David Berg - Böcker

In January 1941 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police learned of nine deaths in the Belcher Islands, an archipelago in southeast Hudson Bay. The fatalities reportedly occurred during an episode of intense religious fervour among the nomadic Inuit. While the RCMP ultimately charged seven Inuit with murder, none were convicted of that offence. In an era when murder demanded the death penalty and in a place that necessitated days of travel to reach, these legal proceedings illuminate the complex intersection of Inuit society and Canadian legal authority.In this compelling history David Berg examines the coordinated roles of multiple branches of government in investigating and prosecuting the alleged murders, with the trial itself – conducted in a tent – serving as the book’s central focus. Despite overwhelming evidence of murder, Berg’s extensive research demonstrates that the judge and counsel shaped the proceedings to foreclose the possibility of conviction by jury for murder. Although the judge insisted that “there is no place for sympathy here,” the record reveals a deliberate effort to avoid what all involved regarded as a legal but unjust outcome: the execution of the Inuit defendants. The result was a striking array of verdicts – one acquittal; four convictions for manslaughter; one finding of not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, a verdict not recognized in Canadian law at the time; and a declaration of unfitness to stand trial despite psychiatric evidence to the contrary.Shedding light on the conduct and reasoning at work in the Belcher Islands trial, Berg offers vital insight into the relationship between Indigenous communities and the Canadian criminal justice system at an early point in its history.Co-published with the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History

In January 1941 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police learned of nine deaths in the Belcher Islands, an archipelago in southeast Hudson Bay. The fatalities reportedly occurred during an episode of intense religious fervour among the nomadic Inuit. While the RCMP ultimately charged seven Inuit with murder, none were convicted of that offence. In an era when murder demanded the death penalty and in a place that necessitated days of travel to reach, these legal proceedings illuminate the complex intersection of Inuit society and Canadian legal authority.In this compelling history David Berg examines the coordinated roles of multiple branches of government in investigating and prosecuting the alleged murders, with the trial itself – conducted in a tent – serving as the book’s central focus. Despite overwhelming evidence of murder, Berg’s extensive research demonstrates that the judge and counsel shaped the proceedings to foreclose the possibility of conviction by jury for murder. Although the judge insisted that “there is no place for sympathy here,” the record reveals a deliberate effort to avoid what all involved regarded as a legal but unjust outcome: the execution of the Inuit defendants. The result was a striking array of verdicts – one acquittal; four convictions for manslaughter; one finding of not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, a verdict not recognized in Canadian law at the time; and a declaration of unfitness to stand trial despite psychiatric evidence to the contrary.Shedding light on the conduct and reasoning at work in the Belcher Islands trial, Berg offers vital insight into the relationship between Indigenous communities and the Canadian criminal justice system at an early point in its history.Co-published with the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History

David Berg, one of America's leading trial lawyers, knows how to win cases. And he knows how to tell a story. In the newly updated The Trial Lawyer: What It Takes To Win, Second Edition, Berg puts both skills to dazzling use in an engaging and instructive guide to winning at trial, illustrating each trial skill with excerpts from his own cases and those of trial lawyers he admires. In this edition, you will learn not only from Berg's cases but also how his close friend, the late Joe Jamail, won a $10.5 billion verdict in Pennzoil v. Texaco.Berg likes to say that the trial lawyer who will become a master of the art of trying cases, is the lawyer who asks, "How can I get better?" - a question Berg himself has never quit asking. Many of those answers will be found on these pages as Berg, who has tried virtually every kind of civil and criminal case, shares his deeply psychological and practical insights into each trial skill. This second edition is quintessential Berg - colorful, insightful, funny and instructive - and difficult to put down. It will keep you reading - and make you a better trial lawyer.