Customer Reviews

Coudert Brothers: A Legacy in Law: The History of America's First International Law Firm

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Coudert Brothers, The History of America's First International Law Firm, 1853-1993, Virginia Veenswijk; Dutton (1994)

If you like prose that has been marinated in waist-deep ink, you might be able to endure or even enjoy a marathon reading of "Coudert Brothers." I dropped out of the race after the first 140 pages.

"Marinated in waist-deep ink" means that the author's verbosity was left untouched. How much the book prior to publication was improved by CB's editor, I'll never know. But I do know that if measured against the critical standards of lively & well-paced writing, CB didn't make the cut (& was pulped on October 3rd, 2010).

This is a matter of regret. I wanted this book to be a success.

Here are some of the instances when CB failed the "lively, well-paced writing" requirement (especially essential when the subjects are the law, lawyers, & law firms - all are characterized by an opposing, inherent aridity of essence).

All of the mistakes outlined below have the same effect - the reading grinds to a halt.

The reader then attempts to figure out what the author has said (the writing is unclear);

Or why he/she said it twice in the same or closely related sentences (redundancy);

Or why what was said was stated in a sentence with up to twice as many words as necessary to make the point (verbosity).

Editing Oversights:

A proofreader at the "Tiffany's of the world of law" should have noticed that "farther" & "further" cannot be used interchangeably (p. 77, 1st sentence, last paragraph; "farther" should be "further");

*****

The overuse of the word "however" by page 81 results in an undesirable "sing-song" narrative cadence (by p. 139, it's appearance vies with the number of appearances of Lady Gaga on the cover of the New York Post);

*****

"The recurring word they use to describe him is `brilliant,' & throughout his life, the characteristic that made the most immediate impression on those who knew this Coudert was always the power of his intellect" (p. 94).

I've read this six times & I still can only guess at what the author was trying to say. The first step in fixing this would be to delete the "&," constructing, instead, two sentences. That will at least keep this entry from being a dual-qualifier ("verbosity," below).

*****

"Great Britain responded by sending a warship of its own to the Bering Sea..." (p. 100). Delete "of its own." What other country would England ask to dispatch a warship?

*****

And in the category of Hedging /Explaining Everything (Tedious):

"Having Tracy affiliated with the firm, yet not a partner, seems to have been an excellent arrangement, for it strengthened the firm at the top during a few critical years without diluting its identity" (p. 132) -

Is better stated, for at least two good reasons, as:

"Having Tracy affiliated with the firm, yet not a partner, strengthened the firm's management during a few critical years without diluting its identity."

The first improvement is that the sentence is shorter (the point is made). The second is that the hedging is eliminated (an author with a discernable backbone elicits respect).

*****

CB "printed a new batch of stationery, listing not only the partners..." (p. 132). The puny effort to create an informal tone ("batch") was a botch (& is also a dual qualifier, ditto "verbosity"). Simplify: "Printed new stationery."

Redundancies:

"Just the faintest accent shadowed Frederic Rene's English; it was his...careful enunciation in English..." (p. 17). We're putting too much English on the ball.

Author: "In later life...Frederic Rene was famed for [his] exquisite courtesy...: [The quote] `The prominent feature of Mr. Coudert...was his unfailing courtesy...' " (p. 18; redundant exposition).

"Meanwhile, Louis Leonce was wrapping up his classical studies...By May, 1856, Louis Leonce (p. 26, consecutive sentences; state full name only once; employ a pronoun on the 2nd occasion of reference);

"...In which Hill freely libeled Peckham's character, the New Yorker was defeated on February 16..." And the succeeding paragraph features "Peckham was defeated on February 16..." (p. 91; redundant date of an event of secondary importance).

Verbosities:

Not included: The numerous overly-long sentences which, technically, are grammatically correct - but which also, in practice, reduce one's pace of reading to a frustrating crawl.

You would no more want this to occur than a law firm would want anything to happen that would inconvenience their clients.

"These were the decades of the great Irish exodus...one of the largest tidal waves of immigration in the history of the world" (p. 18; slim it down with a succinct "immigration in history," or run the risk of the length of the sentence running longer than the era of the exodus);

"...The venture that made Coudert Brothers an international firm - the Paris branch office of the firm that was known in France as Coudert Frerers" (p. 44; delete "the firm that was known in France as");

"Given that he had this kind of power base, in addition to his exceptional qualities as an orator & general ability" - is more effectively stated as "Given this power base, his general ability, & talent as an exceptional orator ..." (p. 79; this shortens an introductory phrase to an altogether too-long sentence, which, also, should be two sentences);

"It was a friendship based on a commonality of interests rather than true compatibility" (p. 82) can be shortened to "It was a friendship based on common interests rather than true compatibility" (the most pitiful thing to see & hear has been Al Michaels, on ABC/NBC football telecasts, endlessly auditioning for law school. Avoid sounding like him).

"To have the Coudert name spread over the columns of the gossip sheets [newspapers]..." (p. 114); revise as "To see the Coudert name in the gossip sheets..."

"The next litigating partner in order of seniority was Paul Fuller" (p. 123) is the unnecessary version of "The next senior litigating partner was Paul Fuller..."

"...Arisen from matters before the Court of Claims, the federal court in Washington D.C...." (p. 129) - try, instead: "Arisen from matters before the federal Court of Claims in Washington D.C. (this is a dual "D'Oh!" qualifier because it is also redundant; the same institution - "Court" & "court" - is referred to twice in the same sentence);

*****

The End.