Book Review ROGER W. SHUY, LINGUISTICS IN THE COURTROOM: A OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2006. 160 PP.

PRACTICAL GUIDE .

NEW YORK:

INTRODUCTION Linguistics in the Courtroom provides a practical, step-by-step guide for beginning and established linguists who have been practicing in the field of forensic linguistic and who are interested to start their own consulting practice. At the same time, this book is really useful and helpful because more and more frequently linguists are being called upon to consult with lawyers and to testify at trials. This field which is known as forensic linguistics is growing rapidly as linguists are called upon by lawyers to analyze spoken and written language evidence in both civil and criminal cases. This book provides a step by step guide on how to be a forensic linguist. Author Shuy deals with issues of how linguists first become a forensic linguist and then represent themselves as experts, how they can start and manage the practice of consulting on law cases, how they can address important issues of professional ethics, how they can work most effectively with lawyers, useful strategies for writing reports and affidavits, and how to participate successfully in depositions, direct examinations and cross examinations at trial. At the end of chapter, it also suggests ways that linguists can use their experiences in forensic linguistics to publish books and in classroom teaching. It also concludes with suggestions of some recent helpful books that forensic linguists may need in their own personal libraries. This book also covers both American and British legal systems as this would be helpful to forensic linguist from both countries and other countries.
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REVIEWED CHAPTERS In this book there are altogether 13 chapters and the contents for each chapter are written and stated clearly. In chapter 1 of this book, it introduces the first steps of being a forensic linguist. Shuy defines forensic linguistics as a type of applied linguistics and those who are involved is actually doing linguistics in the field of law. He also provides a list which contains a tool kit that every forensic linguist needs to have, they are phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, speech acts, language variation and change, discourse analysis lexicography and lastly language assessment and testing. Linguists must be able to use these tools in order for them to qualify as an expert and preferably have the highest academic degree possible. On becoming an expert, linguists need to have a publication record in order for them be credible and this helps when they are crossexamined by attorneys who wants to challenge their expertise. It is also helpful and useful if they have a good bit of knowledge in law but this is not necessary as most attorneys want a linguist as an expert not another law expert. Next, Chapter 2 discusses about starting a practice. In this chapter, it suggests of ways to start a practice. First, by constructing a specialized Curriculum Vitae (CV), followed by advertising, volunteering services, finding an established forensic linguist to be a mentor and lastly, deciding what kind of cases to take. The linguists need to tailor made the CV to suit the audience, which is in this case the attorney. The CV should include academic standing and titles and, not forgetting records of publications and important academic presentations. It is especially

important to categorize the publications in ways that attracts the attorneys such as
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arranging the publications with easy to understand headings. The use of titles such as Identification of Word Meanings instead of semantics makes it easier for the attorneys to understand what field are the linguists expert in. In terms of advertising, Roger W. Shuy suggests that the best advertisement is to become known to lawyers instead of advertising the commercial way. Linguist should have a personal Website and have the word forensic linguistic prominent enough for the researchers to capture their attention. Another way to it is letting the department receptionist know that they are the ones who are capable in handling these types of cases if there is a call for it. Linguists can also volunteer their services to nearby legal clinics who serve low-income or handicapped citizens. This is also a good way of getting the needed experiences. Another option to try is becoming an official or unofficial assistant to a linguist who is already an expert in this field. This will provide valuable firsthand account and experiences on what is going on in the field. After having all the experiences needed, the linguists now need to decide what kind of cases to take up. First, they need to stay within their qualifications, which is not to take a case in which they are not qualified in. Next, they also need to check their own feelings on the case that they have taken up. This is because some people are comfortable working with certain types of crimes and some are not. This is all up to the individual and most importantly, they must feel comfortable when working in that case and this must be made known to the lawyers from the beginning of the case to avoid conflict.

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Next, Chapter 3 discusses the aspects of doing business. In this chapter, a detailed explanation is given on what should the linguists do when they get the call to work on a case. First, the linguists must make sure that the case is doable; they should not feel pushed when accepting the case and be sure that they are the expertise needed to handle the case. This is then followed by information exchange between both parties to how much should be charged for the case. After agreeing on the fees, all this should be written down in a brief contract of agreement and this document is then sent to the attorney. Now, the linguist is officially hired to work on the case and he / she should be objectively neutral when working on the case and not taking sides and also be willing and truthful from the beginning of the case to say if the case is hopeless. The expert should also invoice the clients on a monthly basis to avoid being stiffed that is not getting paid for the job that has been carried out by the expert. At the end of the chapter, the linguist is advised to think of future work that is deciding on which cases the expert prefer and whether should the expert incorporate or not. Chapter 4 discusses about working with attorney. This chapter deals with communication between attorney and expert and concerns on discovery of materials. Communication between the expert and the attorney is important whether its through email, telephone, fax or face-to-face because expert needs to produce and teach the attorney about the analysis that have been found from the materials of the case. Discovery of materials by the other party is also a main concern because the other party has the right to the information of the current case. The general rule is to have little or few (if any) notes or old drafts in possession on the
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day of deposition. Sometimes the expert will also receive phone calls from the opposing lawyers. Thus the expert should reply by saying he /she needs to seek permission from his/ her attorney before speaking to the person. After discussing with the attorney, Chapter 5 touches on analyzing the data. This is where the real work begins for the analyst and the attorney will send the materials that need to be analyzed. The first step is to organize the materials according to the historical order of the events; this is then followed by the linguistic analysis. Next is to test the analysis to the hypotheses. The expert should also be prepared to be attacked by the other side and should be on guard at all times to answer the other side. The expert is also expected to teach linguistics to the attorney in laymans term when presenting their analysis. The expert should also not forget the time constraints because unlike working on a research project, he/she should always be prepared for the initial date given and consider any additional time as a bonus. The next step after analyzing the data is writing the report, which can be found in Chapter 6. The expert should be wary of the form of reports needed; usually it is in a form of an affidavit or sometimes as just a normal report. Usually the attorney will advise which form is needed in the case. The expert should be careful of the amount of information included in the writing as this is sometimes able to be discovered by the other party. Thus, a lengthy conversation between attorney and the expert is expected during this time. The expert should consult the attorney on how the report should appear as different attorneys have their own ideas on how they want the report to appear. Basically, the report should be as concise as
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possible and should include the qualifications of the expert, the field of expertise and the basic conclusions found. Chapter 7 discusses the issues of being deposed. After a written report is being submitted, the expert can expect to be questioned at the trial about his/her written report. This situation only takes place in the United States but does not exist in the United Kingdom. In the deposition, the expert should prepare using LUPA technique; which consists of listening, understanding, pausing and answering. The expert should listen carefully to the questions posed, followed by understanding the question asked and if in doubt, do not feel shy to ask for a repetition of the question. Next is pausing before giving the answer, this is important because the expert must be very sure of his/her answer. When answering the question, it should be answered truthfully because the expert is under oath and never give answers that go beyond the scope of the specific question. During the deposition, things can get heated up and the opposition party will try to test the experts patience. Thus, the expert should practice treating any rudeness or sarcasm calmly. Chapter 8 deals with giving testimony in the direct examination. If an expert is required to appear in court, the court will issue a subpoena, which is a legal-looking request by one of the parties seeking the presence of the expert on a certain day. After receiving the subpoena, the expert needs to familiarize him/herself to the orientation of the courtroom in order for him/her to feel acquainted and comfortable on the day of testimony. Before the expert is able to be admitted into the courtroom, the attorney is required to present a proffer, which is an offer of proof and is done before the witness appears. Next, the expert needs to wait before being called to
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the stand and testify. During the waiting, it is best the expert witness not speak to

anyone including his own attorney instead silently reviewing the testimony in his/her own mind. When it is time to finally call the expert witness to the stand, the expert is expected to teach the jury how the analysis will assist and work for the case. The expert should be polite at all times during the direct examination and should speak the truth, and make sure that the answers are kept simple and clear. The use of charts and graphs is also useful in aiding the experts memory and also provide a clear way of seeing the analysis instead of just hearing it. Lastly, this is followed by a wrap-up question that is use to sum up all the points that the expert has said from the beginning till the end of the examination. Chapter 9 deals with the cross-examination testimony. The cross-examination begins when the direct examination is over. This can happen on the same day itself or on the following day. The expert needs to be prepared to recycle the deposition and using the LUPA (listening, understanding, pausing, and answering) techniques again in answering the difficult and sometimes misleading questions put forward by the cross-examiner. It is also common to have 10-15 minutes breaks in U.S courts. During this break, the expert is not supposed to speak to anyone including his attorney. Then, comes the time when the cross-examination ends and the expert should thank the judge. But sometimes, there is no cross-examination. During the cross-examination, the expert should also be aware of the presence of an opposing linguist and not treat him/her as a rival, thus handling things in the utmost professional manner.

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In Chapter 10, it deals with ethical issues faced by forensic linguists. It discusses about the common ethical issues and how to overcome these issues. The issues range from whether they are truly qualified to take on the case, the relationship that may develop with the clients lawyer to issues that concern about the amount of money earned and time spent consulting. Chapter 11 discusses about using the experiences to write articles and books. The expert can use the experiences and data from the case to publish articles and books. In the United States, once a case is over the data used enter into a public domain and is free to use but in the United Kingdom, they have stronger restrictions and the expert need to seek permission in writing to use the data. Thus, the expert should keep complete files of solved cases so that they will be available when the expert decides to write about them. This does not only prove to be useful or helpful to the expert but can also provide these materials to the attorneys when the need arise. Chapter 12 touches on using the experiences to teach. As the field of forensic linguistic is growing, it is best to put the experiences the expert have to good use. The examples taken from real-life situation can motivate student interests unlike texts and words from text-books which are just made-up. The experts are also able to have a cross-disciplinary relationship. They can serve as expert witnesses at mock trials at law schools involving direct and cross-examination. The field of forensic linguistic has only begun to loosen its cross-disciplinary muscle in college and university setting.

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In the last chapter of the book, Roger W. Shuy provides some useful books for the forensic linguists library. As the field of forensic linguistics is rather new field, forensic linguists should have a mini library of books related to the field of linguistics, psychology, sociology, or other disciplines. This is to equip and keep them abreast with the field of forensic linguistics.

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