'Winning' Ways

Even though most of life's trials and tribulations don't end up in the courtroom, Fox News Channel legal analyst Lis Wiehl says legal strategies can be used in all aspects of our lives, from getting a raise at work to getting the kids to do their homework.

The legal analyst argues her case in her new book, "Winning Every Time." She told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm, "This isn't about creating lawyers, but telling people how you can use the skills -- the tricks of the trade, basically -- that lawyers know in your day-to-day life."

So in her book, Wiehl shows the reader how to apply the following eight basic principles of law in order to win at real-life situations:

Know What You Want: The Theory of the Case: outline your premise clearly and establish your objective accordingly

Choose and Cultivate Your Audience: Voir Dire: bring your case to the person who "calls the shots" and know the perfect time and place to do so

Marshal Your Evidence: Discovery: assemble all the facts that support your cause, even information that may challenge your objective

Advocate with Confidence: Making the Case: present your opening argument and offer your evidence calmly and methodically

Counter the Claims: Cross-examination: challenge your opponent's allegations consistently, but gently, through a series of "yes or no" questions

Stay True to Your Case: Avoid the Seven Deadly Spins: keep your argument authentic by avoiding false inferences, hearsay, and subjectivity

Advocate with Heart: Let Me Tell You a Story: make your case personal with a special story that will convey your message in a memorable way

Sum It Up: The Closing Argument: deliver a fervent and succinct summation of your theory and evidence, and close the deal

Wiehl says using these principles can reduce the anxiety and fear we have in righting a wrong or even in achieving one's goals and dreams.

Read an excerpt from "Winning Every Time":

Introduction
Access to the law means access to the law's techniques—the strategies
of making your case. Winning Every Time will demystify the
jargon of the law and explain the simple truth behind its complexities
so that you can relate to the law and use it. The idea of using the
language and strategies of lawyers may seem off-putting, as it did
for me as a young person living in eastern Washington State. It may
conjure up images of stem-winding attorneys such as F. Lee Bailey,
Gerry Spence, and Johnnie Cochran, or surly prosecutors who reduce
witnesses to tears on the stand. But as we break down the
strategies that lawyers employ, we'll see what was at first intimidating
is ultimately empowering. These techniques will help us organize
our logic, compose our passions, measure our arguments, and
stay focused on our genuine goals.

I saw how effective legal strategies could be outside the courtroom
in helping ordinary people advocate for themselves in my
own home state of Washington, where I helped lead a program
called LASER—Lawyers and Students Engaged in Resolution—
in which lawyers trained middle and high school students to mediate
disputes among their peers. I watched as students employed
the skills of the law to resolve differences and conquer everyday
problems.

When two male students were at each other's throats because
one was accusing the other of "dissing" his girlfriend, we put to use
such legal practices as challenging evidence based on hearsay ("Did
you actually hear Winston dis Kyle's girlfriend, or did you just hear
about it?"); impeaching the witness ("But earlier you told me that
Winston said Kyle's girlfriend was a 'hottie' at the basketball game,
didn't you? And weren't they all there together?"); bias ("Oh, I
see—Jenna, you're Kyle's girlfriend's sister"); and motive ("Winston
was upset because Kyle got into a college that they both wanted
to go to and Winston didn't").

Teaching students the legal strategies involved in conflict resolution,
I was amazed how many fights we were able to avert. The
material LASER presented to them produced concrete, measurable
results. And I witnessed how happy and empowered they were by
putting these techniques into action.

Once you get comfortable with the concepts behind hearsay,
direct evidence, prejudicial evidence, direct and cross-examination—
all legal terms that have valuable everyday meanings—you can conquer
your fears and get the results you want and deserve. These
skills will help you access your inner advocate and bring your natural
skills of persuasion to the surface.

By introducing you to eight specific steps that seasoned litigators
use to offer up passionate arguments, cross-examine witnesses,
and win a victory from judge or jury, Winning Every Time will help
you become more powerful and successful in your everyday interpersonal
and work-related dealings. And you'll learn how to successfully
implement these eight steps in specific areas of your
life—at work and in business, as a consumer, in marriage, as a parent,
and in other personal relationships.

• • •

Step 1. Know What You Want: The Theory of the Case. We'll start
with the vital importance of beginning with a central thesis that
you can articulate clearly and that will serve to win you the verdict
you seek. Before you begin your advocacy, you need to
know exactly what your case is truly about and establish your
final objective accordingly.

Step 2. Choose and Cultivate Your Audience: Voir Dire. Just as
lawyers work hard to choose the optimal jury during voir dire
(or bring a case before the judge who would be the most sympathetic
to their client), so can you figure out how to choose
and best appeal to your "adversary," "jury," or "judge." This
step involves making sure that you bring your case to a decision
maker who really can call the shots and is open to helping you.
Even the most ardent and persuasive argument may go unheard,
and have little impact, if you're advocating to someone who can't
render you the decision you seek—or who, for one reason or another,
isn't interested in assisting you. Step 2 also often entails
choosing the right time and venue in which to make your case—
for instance, trying to convince your bank to increase your credit
line is probably more difficult right after you've bounced a
few checks or when your account is overdrawn. By thinking
through whom you're advocating and the setting in which you're
advocating, you'll be much more likely to be successful in your
pursuit.

Step 3. Marshal Your Evidence: Discovery. You'll learn, even before
you make your argument, the importance of discovery—
that is, of systematically gathering all the evidence you need.
Your argument will gain far greater effectiveness if, like a lawyer,
you assemble, evaluate, and prepare all the data you need to
make your case before launching into your opening argument,
including not only facts and information that help your cause but
also data that challenge what you're trying to argue or achieve.
Then you'll be able to ensure that your case can withstand objections
and cross-examination.

Step 4. Advocate with Confidence: Making the Case. Step 4 requires
not only a change in psychological outlook—a stance of
confidence rather than emotion—but also a commitment to the
primary methodology of the best trial lawyers: organizing and
becoming intimately familiar with all of your information before
acting on it. As you begin your opening argument and offer your
evidence, ideally you'll know just what you're going to say, how
you're going to say it, and what you'll say or do if your opponent
challenges you on any particular point.

Step 5. Counter the Claims: Cross-Examination. You'll learn, too,
how to ask a series of thoughtfully prepared and presented yes-or-
no questions designed to elicit only the information needed to
affirm your key points and arguments. There's a significant difference
between acting righteous and condescending (both of
which are to be carefully avoided) and challenging your opponent's
allegations gently but consistently through the art of
cross-examination, pointing out hearsay, and making "objections"
about the relevance of the evidence presented.

Step 6. Stay True to Your Case: Avoid the Seven Deadly Spins.
Step 6 focuses on many of the manipulative techniques that creep
into our relationships and negotiations. In the clutch you'll need
to keep your argument authentic and avoid reacting with inappropriate
emotion. You won't rely on hearsay, toss in additional
charges, or make subjective characterizations. By eliminating reliance
on these self-destructive techniques, you'll make room for
the vastly more rational, effective strategies outlined throughout
this book.

Step 7. Advocate with Heart: Let Me Tell You a Story. Step 7 focuses
on humanizing your case. A good litigator knows that juries
are persuaded not just by evidence but also by facts shaped
into a story they can connect with emotionally. Using your own
passion as a resource, you can shape your case into a story—and
make it personal. Conveying your theory of the case using a
powerful, relevant story can often help you win the heart—as
well as the verdict—of that critical decision-making person.

Step 8. Sum It Up: The Closing Argument. Just like a lawyer
speaking before a jury, once you've made your "just-the-facts"
presentation and then conveyed your core message through a
compelling story, you can clinch your case with a fervent and
succinct closing argument. In this final step you restate your theory
of the case, refer to the key evidence supporting it, remind
the decision maker of the story you've related, and ask for the
remedy you are seeking. If you know your theory of the case and
have thoughtfully presented this theory and all your supporting
evidence through the first seven steps, Step 8 will feel like a culminating
moment: Having made the best possible case, you can
now close the deal.

Will you have to use every step in every situation? No. But by becoming
familiar with the Eight Steps, you'll find yourself reflexively
using them in situations both routine and significant. Think of
the steps like a well-packed suitcase—you don't wear everything
you pack, every time, but if it rains you're sure glad you've got the
raincoat.

The goal here isn't to teach you to become a cold, calculating
legal machine who cross-examines your mother over her burned
pot roast or makes "objections" to the relevance of your supervisor's
requests. The goal is to help you get what you want (and still
have people like you!) by providing you with the law-related tools
you need to handle life's challenges, debates, and controversies rationally
—and to remain, in the heat of conflict, as clear, coolheaded,
and thoughtfully persuasive as the very best trial lawyers.

Excerpted from "Winning Every Time," by Lis Wiehl. Copyright© 2004 by Lis Wiehl. Excerpted by permission of Random House. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.