Legally Speaking: 40 Powerful Presentation Principles Lawyers Need to Know.

• Position: Book Review

Atlanta attorney David J. Dempsey once dreamed of being as dynamic a speaker as his television idols Perry Mason and Ben Matlock. Television's legendary litigators fueled Dempsey's passion to become a lawyer, but he would soon find out the true trials of the profession. "I believe law school is a great place to learn how to think like a lawyer, write like a lawyer, and analyze like a lawyer; unfortunately, it's also a great place to learn how to speak like a lawyer, and this is precisely where the problem lies," says . Dempsey.

A practicing trial attorney in the Atlanta law firm of Coleman & Dempsey, LLP, Dempsey spent two years putting down on paper the lessons he has learned both in and out of the courtroom. Dempsey's book, entitled Legally Speaking: 40 Powerful Presentation Principles Lawyers Need to Know, serves as a comprehensive guide TO the world of public speaking. Having once been called "Jell-O Boy" by a juror because he visibly shook so hard during the opening statement of an important trial, Dempsey emphasizes the importance of overcoming stage fright through basic foundations of public speaking. The book stresses the necessity of...