New ABA book helps law students form a concrete plan for passing the bar exam
Recently released by the American Bar Association and West Academic, “Bar Exam Success: A Comprehensive Guide” by Sara J. Berman will provide the support and guidance students need, equipping them with the deliberate, affirmative steps to ensure bar passage. It approaches the bar exam as an opportunity to learn critical lawyering skills, not predetermined by the LSAT, first-year grades or any other single indicator.
Based on Berman’s decades of experience teaching in law schools and bar review, this new edition includes updates that focus on the recent adoption of the universal bar exam (UBE) by many jurisdictions. It will teach students how to:
• Develop a plan for success
• Get and use quality expert help
• Maximize your schedule for productivity
• Prepare with practice tests
• Eliminate distractions and embrace success
This book will more than prepare students to pass the bar exam; the author’s words will motivate readers to do what it takes to succeed in law school, pass the bar exam and thrive in the legal profession.
Berman is the director of Programs for Academic and Bar Success at the AccessLex Institute Center for Legal Education Excellence in Washington, D.C. She previously served as a professor of law and director of academic and bar success programs in law schools in California and Florida and lectured in bar reviews for more than two decades, helping thousands of students pass bar exams nationwide.
New ABA book helps lawyers keep meetings short and effective
Just published by the American Bar Association, “The Modern Rules of Order, Fifth Edition” by Donald Tortorice aims to provide a more modern and simplified procedure that promotes efficiency, decorum and fairness in a form that can be easily mastered and referred to with ease. This procedure works for business meetings at major corporations as well as small nonprofits.
The essential purpose of parliamentary rules is to provide a framework of established procedures for the orderly and fair conduct of a business meeting.
All too frequently, however, traditional parliamentary rules can lead to confusion, disagreement and disruption when, in debate on a particularly troublesome issue, it is discovered that the chair of the meeting is not completely familiar with what can be complex and convoluted procedures. This is not surprising since traditional rules were tailored to formally structured parliamentary debate.
If you want meetings that are more efficient, shorter and have minimum disagreements, then you need this framework of established procedures. Simpler and more effective than Robert’s Rules of Order, this concise book focuses on promoting timely consideration of the substance of the meeting, rather than ritualistic procedure.
Tortorice is a retired partner at Duane Morris and most recently an adjunct law professor at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was a drafting member of the task force to revise Pennsylvania’s corporation and business laws and a member of the boards of directors of a number of private business corporations and nonprofit organizations.
ABA releases 3rd edition of ‘Financial Statement Analysis and Business Valuation’
The American Bar Association has released the third edition of the best-selling “Financial Statement Analysis and Business Valuation for the Practical Lawyer,” published by the Business Law Section. The guide helps lawyers gain a working knowledge of financial concepts, terminology and documents with valuable guidance to translate a client’s financial goals into practical legal solutions.
Whether handling the sale of a company, negotiating a loan agreement, preparing disclosure documents or handling securities cases, this book discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various methods, explains which valuation techniques are suitable for specific situations, and weighs the risks and rewards of creating value by acquisition.
This comprehensive resource, co-authored by Robert B. Dickie and Peter R. Russo, provides detailed guidance on how to analyze the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. With added chapters and updates to stay current with the ever-changing and complex rules, this guide will help lawyers:
• Understand the content and purpose of financial statements and the rules by which they are prepared
• Identify and avert securities fraud by knowing how to analyze revenues
• Learn the warning signs in gross margins, operating margins and net margins
• Recognize the degree of liquidity or illiquidity the balance sheet indicates
• Assess a company’s financial leverage
• Learn how to monitor a company’s operating, investing and financing activities
• Identify whether a company is an absorber or generator of cash
• Explore the M&A process
Robert B. Dickie is a lawyer and founder of The Dickie Group, which provides training in finance and accounting to most of the country’s leading law firms and to the in-house legal departments of numerous Fortune 100 companies, in addition to financial services including corporate valuations, damages assessment and expert witness services.
Peter R. Russo, a CPA, retired from Boston University Questrom School of Business, where he served for 15 years as executive in residence and senior lecturer. During that time, he served terms as faculty director of the Entrepreneurship Program and the Executive MBA Program. From 1983 to 1998, he was president and CEO of Data Instruments (now Honeywell Data Instruments).
New ABA book helps female lawyers amplify their voice in and out of the courtroom
Just published by the American Bar Association, “Her Voice in Law: A Structured Program for Lasting Vocal Transformation” by Rena Cook and Laurie Koller provides an in-depth training course for the female attorney who wants to have more vocal power. This book will help women build instant trust and rapport and have authentic command in all legal situations, including trial work.
“Her Voice” provides a deep dive into various aspects of voice and presentation, including breath, resonance, articulation and inflection for maximum impact on the jury. Its five sections — Tuning Your Instrument, Catching Their Interest, Catching Their Heart, Amplifying Through Body Language and Gesture, and Applying Voice to Everyday Legal Situations — provide a training model that yields lasting results for attorneys who desire a wider range of storytelling skills to strengthen their success in and out of the courtroom.
Cook, professor emerita at the University of Oklahoma, is a speaker, author, and voice, speech, confidence and presentation coach. She is the founder of Vocal Authority, a training consultancy that assists lawyers who want to use their voice in more commanding and authentic ways. She is also the author of “Empower Your Voice: For Women in Business, Politics and Life” and “Voice and the Young Actor.”
Koller has tried more than 100 cases in state and federal courts with several verdicts over $1 million. She is co-founder of the Women Trial Lawyers’ Collective, which sponsors retreats for women lawyers focused on mindfulness and voice. Koller is also a member of the board of advisors for the National Crime Victim Bar Association and is currently president of the Oklahoma Association for Justice.
ABA book helps lawyers develop their own distinct writing style
Just published by the American Bar Association, “The Modern Rules of Style, Second Edition” is a pocket-sized guide that will help anyone improve their writing. Author Paul Marx gives readers the fundamental skills they need before putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.
Lawyers write every day, but often they do not have a sense of style. They put what they have to say down on paper — but without distinction. This essential handbook will change all that. It provides examples of the good, the bad and the questionable through journalistic and narrative formatting. Marx details the proper use of parallelism, em dashes, semicolons, colons, modifiers, similes and noun clauses. In addition to explaining grammar rules, he also illustrates how sentence structure, repetition and word choice can impact writing style.
Small and foundational changes can help make writing more focused, enjoyable and interesting. A great resource for lawyers and all students of self-help, “The Modern Rules of Style, Second Edition” belongs on any bookshelf already home to “The Elements of Style.”
Marx is the author of “Utopia in America” and “Jim Rouse: Capitalist/Idealist” and editor of “Modern and Classical Essayists” and “Twelve Short Story Writers.” He has published articles in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Yankee and elsewhere. Currently, he is professor emeritus of English at the University of New Haven, where he teaches non-fiction writing.
