Richard D. Rieke has been a student of communication and law since his doctoral work at Ohio State University in 1964. His dissertation "Rhetorical Theory in American Legal Pracice" was one of the first studies to argue for a rapprochement between legal theory and rhetorical theory in relation to the practical processes of conducting trials and appeals. Since then, as a member of the faculty at Ohio State and later the University of Utah, he has continued to study trials, appellate advocacy and appellate decision making from the perspective of rhetorical/communication theory. He is currently i...