The Destruction of Young Lawyers
The Destruction of Young Lawyers

Author: Douglas E. Litowitz

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781931968263

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Young lawyers are morosely unhappy by every conceivable standard. They arrive at our law schools brimming with enthusiasm, but a decade later they are reporting staggering levels of anxiety, drug addiction, and depression. In legal circles there is talk about a "crisis of professionalism" and a "decline in civility," but the problem goes much deeper. Through ignorance and greed, the legal profession has designed a complicated system of education, licensing, and practice that drives young lawyers into fear, alienation, and self-hatred. The author of this book--a law professor and practicing attorney--argues that young lawyers face a series of institutional absurdities built into the fabric of law school, the bar exam, and law firm practice. The current system is churning out a tidal wave of disaffected and bitter lawyers who see the legal system as a Byzantine maze, an endless artificial game totally disconnected from considerations of justice. Beyond One L shows how these struggles can be reversed through massive structural change and is the first step toward diagnosis and treatment of the specific problems facing young lawyers.

Opening Arguments
Opening Arguments

Author: Jeffrey Toobin

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2017-11-14

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 0525434453

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In January of 1987 Jeffrey Toobin is fresh out of Harvard Law School, and appointed the youngest lawyer on Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's team to investigate and try the leading figure in the Iran-Contra affair--Oliver North. For twenty-eight thrilling months, Toobin served on Walsh's staff and came of age into his profession. Toobin's first book and immersive account of that period is the story of a young man's awakening to the realities of law and a policial, legal and moral drama on a grand stage. Through this defining case of the 1980s--which featured obstruction of justice, diversion of funds, and personal corruption--Opening Arguments shows the judicial process at work. The Congressional Iran-Contra committees granted the key figures of the trial immunity, so Toobin and his colleagues had to work in the dark, without accesss to newspapers or television for weeks at a time. The Reagan Justice Department provided difficulties too. On page after page, Toobin illuminates these battles against long odds, portraying the climactic North trial itself with the eye of a novelist. Like a morality tale with few losers and no real winners, Bill Moyers calls Opening Arguments "a valuable account of how politics and law entwined in the Iran-Contra trials... Reading it can be a citizen's education, too."

Beach Lawyer
Beach Lawyer

Author: Avery Duff

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781503943926

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An Amazon Charts Most Read and Most Sold book. After five grueling years, Robert Worth is just days away from making partner at a powerful Santa Monica law firm. When a client confides in him that senior partner Jack Pierce sexually assaulted her, Robert breaks two of his mentor's cardinal rules: Never let yourself get emotional about clients. And never make an enemy of Jack Pierce. Robert crosses Pierce and is fired on the spot, losing not only his job but also his reputation. Advised to go quietly, Robert vows revenge against the ruthless man who betrayed him. But his investigation uncovers a twisted shadow world of sex, infidelity, and deception, where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted. Only one thing is clear: Pierce will go the limit to keep his secrets. This straight shooter will need to use every angle if he hopes to win. But could victory come at too high a price?

Kafka's Indictment of Modern Law
Kafka's Indictment of Modern Law

Author: Douglas E. Litowitz

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2017-08-11

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 0700624732

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The legal system is often denounced as "Kafkaesque"—but what does this really mean? This is the question Douglas E. Litowitz tackles in his critical reading of Franz Kafka's writings about the law. Going far beyond Kafka's most familiar works—such as The Trial—Litowitz assembles a broad array of works that he refers to as "Kafka's legal fiction"—consisting of published and unpublished works that deal squarely with the law, as well as those that touch upon it indirectly, as in political, administrative, and quasi-judicial procedures. Cataloguing, explaining, and critiquing this body of work, Litowitz brings to bear all those aspects of Kafka's life that were connected to law—his legal education, his career as a lawyer, his drawings, and his personal interactions with the legal system. A close study of Kafka's legal writings reveals that Kafka held a consistent position about modern legal systems, characterized by a crippling nihilism. Modern legal systems, in Kafka's view, consistently fail to make good on their stated pretensions—in fact often accomplish the opposite of what they promise. This indictment, as Litowitz demonstrates, is not confined to the legal system of Kafka's day, but applies just as surely to our own. A short, clear, comprehensive introduction to Kafka's legal writings and thought, Kafka's Indictment of Modern Law is not uncritical. Even as he clarifies Kafka's experience of and ideas about the law, Litowitz offers an informed perspective on the limitations of these views. His book affords rare insight into a key aspect of Kafka's work, and into the connection between the writing, the writer, and the legal world.

Criminal That I Am
Criminal That I Am

Author: Jennifer Ridha

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2015-05-12

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1476785740

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“A gripping read, as fascinating as it is shocking” (New York Journal of Books) by a young lawyer who becomes romantically entangled with convicted drug felon Cameron Douglas—a page-turning journey through professional self-destruction and tabloid scandal to redemption. Criminal That I Am is a defense attorney’s account of the criminal justice system as seen through the prism of a particular case: her own. Jennifer Ridha was enlisted to serve as counsel to Cameron Douglas, the troubled but earnest son of film actor Michael Douglas, in a federal drug trafficking case. As media scrutiny and the pressures of Cameron’s case mount and as Jennifer becomes increasingly transfixed by her charismatic but troubled client, he asks her to do the unthinkable: commit a crime. In a decision inexplicable even to herself, guided only by her indignation and infatuation, she agrees. When her transgression is discovered, her criminal case begins, and her life as she knows it is over. Criminal That I Am, “an unflinching account...a juicy narrative that serves as a vehicle for reflecting on criminal behavior and the human inclination to transgress.” (Publishers Weekly), details Jennifer’s redemptive journey, beginning with her decision to commit a crime on behalf of a man she loved to the calamitous yet ultimately transformative consequences that came after. Recounted with brutal introspection and self-deprecating humor, this strange and twisted love story contemplates what we make of crime and punishment...and what it makes of us.

Journal of Moral Theology, Volume 4, Number 2
Journal of Moral Theology, Volume 4, Number 2

Author: David M. McCarthy

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2015-08-26

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1608991504

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Love, Redemption, Vocation, and the Church Volume 4, Number 2, June 2015 Edited by David M. McCarthy Roman Catholic Teaching on International Debt: Toward a New Methodology for Catholic Social Ethics and Moral Theology M. Therese Lysaught Narrative, Social Identity and Practical Reason: On Charles Taylor and Moral Theology Mark Ryan Hobbes Contra Bellarmine Matthew Rose Grace Is the Emotion of the Love of God Edward Collins Vacek No Woe to You Lawyers: A Virtue Ethics Approach To Happiness Within the Legal Profession John J. Fitzgerald Dignity and the Body: Reclaiming What Autonomy Ignores Joel J. Shuman and Brian Volck More Than Self-Gift and Sex: The Role of Receptivity in Catholic Marital Ethics Robert Ryan Review Essay on Catholic Higher Education: After Ex corde Ecclesiae Jason King

The Trouble with Lawyers
The Trouble with Lawyers

Author: Deborah L. Rhode

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-05-01

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0190217235

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By any measure, the law as a profession is in serious trouble. Americans' trust in lawyers is at a low, and many members of the profession wish they had chosen a different path. Law schools, with their endlessly rising tuitions, are churning out too many graduates for the jobs available. Yet despite the glut of lawyers, the United States ranks 67th (tied with Uganda) of 97 countries in access to justice and affordability of legal services. The upper echelons of the legal establishment remain heavily white and male. Most problematic of all, the professional organizations that could help remedy these concerns instead jealously protect their prerogatives, stifling necessary innovation and failing to hold practitioners accountable. Deborah Rhode's The Trouble with Lawyers is a comprehensive account of the challenges facing the American bar. She examines how the problems have affected (and originated within) law schools, firms, and governance institutions like bar associations; the impact on the justice system and access to lawyers for the poor; and the profession's underlying difficulties with diversity. She uncovers the structural problems, from the tyranny of law school rankings and billable hours to the lack of accountability and innovation built into legal governance-all of which do a disservice to lawyers, their clients, and the public. The Trouble with Lawyers is a clear call to fix a profession that has gone badly off the rails, and a source of innovative responses.

Client Earth
Client Earth

Author: James Thornton

Publisher: Scribe Publications

Published: 2017-05-11

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1925307999

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Environmentally, our planet lacks the laws to keep it safe and those laws we do have are feebly enforced. Every new year is the hottest in human history, while forest, reef, ice, tundra, and species are disappearing forever. It is easy to lose all hope. Who will stop the planet from committing ecological suicide? The UN? Governments? Activists? Corporations? Engineers? Scientists? Whoever, environmental laws need to be enforceable and enforced. Step forward a fresh breed of passionately purposeful environmental lawyers. They provide new rules to legislatures, see that they are enforced, and keep us informed. They tackle big business to ensure money flows into cultural change, because money is the grammar of business just as science is the grammar of nature. At the head of this new legal army stands James Thornton, who takes governments to court, and wins. And his client is the Earth. With Client Earth, we travel from Poland to Ghana, from Alaska to China, to see how citizens can use public interest law to protect their planet. Foundations and philanthropists support the law group ClientEarth because they see, plainly and brightly, that the law is a force all parties recognize. Lawyers who take the Earth as their client are exceptional and inspirational. They give us back our hope. PRAISE FOR JAMES THORNTON AND MARTIN GOODMAN ‘Humanity's grace and dignity are restored each time a case is successfully brought and won … by these exceptional environmental lawyers.’ Sculpture

The Happy Lawyer
The Happy Lawyer

Author: Nancy Levit

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-07-30

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0199750831

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You get good grades in college, pay a small fortune to put yourself through law school, study hard to pass the bar exam, and finally land a high-paying job in a prestigious firm. You're happy, right? Not really. Oh, it beats laying asphalt, but after all your hard work, you expected more from your job. What gives? The Happy Lawyer examines the causes of dissatisfaction among lawyers, and then charts possible paths to happier and more fulfilling careers in law. Eschewing a one-size-fits-all approach, it shows how maximizing our chances for achieving happiness depends on understanding our own personality types, values, strengths, and interests. Covering everything from brain chemistry and the science of happiness to the workings of the modern law firm, Nancy Levit and Doug Linder provide invaluable insights for both aspiring and working lawyers. For law students, they offer surprising suggestions for selecting a law school that maximizes your long-term happiness prospects. For those about to embark on a legal career, they tell you what happiness research says about which potential jobs hold the most promise. For working lawyers, they offer a handy toolbox--a set of easily understandable steps--that can boost career happiness. Finally, for firm managers, they offer a range of approaches for remaking a firm into a more satisfying workplace. Read this book and you will know whether you are more likely to be a happy lawyer at age 30 or age 60, why you can tell a lot about a firm from looking at its walls and windows, whether a 10 percent raise or a new office with a view does more for your happiness, and whether the happiness prospects are better in large or small firms. No book can guarantee a happier career, but for lawyers of all ages and stripes, The Happy Lawyer may give you your best shot.

The Vanishing American Lawyer
The Vanishing American Lawyer

Author: Thomas D. Morgan

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0199737738

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Over 4,000 lawyers lost their positions at major American law firms in 2008 and 2009. In The Vanishing American Lawyer, Professor Thomas Morgan discusses the legal profession and the need for both law students and lawyers to adapt to the needs and expectations of clients in the future. The world needs people who understand institutions that create laws and how to access those institutions' works, but lawyers are no longer part of a profession that is uniquely qualified to advise on a broad range of distinctly legal questions. Clients will need advisors who are more specialized than many lawyers are today and who have more expertise in non-legal issues. Many of today's lawyers do not have a special ability to provide such services. While American lawyers have been hesitant to change the ways they can improve upon meeting client needs, lawyers in other countries, notably Great Britain and Australia, have been better at adapting. Law schools must also recognize the world their students will face and prepare them to operate successfully within it. Professor Morgan warns that lawyers must adapt to new client needs and expectations. The term "professional" should be applied to individuals who deserve praise for skilled and selfless efforts, but this term may lead to occupational suicide if it becomes a justification for not seeing and adapting to the world ahead.