'Spinning The Law' With The Use Of Media

Kendall Coffey, former U.S. Attorney and a widely recognized legal commentator, representing Al Gore and Elian Gonzalez, to name a few, offers an engrossing exposé of the central place media spin has come to hold in the American system of justice in "Spinning the Law" Trying Cases in the Court of Public Opinion" by Kendall Coffey with a foreword by Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law School professor and author. Coffey spoke to us about his book, news-of-the-day and other current and on-going court cases.

What You Need to Know About the Book and Author:
• Kendall Coffey reveals how his legal team lost the fight to keep the young Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez in this country due to factors such as Attorney General Janet Reno’s spin on the government’s message to the American people. As part of the team representing Al Gore in Florida courts, Coffey witnessed firsthand a momentous duel between spin machines as well as the legal teams that transformed U.S. history. Providing an intriguing connection between the two cases, Coffey explains how, by alienating Miami’s Cuban community in the Elian case, the Clinton Administration may have cost Gore the Florida recount and the 2000 presidential election;

• Spinning the Law offers a fascinating read for anyone interested in legal issues, drama, media, politics and hard news. Lawyers and law students, reporters and journalism students will appreciate the instructive assessment of the media management successes and missteps in recent high-profile cases, including those of Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Scooter Libby, Rod Blagojevich, and the landmark mayoral election fraud case of Miami Mayor Joe Carollo, for which Coffey served as lead attorney; and

• Spinning the Law reveals why, just as reporters learn about law, today’s lawyers need a PR curriculum – but not just in the major media cases where winning in the court of public opinion is crucial for the rich and famous. The 21st Century blogs and Internet media swarm over cases at the local as well as the international level. Few can afford to ignore the pains and the gains of E-spinning their legal cases.

"Spinning the Law: Trying Cases in the Court of Public Opinion" is available in bookstores.