.3 million people behind bars and 7.5 million more on parole or probation. A major reason for so much mass incarceration is the dominance of politically motivated prosecutors, who over-sentence defendants for the sake of winning votes in their own elections and advancing their careers.