A nice review on An Appeal to Reason

Fellow appellate attorney Mary-Christine (or affectionately known as M.C.) Sungaila posted a very nice book review of An Appeal to Reason, on http://socal-appellate.blogspot.com/2011/09/introducing-guest-bloggers.html

I do appreciate her recommendation to pick up my book, along with a few others, for your summer reading but I am not sure I would ask anyone to go that far.  I am a big advocate of balance in one's life and find that far too many attorneys are working almost round the clock.  The new social media does not make it any easier because we attorneys are now so accessible.  I have even read about the lack of sleep and insomnia experienced by attorneys who cannot "shut off their minds" at the end of the night.  I would much rather take advantage of a well-rested attorney who can then learn some valuable pointers from my book.  Read it first thing in the morning over a steaming cup of coffee (skip the donut, please!) or maybe at the end of the day.  But for summer reading at the beach?  My advice is to put the book down, jump into our California surf and play with your children or loved ones.  

My baby has arrived! An Appeal to Reason is finally here!

After what seems like months, if not years, my book has finally arrived.  It looks beautiful.  Although I have never delivered a child, I am sure this is the next best thing.  Oh yeah, no late nights, no lack of sleep, and no crying (except for me).  Maybe it is the BEST thing.

This book is all me, with some help from various people, but from the beginning concept to the end product, this book has been a vision of mine for years.  (Okay, so every nonfiction author dreams of writing a novel, but that may be the next item on my agenda.)  The primary reason I wrote the darned thing was to help trial lawyers avoid mistakes at the superior court level that will hurt their chances on appeal.  For over 30 years, I have seen the same type of mistakes over and over again.  I have talked about them, lectured on them, written about them, but now, I have collected most of my wisdom - yes, even I have secrets - so that trial lawyers will benefit.

Someone recently asked me, "Let me get this straight, you are writing a book with advice, that if followed, will essentially put you out of work?"  Well, I didn't think of that way, and prefer not to, but I guess there is something to be said about that line of thinking.  No, I don't think that the appellate courts will close their doors if everyone follows my advice.  There still will be work for appellate attorneys.  But truthfully, if I am going to handle an appeal, I would want to be in the best position to win.  So, that is my hope for you trial attorneys after you have read the book.