Communication in Legal Advocacy (Studies in Communication Process)

Communication in Legal Advocacy integrates work in legal theory, communication theory, social science research, and strategic planning to provide a comprehensive analysis of the communication processes in trials. Responding to the emerging interest in alternative dispute resolution, the book situates the trial within the broadercontext of dispute resolution, calling attention to the ways in which negotiation, mediation, and arbitration interrelate with trials. This study bends traditional argumentative analyses such as the rational-world notions of adversary proceedings, presumption, burden of proof, and essential issues with contemporary ideas of narrative rationality. The volume offers the reader a practical and strategic guide to effective trial advocacy, and it provides theoretical insights into trials as socially sanctioned mechanisms of dispute resolution.

Richard D. Rieke has been a student of communication and law since his doctoral work at Ohio State University in 1964. His dissertation "Rhetorical Theory in American Legal Pracice" was one of the first studies to argue for a rapprochement between legal theory and rhetorical theory in relation to the practical processes of conducting trials and appeals. Since then, as a member of the faculty at Ohio State and later the University of Utah, he has continued to study trials, appellate advocacy and appellate decision making from the perspective of rhetorical/communication theory. He is currently involved with the Utah State Bar and the American Arbitration Association in making dispute resolution more accessible to citizens of Utah.

Randall K. Stutman received his PhD in Communication from the University of Utah in 1985. An assistant professor in the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, he has received numerous teaching awards and has written extensively on persuasion and trial advocacy.