5 comments about In Contempt.

1. A nice book about the O.J. Simpson case. I liked how Darden relays his own story of race with the murder case. Clearly, Darden has evolved over the years and became someone to look up to.
   
   Darden tells it like it is with how the Dream Team uses the race card. Up against insurmountable evidence that their client did it, they attack the DA's case by showing there was a rascist cop and a incompetent technician. The jury itself is itching to come to the same conclusion due to the Rodney King beatings.
   
   This is a nice tale on how the justice system is not always right. Two people were murdered and there was little justice.



2. In this well written book, Darden gives readers a behind the scene look at what happened at the trial. He tells readers how racism was injected into the trial by the defense team, gives his account of the infamous glove demonstration, and reveals the stress he was under being the focus of the Dream Team's wrath. He does not hold back frank opinions about Judge Ito, the Dream Team, fellow prosecutors, Furhman etc. The book is a very interesting read that provides important context to the most famous trial of the 20th century.



3. Truth is stranger than fiction! This would be a great fictitious story, only one small problem, it's real. lf you came from another planet or were under a rock for the past l4 years, you would think that Darden has an incredible imagination. But he lived it. 0f course this was his side of the story, l'm sure the dream team's version is much different. But hats off to Christopher Darden. And BABAB0OEY to y'all!



4. A very well written book about Christopher Darden's childhood, working as an adult in L.A. and "trying" to prosecute O.J. ! I did not want to read anything about O.J. - but glad I went ahead and read this book. I would highly recommend it. Loved every aspect of the book.



5. First off, Jess Walters is a wonderful writer. Very powerful writing.
   
   After reading the book, I have the upmost respect for Darden and his fight for justice. Although he could not achieve justice for Nicole Brown, I admire him for his heart.
   
   This is an easy book to read. Getting an insider look through the eyes of Darden is well worth your time. It inspires emotion and inspiration.

5 comments about Lawyer: My Trials and Jubilations.

1. I found Joe's book entertaining and easy to read. His passion for his clients and job is a trait not held by most in the law profession.



2. Mr. Jamail's book is terrific. Yes he's a little full of himself but his results are real and he has accomplished a lot in his legal career. He's also had a few major financial scores that have put him in a very unique class of lawyer. This is a fun book with many stories about individual cases that made an impression on Joe and thus inspired him to fight for his client.



3. Law students who have just taken a course in professional repsonsibility may characterize Joe Jamail as a bad man, as unscrupulouas, as a jerk. That is probably true. But, argumentum ad hominem. Just because the man is bad, his work may not be. The facts are that Jamail is one of the most successful American lawyers of all time; that he fights a tremendous fight for his clients. Read this book for what it is, an account of an outstanding lawyer and his interesting cases; not as an intro to legal ethics.



4. I received this book (a signed copy) free from my law school upon graduation (within a year of publication). I suppose Joe had a few thousand lying around that he couldn't sell. I keep it in the bathroom in case my wife forgets to refill the toilet paper.
   
   All kidding aside, it's amusing and anecdotal, but he's largely full of himself, as would be expected from a billionaire lawyer's autobiography.



5. Having been in law practice for just over 15 years, I've always sought inspiration from my older, more experienced and [much more] wizened colleagues. I've often found such inspiration in the example of well known trial lawyers who seem "larger than life."
   I don't really compare myself to any of these great legal lions. However, I do draw from their gutsy manner and styles, their talent and inspiration. Joe Jamail is one fine example of a great trial lawyer -- whose enormous success almost speaks for itself. I for one am quite willing to overlook any personal flaws or quirks among such great colleagues, in favor of learning the wisdom of their experience and trememdous success.

No comments about Waves of Recovery: The Life of an Advocate of Latino Civil Rights.

5 comments about A Lawyer's Life.

1. Great reading; in depth information from a perspective other than the media of true life events as told by an intelligent, compassionate individual that was truly interested in the well-being of all mankind.



2. I thought the readings from chapters 1 through 9 were great. I mean Johnnie Cochran took the reader through cases familiar, and unfamiliar. In detail how some police are just terrible, how the system has bias in who will be the victim. But, the last chapter 10. Oh MY! If you dont read the book, just read chapter 10 it'll make you rethink alot of things. Its powerful-Johnnie goes on stating how the system has failed so many, how corporations get away with discrimination. His life and what its like to be a lawyer. Its just great. Read the book, and if you dont do that. Just read the last chapter, number 10 its worth it.



3. I think it's always good when a storyteller can take us inside the courts and tell us what happens there. And according to this book's author, every lawyer is a storyteller. I believe him.
   
   A LAWYER'S LIFE was written by Johnnie Cochran. I've never seen the man. Not in person, not on TV, nowhere. Are you shocked? I was very careful to avoid all press coverage of the OJ trial, simply because anything that heavily covered should be avoided.
   
   The book's a compelling read, and OJ only gets a few pages. A good proofreader wouldn't hurt, and someone really needed to clean up the repetition. But I'm only nitpicking here.
   
   No hate mail, please. Reading a book like this is about hearing the author's side, understanding it, thinking about the issues, and reaching your own verdict, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I'd bet you can find this one in your local library by now. Pick it up, start reading, and see what happens.



4. This book is a must read for African American lawyers or if you are considering a degree in either law enforcement or any other legal profession. Cochran is candid and tells the facts. It is a real eye opener about the US legal system.



5. Cochran, the cool crusader
   Brian Gilmore
   
   A LAWYER'S LIFE
   
   By Johnnie Cochran with David Fisher
   
   St. Martin's. $25.95.
   
   It was on that fateful day approximately eight years ago, when Los Angeles attorney Johnnie Cochran agreed to represent O.J. Simpson in his trial for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman, that the modern era of the African-American attorney began. The public's perception of black attorneys in the United States was forever changed by Cochran's demonstration, to millions worldwide, that a black lawyer could be cool and competent in the courtroom. Of course, black attorneys, male and female, have always been capable, but Cochran, with the generous assistance of Court TV and countless other media outlets, made the case to the American public.
   
   Cochran has loomed even larger since then, so it is no accident that we are now offered his second memoir since the end of the Simpson trial. Much more opinionated than Journey to Justice, the new book, A Lawyer's Life, is akin to memoirs by so-called legends of the law, such as Conrad Lynn's There Is a Fountain and William Kunstler's My Life as a Radical Lawyer, even though Cochran is a bit different from those famous crusaders for justice. He believes in justice, too, and pursues it. But he also likes to dress immaculately and says so. He isn't afraid to say that he enjoys being paid for his talents, either. And he isn't afraid of the bright lights of the media.
   
   This book could have been called Johnnie Cochran: My Struggle Against Police Misconduct. That's because Cochran exposes in meticulous detail some of the most striking examples of police misconduct and racist behavior in California, New York and New Jersey. In A Lawyer's Life, you will meet William Anthony Leonard, 19 years old, shot to death by the police while opening a window. Leonard, according to Cochran, was baby-sitting at the time to earn extra money. The police officer who saw him opening the window saw him only as a black man and "assumed he was a burglar."
   
   There is also Phillip Johns, shot to death by the police in his bed because they had received a wrong address from an informant. And Ron Settles, a standout college football player, who was found hanging from the bars in his cell after he was arrested during a bogus traffic stop in an affluent section of Los Angeles. Settles, Cochran suggests, was one of the many victims of the infamous L.A. police choke hold that killed so many men of color over the years. And there is Leonard Deadwyler, shot to death by a Los Angeles policeman after being stopped for speeding through residential neighborhoods. Deadwyler was trying to get his pregnant wife, who was in labor, to the hospital on time. Cochran, who lost the $3-million wrongful death civil suit he brought on behalf of Deadwyler's wife, states passionately that "no case affected me more than the shooting of Leonard Deadwyler."
   
   Cochran's crusade against police misconduct and racist behavior culminated in the Simpson trial, where the naked bigotry of the LAPD was exposed in the person of Mark Furhman. Referring to the now- famous screenplay tapes as the reason he became involved in the trial, Cochran is unapologetic about his tactics. Furhman, according to Cochran, was "talking about his life as a cop. Framing people, setting up people, killing people." Cochran cannot understand why the tapes were never released to the public, considering that Furhman has become a successful author. "If people were permitted to hear these tapes," Cochran adds, "I feel confident that Furhman's career would end quite abruptly and he would be forced to crawl back into his hole, never to be heard from again."
   
   A Lawyer's Life also includes Cochran's journey to New York to work for Court TV, and the police brutality case stemming from the vicious assault on Abner Louima. Cochran made history when he broke down the "blue wall of silence" by suing the city's powerful police union. He also includes the Amadou Diallo killing, even though here he met with one of his biggest professional disappointments. Diallo's mother initially hired Cochran to handle the case for her but fired him later because he was not always immediately available.
   
   Not far away in New Jersey, Cochran represented four young black men who were racially profiled on the New Jersey Turnpike. The young men, now known as the "New Jersey Four," were pulled over and eventually sprayed with gunfire by the police during the traffic stop. The case became synonymous with racial profiling nationwide, and cost New Jersey nearly $13 million in damages.
   
   Finally, after detailing his representation of hip-hop magnate Sean "Puffy" Combs, Cochran takes time, among other things, to discuss the possible lawsuit he is contemplating with other attorneys to seek reparations for slavery. He admits he doesn't really have any answers yet. "Who are the plaintiffs?" he asks. "Who are the defendants? What remedy do we propose? Is there a statute of limitations?" These are, of course, daunting questions.
   
   Yet if you read A Lawyer's Life, you come away knowing that soon Johnnie Cochran, great-grandson of a slave, will provide answers to them all. Then, as expected, the cameras will start rolling.
   
   Brian Gilmore, a public interest attorney and the author of Jungle Nights and Soda Fountain Rags: Poem for Duke Ellington, wrote this review for the Washington Post.
   
   Copyright The Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.

5 comments about Damages.

1. This is a wonderfully written and wonderfully worthwhile look into the healthcare and legal communities...it is a book that you won't be able to put down. The characters are well presented and you will find "knowing" them will enrich your own life.



2. I'm a medical doctor embroiled in a battle to expose a corrupt insurance company engaged in racketeering. I think (and have been told) that this is a story that needs telling. There are lots of twists and turns, corporate and government cover-ups, some drama, many sympathetic characters in the form of other victims of the abuses of this company, and lots of anguish. Thousands are suffering and some committing suicide because of the actions of this company. It will take me years to get to court, if that is even possible. Except for the Internet contacts I've made and a few friends, I am working practically alone. The legal profession has all but abandoned the public and their actions in covering these crimes up with confidentiality agreements, for those who can even afford lawyers, is allowing it to continue and worsen and spread, like a cancer.



3. This is a wonderful book for anyone involved in the litigation process or anyone involved in the health care field.

   I am a structured settlement consultant who works with personal injury attorneys and some insurance companies. This is the best book I have ever seen about the process.

   I have purchased over 200 copies of the book to give to trial attorneys, claims professionals and other structured settlement professionals. All love the book. It reads like a novel.

   Don McNay...




4. Well written, a gripping story and balanced. I am teaching a course on medical malpractice at the local law school. This book is the text. It provides a frame work to discuss numerous issues and the potential impact - or more accurately non-impact - of many tort reform proposals.



5. I am a college student studying to be a medical assistant. I had to write an essay on a specific medical lawsuit for my class "Medical Law and Ethics." I have not read a nonfiction book in years, but once I started reading this book I could not put it down. It is so stimulating, exciting, and brilliant. Mr. Werth had little to work with since there was no court room drama. He did a spectacular job with the resources he had. He is indeed an intelligent writer. I wish him well.

2 comments about Black Justice in a White World: A Memoir.

1. I have known Judge Bruce Wright for 38 years and the fact that my daughter and I are included in seven pages has not influenced this review. Yet, in this book I discovered many aspects of his life that I did not know. He has been a mentor to me, but he is the kind of man I wanted as a father. He has a sharp wit, yet writes tender poetry. Being an entertainment attorney for many years, he tells wonderful stories of many jazz greats and stories of the people he had to judge. A must read for those interested in the law, jazz, many wives, poetry served up with a wicked sense of humor, and strong opinions.



2. I bought six of his books at a signing because I was familiar with his professional greatness and wanted to share what he did for our people with some of my friends. I expected the big word, and I expected the drama, but what I didn't expect was the laugh out loud humor.
   
   Judge Wright was a righteous brother, may he RIP.

No comments about Supreme Court Justices 1789 1995: Illustrated Biographies, 1789-1995.

2 comments about Architect of Justice: Felix S. Cohen and the Founding of American Legal Pluralism.

1. This is a major work of intellectual biography written by an associate professor of law at George Washington University here in Washington, D.C. The subject is a real giant in the field of American jurisprudence (and other areas as well) about whom we hear relatively little these days despite his many lasting accomplishments: Felix S. Cohen (1907-1953). I originally read this book because of Cohen's role as an important legal realist during the 1930"s (e.g., "Transcendental Nonsense and the Functional Approach"). I was pleasantly surprised to discover as I read this fine book that this was but one facet of his multi-dimensional activities and contributions.
   
   Because the book is as rich as its subject, it is impossible to touch upon many points in a short review. The key focus of the author is to discuss Cohen and the development of his concepts of pluralism, group autonomy and group power, and how Cohen saw this dimension of American political (and legal) life as a source of important empirically-based values. The book effectively sketches Cohen's early life (and his relationship to his father Morris R. Cohen, the important CCNY philosopher). There is a helpful discussion of Cohen's first book, "Ethical Systems and Legal Ideas." Out of Columbia law, and not wanting to be a full-time academic, Cohen ended up (of all places) at the Department of the Interior where he remained a number of years. He got involved in Interior's role as trustee and administrator for the American Indians. It was within this context that Cohen worked out many of his key ideas about pluralism and decentralization, and he was deeply involved in the so-called "Indian New Deal" reform efforts. He also wrote the key book on Indian law which is still used today, and worked to get Jewish refugees resettled in Alaska or the Virgin Islands. One of the strengths of the book is the author is very effective in relating how Cohen's activities (such as while at Interior) influenced and shaped the development of his thought.
   
   The author also discusses Cohen's post-Interior period in private practice where he handled a number of important Indian cases and continued to develop his efforts to develop a "conscious ethical criticism of law." He also taught law school and wrote or edited several books, including a basic jurisprudential collection with his father. One of the more interesting areas he worked in was attempting to tie the reliance upon precedent to particular values and their origins. His untimely death at 46 foreclosed what could have been amazing further contributions.
   
   It is helpful to have handy when reading this book Cohen's collected articles and reviews edited by his wife, Lucy Cohen--"The Legal Conscience." There is but one problem I encountered with the book. The author, whose research is comprehensive, devotes a good chunk of the book to Indian related themes--since this is what Cohen spent much of his time being involved with. The detail here, as with the rest of the book, is exhaustive. However, if one is not particularly interested in this topic, it can really become a challenge to keep plowing through the extensive discussion. On the other hand, this is the environment that gave rise to much of Cohen's key contributions, and it is essential to understand this context. An extremely and quite extensive bibliography is included. By any measure, a book worthy of its subject.



2. Tsuk Mitchell's remarkable achievement melds political theory, law, philosophy, and our legal treatment of Native Americans into a wonderfully rich and sensitive intellectual biography of one of the last century's leading legal thinkers who, really quite by accident, also became the creator of modern American Indian law. She skillfully and subtly integrates the deep ideas underlying Cohen's different fields of interest and achievement and his early life influences into a coherent theory of legal pluralism as she analyzes, for the first time, his experiences as a second-generation Jewish immigrant, his education at the hands of leading philosophers and law teachers, his relationship with his father who was one of America's leading philosophers, and what he learned while working at the Department of the Interior during the New Deal.
   
   This book is a terrific and enlightening read on its own. It is also, perhaps, the best account of the philosophy underlying our contemporary legal treatment of Native Americans. More than that, the book provides the reader with an alternative legal vision of communal life in an America characterized by great diversity, a vision that had real currency during the first half of the 20th century until it was eclipsed by individualism as our reigning mode of legal thought and action.
   
   The story of Cohen's striving for justice for all, his successes, and his failures, provide important original insights into the development of modern America. Anybody interested in the way American values of acceptance, tolerance, and community can be integrated into a liberal democratic society will find this book must-reading.
   
   Cohen was a man who deserved a biography, and in Tsuk Mitchell he got the biographer he deserved. The American Historical Association certainly knew what it was doing when it awarded this book its prestigious Littleton-Griswold Prize in 2007.

No comments about The Stanford Law Chronicles: Doin' Time on the Farm.

2 comments about Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice Thurgood Marshall.

1. As it says on the cover, this is as close as one will get to an autobiography of Thurgood Marshall. The author gives a fascinating insight into Marshall's life and career. Very well worth reading.



2. A captivating truly exhilirating book. Full of all kinds of fascinating details about Marshall's upbringing, his years as a litigator, and his judicial career. Truly captures the essence of a man who was irreverent, down to earth, compassionate, and fully committed to his cause. Demonstrates the numerous ways in which Marshall's achievements have made life better for all American's. More entertaining than a work of fiction. Made me want to read Rowan's other books.