Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-322) and index.

Chapter 1: THE GOOD LAWYER IS EMPATHETIC -- Feeling Clients' Pain on Thunderhead Ranch -- The Importance of Being Empathetic -- Using Empathy to Tell Better Stories -- The Origins and Science of Empathy -- Can Lawyers Learn to Be More Empathetic? -- The Challenge of Developing Empathy in Law Schools -- Is More Empathy Always Better? -- The Empathy Debate -- Do We Want Judges to Be Empathetic? -- Empathy and Moral Action -- Chapter 2: THE GOOD LAWYER IS COURAGEOUS -- A Profile in Courage -- Physical Courage -- Moral Courage -- Psychological Courage -- Can We Learn Courage? -- Courage in Law Schools -- Codes and Courage: Two Stories -- Courage and Justice -- Chapter 3: THE GOOD LAWYER PURSUES JUSTICE WITH INTEGRITY -- A Framed Corduroy Jacket -- Seeking Justice for People -- Chattanooga Revisited: One Lawyer's Sense of Justice -- Is the Pursuit of Justice Nothing More Than Helping Your Clients? -- 'Big Picture' Justice -- When It Is Your Job to Do Justice -- The Evolutionary Roots of Our Passion for Justice -- Emotions, Reason, and Our Sense of Justice -- Pursuing Justice, But with Integrity -- The Importance of Honesty -- Can Lawyers Be Honest All the Time? -- Honesty in the Practice -- 'Let Justice Be Done Though the Heavens May Fall' -- Pursuing Justice with Passion -- Chapter 4: THE GOOD LAWYER VALUES OTHERS IN THE LEGAL COMMUNITY -- A Humble (But Very Famous) Attorney -- Remembering What Matters -- The Power of Humility: One Lawyer's Approach to Negotiations -- Mellow Beats Bellow -- What to Do About Incivility -- The Idea of Political Fraternity -- Our Political Differences: Whose Side Are You On? -- Can Liberals and Conservatives Be Friends? -- Roots of Our Political Differences -- The Six Foundations for Moral Judgments -- 'Follow the Sacredness' and Seek Diversity -- Chapter 5: THE GOOD LAWYER USES BOTH INTUTION AND DELIBERATIVE THINKING -- The Medical Instrument That Wasn't -- Expert Intuition Is Simply Good Pattern Recognition -- The Costs and Benefits of Intuition -- Confirmation Bias -- Mental Blind Spots -- All We See Is All There Is -- Anchoring -- Too Narrow Framing -- Negative Implicit Attitudes -- It's Hard to Keep an Open Mind.

Chapter 6: THE GOOD LAWYER THINKS REALISTICALLY -- ABOUT THE FUTURE -- What Research Reveals About the Predictive Abilities of Lawyers -- We Want to Believe the World Is More Predictable Than It Is -- Here Come the Computers -- Being Smart About Probability -- Decision Trees, Game Theory and the Hope of a Better Settlement Process -- Imagining the Future (An Amazing Human Trick) -- The Future Is Hard to See -- Promise Keeping -- A Balance Between Knowing and Doubting -- Chapter 7: THE GOOD LAWYER SERVES THE TRUE INTERESTS OF CLIENTS -- A Story of a Wise Lawyer -- Being Clear About Aims -- Advocates and Counselors -- The Four Possible Aims of Lawyers -- What's Wrong with 'Winning Is Everything"? -- Lawyers as Hired Guns: What's Wrong With Maximizing Client Autonomy? -- Guru Lawyers: What's Wrong with Simply Doing Right as the Lawyer Sees It? -- Lawyers as Friends: Aiming for Client Goodness -- Establishing Trust -- Involving the Client in the Process -- Categorizing and Framing the Issues -- Identifying and Serving the Client's True Interests -- Thinking Like a Judge, Not a Lawyer -- Chapter 8: THE GOOD LAWYER HAS AMPLE WILLPOWER -- One Persistent Lawyer -- Willpower in a Stress-Filled Profession -- The Importance of Willpower -- Mindsets and Willpower -- Willpower Lessons -- Our Finite Supply of Willpower -- Can Willpower Be Strengthened? -- Emotional Traps that Drain Willpower and Harm Decision-Making -- Making the Future Bigger -- Chapter 9: THE GOOD LAWYER IS PERSUASIVE -- Being Honest and Courageous -- Being Empathetic -- Appealing to Moral Intuitions -- Using Words and Sounds That Stick -- Anchoring and Framing -- Respecting Opponents and Making Strategic Concessions -- Preparing Thoroughly -- Chapter 10: SEEKING QUALITY -- The Trajectory of Careers -- The Nature of Practice and What It Means for Quality -- Creating Environments Where Good Lawyers Can Flourish -- The Scourge of Billable Hours -- What a Good Lawyer Does -- Finding Work that Fits Your Strengths -- If You Are a Good Lawyer, Who Will Know? -- At Career's End: Remembrance of Things Past.

"Doug Linder and Nancy Levit combine evidence from the latest social science research with numerous engaging accounts of able attorneys at work to explain just what makes a good lawyer -- courage, empathy, integrity, realism, a strong sense of justice, clarity of purpose, and an ability to transcend emotionalism"-- Provided by publisher.