Does anyone know of any good books for an aspiring lawyer?

what type of lawyer?

A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr- story of an environmental lawsuit
(pretty decent, they made a movie out of it i believe)

generally (and books I have not personally read)
Legal Theory (maybe so boring it will scare the 'aspiring' away)
- Ages of American Law by Grant Gilmore
- Economic Analysis of Law by Richard A. Posner
- The Nature of the Judicial Process by Benjamin N. Cardozo

real attorneys don't worry too much about legal theory, the courts and professors worry about that, attorneys find ways to use the set rules to the advantage of a client, though i guess having more background would help you form better arguments

 

The Good Black: A True Story of Race In America
- I didn't read this book since I didn't have the professor, but a lot of my friends said it is a great book.

Torts by John Diamond
-If you just want to read a collection of amazing cases regarding civil lawsuits then this is the book. The wide range of cases and amazing judicial opinions make this book great. But it is a collection of cases so you have to be interested in them.

 

Good books for a lawyer huh?

I heard about one you might be interested in - it's called

"The easiest road to Hell"

 

The US Constitution

 

What about a book about law school- One L is a great read by Scott Turow.

 

What is your purpose, exactly? Are you thinking about going to law school?

Most of the stuff you're describing is found in legal treatises and hornbooks, and frankly you wouldn't much enjoy reading any of that unless you've had at least a year of legal training (and even then you probably wouldn't enjoy it). For instance, if you want to dig into Constitutional Law, I'd recommend Chemerinsky's Constitutional Law. However, it is definitely not written for a lay person.

 

lol. I kid.

good luck. I hate lawyers.

 

That was a pretty decent book, it 'sort of' matched up with 1L year, but things have changed and every school is unique

 

http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Justice-Education-Americas-Struggle/dp/1400030617



http://www.amazon.com/Scottsboro-Tr...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222837119&sr=1-2



http://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Injus...r_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222837220&sr=1-13

 

The Life and Times of Jackie Chiles.

 

Happy Hour is for Amateurs: A Lost Decade in the World's Worst Profession

I wouldn't really worry about trying to learn anything substantive until you get to law school. The amount of time you'll spend will be disproportionate to the margin you'll be ahead.

 

This is a good one:



It's all right... it talks about what works and what doesn't, and the pains associated with migraines, and everything from Tylenol to Bayer to Aleeve to...

Oh... you meant "aspiring"... never mind... carry on...

 

Unless you go to a top 50 or with the economy top 25 law school, you're basically going to a diploma mill.

You better enjoy your time cause you will be looking at 6 figure debt not a 6 figure salary.

 

Prior to our 1L year we were asked to reread "To Kill a Mockingbird."

 

There are plenty of people at Texas Law that didn't get big firm jobs. Top 25 is no guarantee of making it big.

But not everybody wants to be a big firm lawyer. Especially right now, where billable hour expectations are climbing as fast as starting salaries are. I highly doubt that most of those big firms are going to be able to maintain 160K starting salaries in a recession.

 

That is true to a high extent, but two important factors that get overlooked are usually the alumni network of the school and its local reputation. The formula essentially goes something like this: the lower the school's ranking, the smaller percentage of the student body ends up getting OCI (on campus interview) jobs. And most of the firms jobs (specially big-medium firms) are OCI jobs.

It is actually a bit suprising how many students I have already met that are anti-firm students. I don't know if they will still have the same mentality this time next year when we have OCIs and the money offers start coming it, but a lot of people have high interests in Pro Bono work.

 

I'm not anti-firm by any means, but I have no interest in working in a big firm because of the billable hour expectations. A 2200 hour requirement basically requires 10 hour days at least one Saturday a month year-round.

 

Our Undemocratic Constitution by Sandy Levinson

You should read the Becker-Posner blog, very thorough, contemporary and well written by very reputable scholars.

 

That is the problem in the back of my mind (after all the reading of course, ). I am a bit lazy and easy going so I don't know if having to put in those crazy hours is something I am really interested in. On the other hand, my loans are going to pay themselves off. Tough situation law school puts you in. I have been hearing about a new government-backed loan repayment for non-profit lawyers that the government is (or was) trying to pass. It would essentially forgive your loan completely after a certain amount of years in non-profit work (I think it was like 7 years). That isn't so bad considering how much time and enjoyment you will actually get from doing something you want.