Before Dallas trial lawyer Tom Melsheimer and Judge Craig Smith co-authored a new book on jury trials, they definitively decided what they didn’t want the book to be.

The longtime friends didn’t want “On the Jury Trial: Principles and Practices for Effective Advocacy” to be a comprehensive trial manual, said Melsheimer, noting that there are plenty like that on the market. They also didn’t want it to be a bunch of war stories from old trial lawyers, he said.