integrates work in legal theory, communication theory, social science research, and strategic planning to provide a comprehensive anaysis of the communication processes in trials. Responding to the emerging interest in alternative dispute resolution, the book situates the trial within the broadercontext of dispute resolution, calling attention to the ways in which negotiation, mediation, and arbitration interrelate with trials. This study bends traditional argumentative analyses such as the rational-world notions of adversary proceedings, presumption, burden of proof, and essential issues with contemporary ideas of narrative rationality. The volume offers the reader a practical and strategic guide to effective trial advocacy, and it provides theoretical insights into trials as socially sanctioned mechanisms of dispute resolution.