Twenty Famous Lawyers

Twenty Famous Lawyers
Author: John Hostettler
Publisher: Waterside Press
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2013-10-18
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1908162546

An entertaining diversion for lawyers and others, Twenty Famous Lawyers focuses on household names and high profile cases. Contains valuable insights into legal ways and means and looks at the challenges of advocacy, persuasion and the finest traditions of the law. With a backdrop of famous cases and personalities, Twenty Famous Lawyers is a kaleidoscope of information about the world of lawyers. To the fore are 20 individuals selected by John Hostettler as representative of those who have left their mark on legal developments. Ranging across countries, cultures and time these are people who helped raise (or in some cases lower) the law’s values and standards. From high politics to human rights to legal loopholes, manipulation, pitfalls and downright trickery, the book is also a celebration of the contribution made by lawyers to society and democracy — often by those pushing boundaries or challenging injustice or convention. The book’s ‘supporting cast’ includes such diverse personalities as Julius Caesar, Oscar Wilde, Gilbert and Sullivan, the Prince Regent and Lily Langtry. It covers trials for treason, murder, terrorism and even regicide, visiting courts from the Old Bailey to the Supreme Court of the USA to those of Ancient Rome. With chapters on: Clarence Darrow, Edward Carson, William Howe and Abraham Hummel, Matthew Hale, Marcus Cicero, Henry Brougham, John Adams, Helena Kennedy, Norman Birkett, Jeremy Bentham, Geoffrey Robertson, Abraham Lincoln, Edward Coke, Thomas Jefferson, Shami Chakrabati, James Fitzjames Stephen, Edward Marshall Hall, Gareth Peirce, Lord Denning and Cesare Beccaria.

Twenty Famous Lawyers

Twenty Famous Lawyers
Author: John Hostettler
Publisher: Waterside Press
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2013-10-18
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1904380980

An entertaining diversion for lawyers and others, Twenty Famous Lawyers focuses on household names and high profile cases. Contains valuable insights into legal ways and means and looks at the challenges of advocacy, persuasion and the finest traditions of the law. With a backdrop of famous cases and personalities, Twenty Famous Lawyers is a kaleidoscope of information about the world of lawyers. To the fore are 20 individuals selected by John Hostettler as representative of those who have left their mark on legal developments. Ranging across countries, cultures and time these are people who helped raise (or in some cases lower) the law’s values and standards. From high politics to human rights to legal loopholes, manipulation, pitfalls and downright trickery, the book is also a celebration of the contribution made by lawyers to society and democracy — often by those pushing boundaries or challenging injustice or convention. The book’s ‘supporting cast’ includes such diverse personalities as Julius Caesar, Oscar Wilde, Gilbert and Sullivan, the Prince Regent and Lily Langtry. It covers trials for treason, murder, terrorism and even regicide, visiting courts from the Old Bailey to the Supreme Court of the USA to those of Ancient Rome. With chapters on: Clarence Darrow, Edward Carson, William Howe and Abraham Hummel, Matthew Hale, Marcus Cicero, Henry Brougham, John Adams, Helena Kennedy, Norman Birkett, Jeremy Bentham, Geoffrey Robertson, Abraham Lincoln, Edward Coke, Thomas Jefferson, Shami Chakrabati, James Fitzjames Stephen, Edward Marshall Hall, Gareth Peirce, Lord Denning and Cesare Beccaria. Review: 'A wealth of anecdote, not to mention entertainment for lawyers everywhere and indeed anyone interested in the inspiring and often startling and controversial history of the law': Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers. From the Text: [Henry Brougham] first made a name... as a lawyer by his defence of the brothers John Hunt and John Leigh Hunt in two prosecutions for seditious libel in their newspaper, The Examiner. The first trial, on 22 January 1811, arose from an article entitled “One Thousand Lashes!!” which attacked flogging in the army. As William Cobbett had only recently been fined and sent to prison for two years for criticising army flogging in his Political Register the verdict against Hunt could hardly be in doubt. Nevertheless, Brougham secured a brilliant acquittal [after a speech] which was remarkable for “great ability, eloquence and manliness.”

Both Sides of the Bench

Both Sides of the Bench
Author: Barrington Black
Publisher: Waterside Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2015-10-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1909976318

Barrington Black was for many years one of the UK’s best-known criminal defence lawyers and founder of a solicitor’s firm in Leeds now commemorated in the name of a practice known as Black’s. He was later a Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate and Circuit Judge in the Crown Court before becoming a Supreme Court Justice in Gibraltar. Both Sides of the Bench charts his life, legal and judicial progress and his contributions as legal expert to such programmes as BBC TV Look North and Yorkshire Television’s Calendar. Always in demand due to his reputation as a reliable defence solicitor, he was sought out by among others the serial killer Donald Neilson also known as the Black Panther as well as being involved in other high profile cases. His accounts of these and other fascinating cases from his life as a lawyer and judge form the main parts of this compelling book which also looks at his early life, political ambitions and time in the army when he was involved in Courts Martial. It also takes readers behind the scenes to show what it is like to establish and run a legal practice as it grows and develops and contains insights into the normally private and behind the scenes world of the judiciary. Written by one of the UK’s best-remembered defence lawyers, Both Sides of the Bench takes readers behind the scenes of life as a busy lawyer, judge and family man. A valuable social history due to its descriptive passages of parts of London and England and Wales the book also contains criticisms of the way criminal defence is at-risk of dilution. Review 'Filled with anecdotes and observations from a lifetime in court that will be of interest to any practising or student lawyer. There is much to learn from Mr Justice Black’s anecdotes, which are often laced with dark humour and dry wit ... The book is lined with nuggets of practical advice that any criminal lawyer will find useful'- Gibraltar Chronicle. 'An excellent set of views and opinions from a leading well-known and controversial lawyer of our time'- Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers.

Exposure

Exposure
Author: Robert Bilott
Publisher: Atria Books
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2020-07-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1501172824

“For Erin Brockovich fans, a David vs. Goliath tale with a twist” (The New York Times Book Review)—the incredible true story of the lawyer who spent two decades building a case against DuPont for its use of the hazardous chemical PFOA, uncovering the worst case of environmental contamination in history—affecting virtually every person on the planet—and the conspiracy that kept it a secret for sixty years. The story that inspired Dark Waters, the major motion picture from Focus Features starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, directed by Todd Haynes. 1998: Rob Bilott is a young lawyer specializing in helping big corporations stay on the right side of environmental laws and regulations. Then he gets a phone call from a West Virginia farmer named Earl Tennant, who is convinced the creek on his property is being poisoned by runoff from a neighboring DuPont landfill, causing his cattle and the surrounding wildlife to die in hideous ways. Earl hasn’t even been able to get a water sample tested by any state or federal regulatory agency or find a local lawyer willing to take the case. As soon as they hear the name DuPont—the area’s largest employer—they shut him down. Once Rob sees the thick, foamy water that bubbles into the creek, the gruesome effects it seems to have on livestock, and the disturbing frequency of cancer and other health problems in the area, he’s persuaded to fight against the type of corporation his firm routinely represents. After intense legal wrangling, Rob ultimately gains access to hundreds of thousands of pages of DuPont documents, some of them fifty years old, that reveal the company has been holding onto decades of studies proving the harmful effects of a chemical called PFOA, used in making Teflon. PFOA is often called a “forever chemical,” because once in the environment, it does not break down or degrade for millions of years, contaminating the planet forever. The case of one farmer soon spawns a class action suit on behalf of seventy thousand residents—and the shocking realization that virtually every person on the planet has been exposed to PFOA and carries the chemical in his or her blood. What emerges is a riveting legal drama “in the grand tradition of Jonathan Harr’s A Civil Action” (Booklist, starred review) about malice and manipulation, the failings of environmental regulation; and one lawyer’s twenty-year struggle to expose the truth about this previously unknown—and still unregulated—chemical that we all have inside us.

The Colour of Injustice

The Colour of Injustice
Author: John Hostettler
Publisher: Waterside Press
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1908162376

Based on actual (sometimes exclusive) materials, The Colour of Injustice raises questions about politics and the judiciary in post Second World War Northern Ireland. Describing parallel worlds of power and influence, this book - the first on the case - shows corruption at its most disturbing, justice at its most deficient. The case of Ian Hay Gordon involves a miscarriage of justice brought about in circumstances of privilege, patronage and the social and religious divides existing in Northern Ireland in the decades following World War II. It lifts the lid on a world in which institutions operated against a backdrop of behind-the-scenes influences and manipulation, in which nothing is what it seems due to hidden allegiances, walls of silence and a multitude of competing agendas spanning religious, sectarian and authoritarian interests. It is also a case in which despite the framing of an innocent man there was sufficient concern that he might not be guilty that a way had to be found to ensure that he did not end up on the gallows. Hence the twists, turns and manipulations of a tragic story that was to see a young and until then medically-fit RAF officer confined to a mental institution for a large part of his life. Behind this bizarre sequence of events sits the tragic death of Patricia Curran, the daughter of a High Court judge, killed in the grounds of their home (or was she murdered elsewhere?), a refusal to admit investigators to Glen House, Whiteabbey, Belfast where blood was many years later discovered beneath a carpet, delay in calling the police, private removal of the body, a knee-jerk arrest and other mysterious events surrounding a case in which no proper investigation of the crime scene or other potential suspects took place. Excerpt: "The formal processes of criminal justice and the techniques of police interrogation apart, the investigative process is revealed to have been forensically incompetent ... The identity of Patricia Curran’s killer remains unknown and, thanks to the performance of various members of the dramatis personæ in this tragedy it may ever remain so. Nonetheless, it may be possible with some accuracy to conjecture who the murderer might have been." John Hostettler is one of the UK’s leading legal biographers, having written over 20 biographies and other books on legal history. With Richard Braby he was the author of the acclaimed and highly successful Sir William Garrow: His Life, Times and Fight for Justice as reflected in the BBC TV series Garrow’s Law.

Rebels at the Bar

Rebels at the Bar
Author: Jill Norgren
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2016-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1479835528

In Rebels at the Bar, prize-winning legal historian Jill Norgren recounts the life stories of a small group of nineteenth century women who were among the first female attorneys in the United States. Beginning in the late 1860s, these determined rebels pursued the radical ambition of entering the then all-male profession of law. They were motivated by a love of learning. They believed in fair play and equal opportunity. They desired recognition as professionals and the ability to earn a good living. Rebels at the Bar expands our understanding of both women's rights and the history of the legal profession in the nineteenth century. It focuses on the female renegades who trained in law and then, like men, fought considerable odds to create successful professional lives. In this engaging and beautifully written book, Norgren shares her subjects' faith in the art of the possible. In so doing, she ensures their place in history.

No Contest

No Contest
Author: Ralph Nader
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 461
Release: 1998-12-22
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0375752587

The legal rights of Americans are threatened as never before. In No Contest, Ralph Nader and Wesley J. Smith reveal how power lawyers--Kenneth Starr perhaps the most notorious among them--misuse and manipulate the law at the expense of fairness and equity. Nader and Smith document how corporate lawyers File baseless lawsuits Use court secrecy to their unfair advantage Engage in billing fraud Nader and Smith sound the warning that this system-wide abuse is eroding our basic legal rights, and propose a positive, commonsense vision of what should be done to reverse the corporate-inspired corruption of civil justice. Timely, incisive, and highly readable, this is a book for all citizens who believe that prompt access to justice is the backbone of democracy, and a precious right to be reclaimed.

Lawyers in Hell

Lawyers in Hell
Author: Janet Morris
Publisher:
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2011-06-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781937035020

Heaven lays down the law, and Hell gets more hellish as the greatest shared universe of all time makes its malevolent return.

Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers

Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers
Author: Jill Norgren
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2020-11-03
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1479805998

The captivating story of how a diverse group of women, including Janet Reno and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, broke the glass ceiling and changed the modern legal profession In Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers, award-winning legal historian Jill Norgren curates the oral histories of one hundred extraordinary American women lawyers who changed the profession of law. Many of these stories are being told for the first time. As adults these women were on the front lines fighting for access to law schools and good legal careers. They challenged established rules and broke the law’s glass ceiling.Norgren uses these interviews to describe the profound changes that began in the late 1960s, interweaving social and legal history with the women’s individual experiences. In 1950, when many of the subjects of this book were children, the terms of engagement were clear: only a few women would be admitted each year to American law schools and after graduation their professional opportunities would never equal those open to similarly qualified men. Harvard Law School did not even begin to admit women until 1950. At many law schools, well into the 1970s, men told female students that they were taking a place that might be better used by a male student who would have a career, not babies. In 2005 the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession initiated a national oral history project named the Women Trailblazers in the Law initiative: One hundred outstanding senior women lawyers were asked to give their personal and professional histories in interviews conducted by younger colleagues. The interviews, made available to the author, permit these women to be written into history in their words, words that evoke pain as well as celebration, humor, and somber reflection. These are women attorneys who, in courtrooms, classrooms, government agencies, and NGOs have rattled the world with insistent and successful demands to reshape their profession and their society. They are women who brought nothing short of a revolution to the profession of law.

The Lawyer Bubble

The Lawyer Bubble
Author: Steven J Harper
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2016-03-08
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0465097634

A noble profession is facing its defining moment. From law schools to the prestigious firms that represent the pinnacle of a legal career, a crisis is unfolding. News headlines tell part of the story—the growing oversupply of new lawyers, widespread career dissatisfaction, and spectacular implosions of pre-eminent law firms. Yet eager hordes of bright young people continue to step over each other as they seek jobs with high rates of depression, life-consuming hours, and little assurance of financial stability. The Great Recession has only worsened these trends, but correction is possible and, now, imperative. In The Lawyer Bubble, Steven J. Harper reveals how a culture of short-term thinking has blinded some of the nation’s finest minds to the long-run implications of their actions. Law school deans have ceded independent judgment to flawed U.S. News & World Report rankings criteria in the quest to maximize immediate results. Senior partners in the nation’s large law firms have focused on current profits to enhance American Lawyer rankings and individual wealth at great cost to their institutions. Yet, wiser decisions—being honest about the legal job market, revisiting the financial incentives currently driving bad behavior, eliminating the billable hour model, and more—can take the profession to a better place. A devastating indictment of the greed, shortsightedness, and dishonesty that now permeate the legal profession, this insider account is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how things went so wrong and how the profession can right itself once again.