Readers, today my guest is my friend, writer and attorney Ann D. Zeigler. You can thank me later for bringing this fabulous person and resource to your attention. I think she wrote her multi-award winning “Tips Lawyers Wish You Knew: Going It Alone at the Courthouse” for the layperson. But I know the truth. She wrote this book just for me. In my opinion, Zeigler’s book belongs in a Civics class. Moreover, if you’re a writer, it belongs in your research arsenal.
I cannot believe how much information is included in this book. Talk about giving away the store! But enough ranting and praise. Here’s what’s in it.
About Tips Lawyers Wish You Knew: Going it Alone at the Courthouse
From the maddening minutiae of legal etiquette to the rules of civil procedure, this work makes the courts less daunting. ~ Kirkus Review
Ann D. Zeigler makes it clear she’s not dispensing legal advice. But “Tips
Lawyers Wish You Knew” begins with The Basics of the US Legal System, some housekeeping about paperwork and follows up with courtroom etiquette.
But here’s where I started highlighting:
Which Courthouse?
A State Court is Not a Federal Court
Special Courts
Memos (From the Judge, From Clerk of the Court, From the Prosecutor)
Legalese Translated
How a Civil Lawsuit Really Works/How a Civil Trial Really Works
You’re a Witness—Now What?
Jury Summons – Now What?
Sorting Things Out After Death—Now What?
You’re in Very Deep Financial Trouble – Now What?
Don’t Try this at Home – When You Really Need an Expert (Alias Lawyer)
Resources (GALORE) Blog Editor added GALORE.
As I said you can thank me later. Now a couple of questions for my blog guest. Ann, sorry to steamroll over your blog date, but why the heck did you write this book, and where have you been all my life?
Second, if there’s an addendum to this book, how about How a Criminal Trial Really Works? – (in any case, civil or criminal, believe what you see on TV at your own peril).
You’ve written a goldmine, my friend.
Ann D. Zeigler wrote:
This is a wonderful “bulldozer” of a review–thanks!
Of course, Tips is not for the reader who knows for sure she will never be a witness or juror, never have to be on the clean-up crew when a relative dies, never lose money when a business or individual gets into financial disaster, never get sued by the neighborhood crank… never have an actual life. For everyone who does live in the real world, here’s help.
As for a follow-up book on criminal procedure, I defer completely to my lawyer/author colleague Leslie Budewitz. She won an Agatha for “Books, Crooks and Counselors,” her excellent book on criminal procedure for writers. It is still a go-to for anyone writing about the legal-system side of crime. I would love for Tips to find a spot next to it on the writer’s reference shelf.
My other nonfiction book has the regrettably ponderous title “Preserving Electronic Evidence for Trial: A Team Approach to the Litigation Hold, Data Collection, and Evidence Preservation.” (Thank you, Elsevier Syngress, my international publishers.) It’s technically about how lawyers and forensic IT folks work in tandem to find and save digital evidence (which these days is essentially all evidence). The book is actually a selection of my favorite court cases about people doing criminally stupid things while attempting to destroy or tamper with evidence. Need an idea for a character trying to tamper with evidence? Read this for all the many ways that didn’t work. And of course, just a reminder that evidence-tampering is a felony all by itself.
Rollick on, sister!
Ann D. Zeigler
About Author Ann D. Zeigler:
A veteran attorney takes readers on a tour through America’s legal labyrinth. Ann D. Zeigler’s book Preserving Electronic Evidence for Trial, written with the late computer forensics expert Ernesto Rojas, was named 2016 Best Business Book by the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards.
Zeigler holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana Writers Workshop, with the libretto a professionally performed science fiction opera as her MFA thesis. She is a graduate of the University of Houston College of Law, and the Houston Police Dept. and FBI (Houston) Citizens’ Academies. She practiced federal law in Houston for more than thirty years and was a citizen volunteer at Houston PD’s juvenile sex crimes unit for five years.
Zeigler has written extensively on legal topics and held various editorial positions on The Houston Lawyer magazine and was editor in chief in 2009-2010. She received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 from Marquis Who’s Who, after being listed in its highly competitive contemporary international biographies series annually for more than 25 years.
Zeigler is a longtime member of international mystery writers’ organizations Sisters in Crime (SinC) and Mystery Writers of America (MWA), which includes Croak & Dagger/Rocky Mountain MWA. In addition to numerous chairs and committee positions, she is the chief perpetrator of the ongoing Croak & Dagger Great Library Adventure, showcasing C&D authors at libraries throughout New Mexico and southern Colorado.
Ann is an active member of the New Mexico Book Co-op and a judge for the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. She enjoys the outdoors when she occasionally gets to go there.
You can find “Tips Lawyers Wish You Knew: Going It Alone at the Courthouse” on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Rio Grande Books (with a signed bookmark for the paper edition) and through BookShop.org/Treasure House Books.
Ann, sounds like you’ve laid out great tips for baby lawyers as well as those who represent themselves! Good job — and thanks for the shout-out.
So proud of you and your book reviews and endorsements, Ann! Sounds like this one needs to be on my shelf!
I’ve worked within the criminal justice system for twenty-two years and know first-hand how confusing the court system is to all but the initiated. This appears to be a great resource for the times my writing wanders away from the criminal courts and ventures into the civil realm.
Thank you, Ann and Donnell!
This book sounds so interesting. I’m overwhelmed going to jury duty. vb
Ann, thank you for being my guest today. I already own Books, Crooks & Counselors. Now I have Tips Lawyers Wish You Knew. I’m off on a hunting trip to find “Preserving Electronic Evidence for Trial: A Team Approach to the Litigation Hold, Data Collection, and Evidence Preservation.” Particularly if it references actual court cases. My upcoming book deals with hacking, and I think this is one of the scourges of today’s society. Waving hello to all today’s commenters.
I’ve been giving away Ann’s book as gifts. I would probably snort and giggle at anyone who believes they don’t need this information cluttering up brain space. You never know when you’ll get that invite. I wasted a school-year in mediation and then federal court as an expert witness over a high-school student who brought a loaded gun on campus. The judge delightfully chewed out the Civil Liberties Union attorney. Years later I helped put two meth-heads in prison who organized a gang of thieves in and around Mountainair and Estancia, NM. Spent countless hours in court on that one. They’d stripped the copper wire out of some homes in our rural neighborhood and took anything they could grab. Ann’s book would have been a treasure for me back then. It’s well written, easy to read, and even makes you laugh!
Charlene, wow, what an adventure and loads of material to add to your writing. I agree I’m a former court reporter and I could have used this information in the classroom portion instead of learning from transcripts and osmosis. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said it should be included in civics class.
Thanks! Off to grab a copy.
Thanks for stopping by Kassandra. So much in that small book!
Will be checking out these resources. Thanks, Ann and Donnell!
Thanks for this post, Donnell and Ann. I’m a law enforcement veteran and author. I often felt like I needed an interpreter for the justice system. This book will help me portray it accurately in my mystery novels.
Thanks for your kind comments and stories, friends. The scariest moment in a trial lawyer’s life is the moment the opposing party shows up, without a lawyer, but carrying two shopping bags full of loose papers, which are then dumped all over the counsel table. On several occasions I have been sent to the coffee shop with a random visitor, and the judge’s order to explain to the civilian how things work. I’m here to tell you that an after-work Tanqueray & tonic, extra lime (just one!) is an excellent way to get one’s head back on our planet after a day like that.
Ann, I can’t even imagine. I will say, my husband has jury duty for the entire month of September and he’s reading your book. I’m thinking one or both parties will exercise their peremptory challenges and he’ll be home after day one) or he’ll be selected and his fellow jurors will make him foreman. 🙂
Donnell, I’m afraid your husband has doomed himself if he isn’t challenged, when the other jurors find out he actually knows how that process is supposed to work. Ignore the dramatics by the lawyers? Only the actual evidence–witnesses and documents? Really?? I hope he’ll have a good story for you when he comes home. Keep us posted!!
BTW blog readers, just a reminder that every author who visits Donnell appreciates seeing a short form of your comments on Amazon, because when we’re not writing we’re muttering under our breaths about marketing.