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 Statistics for Lawyers (Statistics for Social Science and Public Policy)

Statistics for Lawyers
By Michael O. Finkelstein, Bruce Levin


* Publisher: Springer
* Number Of Pages: 552
* Publication Date: 2007-04-16
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0387950079
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780387950075
* Binding: Hardcover


Book Description:

Statistics for Lawyers is designed to introduce law students, law teachers, practitioners, and judges to the basic ideas of mathematical probability and statistics as they have been applied in the law. The book consists of sections of exposition followed by real-world cases and case studies in which stastical data have played a role. The reader is asked to apply the theory to the facts, to calculate results (a hand calculator is sufficient), and to explore legal issues raised by quantitative findings. The authors' calculations and comments are given in the back of the book. The cases and case studies reflect a broad variety of legal subjects, including antidiscrimination, mass torts, taxation, school finance, identification evidence, preventive detention, handwriting disputes, voting, environmental protection, antitrust, and the death penalty. The first edition of Statistics for Lawyers, which appeared in 1990, has been used in law, statistics, and social science courses. In 1991 it was selected by the University of Michigan Law Review as one of the important law books of the year. This second edition includes many new problems reflecting current developments in the law, including a new chapter on epidemiology. Michael O. Finkelstein is a practicing lawyer in New York City. He has been a member of the adjunct faculty of Columbia University Law School since 1967, teaching Statistics for Lawyers, and has also taught at Harvard, New York University, and Yale Law Schools. He is the author of a book of essays, Quantitative Methods in Law, and numerous law review articles on the applications of statistics in law. He frequently consults and testifies in litigated matters. Bruce Levin is a professor at the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University in the Division of Biostatistics. He is the Consulting Editor for Statistics for the American Journal of Public Health, participates in clinical trials, and is the author of numerous articles on the subject of biostatistics. He has consulted and testified as an expert in many law cases involving statistical issues.


Summary: one of the best books on statistics and the law
Rating: 5

A reviewer for a statistics journal called Phil Good's "Applying Statistics in the Courtroom" the best book ever written on statistics and the law. Given the fine books by Finkelstein, by Gastwirth and the deGroot, Feinberg and Kadane book, I think that was a gross overstatement. Phil does however get away from legalese and tries to present key issues. He does a nice job.

Finkelstein is a lawyer who with Herbert Robbins helped define what statistical evidence should be. He is well educated in statistics and his first edition was a classic. This book maintains the good features of the first book and provide a nice update with modern advances particularly in genetics. It is an introductory statistics text for lawyers with little or no statistical background and it teaches them the methods utilizing legal cases as examples.

I was very much impressed with the authors' analysis of the Florida vote in the 2000 Presidential election that Finkelstein presented in a talk at the Joint Statistical Meetings in New York in August 2002. I heard the talk and discovered that this meticulous and interesting analysis is covered in the book, section 4.5.3 "Election 2000: Who won Florida?" This detail is typical of the nice interplay between statistical methodology and important legal questions. It is just one example of the gems in this book!

The chapters are 1. Descriptive Statistics, 2. How to Count, 3. Elements of Probability, 4. Some Probability Distributions, 5. Statistical Inference for Two Proportions, 6. Comparing Multiple Proportions, 7. Comparing Means, 8. Combining Evidence Across Independent Strata, 9. Sampling Issues, 10. Epidemiology, 11. Survival Analysis, 12. Nonparametric Methods, 13. Regression Methods, 14. More Complex Regression Models.

With many interesting and famous cases as examples this book is valuable to statisticians like me as well as to attorneys


Summary: A good book for statistical inference and explaining concepts.
Rating: 3

I am someone who currently teaches statistics and picked up this book after one of my professors in college recommended it to me while I was learning stats in Grad school.

This book is a good read if you plan on explaining statstics concepts to an audience. It is very light on math and at times uses statistical terms that have not been defined previously. You should attempt to read this book only if you have a already taken a course on statistics. While you might be able to get through the inital part of the book without too much of a background in stats the latter chapters will be hard to comprehend without a stats background. Some of the things that I like about the book are:
1. The numerous legal case studies
2. The probing questions that make you think about your data and the methods employed to analyze your data.
3. The inference gained from applying various statsistical methods to you data.

In the grand scheme of statistical learning where does this book fit in?
A lot statistics books use rather abstract examples to explain concepts which makes it hard to explain concepts to others. This book on the other lets you have a meaningful and intelligent discussion about concepts and your analysis. So I see this book as facilitating discourse.

It would be great if the author could add more analysis, maybe print outs from software packages, access to the data used, to the book.


Summary: best law book ever
Rating: 5

Some reviewer for a statistics journal called Phil Good's "Applying Statistics in the Courtroom" the best book ever written on statistics and the law. Given the fine books by Finkelstein, by Gastwirth and the deGroot, Feinberg and Kadane book, I think that was a gross overstatement. Phil does however get away from legalese and tries to present key issues.

Finkelstein is a lawyer who with Herbert Robbins helped define what statistical evidence should be. He is well educated in statistics and his first edition was a classic. This book maintains the good features of the first book and provide a nice update with modern advances particularly in genetics. It is an introductory statistics text for lawyers with little or no statistical background and it teaches them the methods utilizing legal cases as examples.

I was very much impressed with the authors' analysis of the Florida vote in the 2000 Presidential election that Finkelstein presented in a talk at the Joint Statistical Meetings in New York in August 2002. I heard the talk and discovered that this meticulous and interesting analysis is covered in the book, section 4.5.3 "Election 2000: Who won Florida?" This detail is typical of the nice interplay between statistical methodology and important legal questions. It is just one example of the gems in this book!

The chapters are 1. Descriptive Statistics, 2. How to Count, 3. Elements of Probability, 4. Some Probability Distributions, 5. Statistical Inference for Two Proportions, 6. Comparing Multiple Proportions, 7. Comparing Means, 8. Combining Evidence Across Independent Strata, 9. Sampling Issues, 10. Epidemiology, 11. Survival Analysis, 12. Nonparametric Methods, 13. Regression Methods, 14. More Complex Regression Models.

With many interesting and famous cases as examples this book is valuable to statisticians like me as well as to attorneys.


 

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