Foolproof: An Attorney's Guide to Oral Communications

In Foolproof, Rebecca Diaz-Bonilla offers the fruits of over a decade of experience coaching lawyers domestically and internationally. This practical guide is deliberately crafted for all lawyers-nonlitigators and litigators, in government and private practice, at law firms and in-house positions, experienced and new lawyers. Written with a small dose of history and background, the majority of this book is a personal laboratory for improving your preparation for any oral communication, achieving vocal success, enhancing body language techniques, and expressing the right emotion.

After working through the advice and exercises here, you will walk away more confident, armed with practical tools for improving. Whether you are on a phone call, in a meeting, taking a client to lunch, or lecturing in front of hundreds, there are techniques to make you a better communicator. Some are born with great skills in rhetoric. With practice, those talented few can become amazing. Others are terrified at the idea of speaking in public, and there are strategies to cope with that challenge. And then, there is everyone in between. With the tools Foolproof provides, we can all speak with confidence and compel our audience.

• Loaded with tips and exercises
• Covers oral communication skills for all aspects of practice
• Applicable for nonlitigators and litigators
• Includes self assessment and goal-setting guidelines
• Advice on the most powerful and efficient preparation techniques
• Dynamic ways to improve voice and speech pattern
• Teaches effective body language techniques in a variety of settings
• Explains the importance of emotion and how to achieve it
• Addresses specific challenges for the litigator and nonlitigator
• Insightful, practical, and user-friendly