Customer Reviews

A. LINCOLN, ESQUIRE

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Many people believe that Abraham Lincoln was just a hick lawyer. This book cites more than 60 cases and shows that Lincoln was a top notch shrewd, sophisticated lawyer. In addition, Lincoln took on all types of cases and earned a good iving. He represemterd a slave owner even though he opposed the idea of slavery. He defended people accussed of murder and he prosecuted murderers. He represented corporations and he handled many individual bad debt cases. It was particularly interesting to read about Lincoln's daily mixture of law, politics and activities in the society of his time. For the first time, this book uses newly discovered legal documents about Lincoln's practice and the author describes cases that were previously unknown. There is a large mass of references and a substantial bibliography - about 40 pages of material. If lincoln had not been elected president, there is no doubt that he would have become one of the leading lawyers in the nation. Obviously, lawyers will enjoy this book along with historians and the general public. I heartedly recommend this book.

As a physician I looked forward to reading this, but it is poorly organized, written and edited. The author bounces back and forth within a chapter. I expected a straight discourse on each case instead there was a mishmash. For example in one chapter I thought he was going to discuss two malpractice cases that Lincoln defended. Instead there is an eassay on Medical Malpractice from 1830s through the 1850s. In another chapter about a malpractice on a broken leg that was not set as the patient wanted, there is a three page discourse on all the medical literature that Lincoln COULD have used. IN the end the case was setteld, but then we never find out the particulars of the settlement, why it was settled or such.Overall a major disappointment for me.

I liked the mixture of Abraham Lincoln's law cases with his politics and activities within the society of his time. He handled all types of cases and was not a hick lawyer. I was surprised to learn that he defended slave owners despite his opposition to slavery itself. Furthermore, I learned that Lincoln handled medical malpractice and sexually-related slander cases. I highly recommend this book to historians, medical professionals and the general public. Read it and enjoy it!

In 2007 the University of Virginia Press published, to great anticipation, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 4-volume set: Legal Documents and Cases, an encylopedic, four-volume corpus of Lincoln's papers. This vast research project is based upon handwritten legal papers relating to more than 5,000 cases handled by Lincoln, including more than 400 which were argued before the Illinois Supreme Court. In addition, Lincoln appeared before a myriad of justices of the peace, circuit court judges and even the Supreme Court of the United States. While the four-volume work is beyond the means of this ardent admirer of Lincoln, this little work by Allen D. Spiegel presents the cream, as it were, of the greater underlying body of research.

Well written with verve and wit and erudition, Spiegel has succeeded brilliantly in capturing the heart of Lincoln's law practice. We have here a marvelous mix of Lincoln's staggeringly varied legal work. Lincoln's law practice included cases of arbitration, assault and battery, bad debt, bankruptcy, bastardy, besitality, breach of marriate, divorce, impeachment of an Illinois justice, insanity, land titles, libel, medical malpractice, murder, partnership dissolution, patent infringement, personal injury, property law, rape, railroad work, slander, slave ownership and wrongful dismissal. We learn from Spiegel that Lincoln not only argued at the bar, but when the eighth circuit judge was absent, Judge Abraham Lincoln sat in and presided in court.

Above all, Spiegel's book shows the fascinating "symbiotic relation" between Lincoln's law practice, his politics and society as a whole. Indeed, it is impossible to separate Lincoln the politician, candidate and President from the underlying lessons and foundation of his law practice. His political and legal careers were almost interchangeable. His philosophy of the law and his character as a legal practitioner blended to form a unifying theme of his life.

Like everything else concerning Lincoln's life, his law practice has acquired the patina of legend over the years. Mr. Spiegel's book does an excellent job of dispelling myths and presenting Lincoln as a well respected attorney with a thriving practice. The strongest part of the book are the introductory materials and the first two chapters. Lincoln is shown to be willing to argue any side of a case based on his clients' needs. In a case where two men had a monetary dispute Lincoln was hired by one man for the trial and by the other man during the appeal. Reamrks about the difficulty assessing an attorney's effectiveness based on the won-loss record are well considered.
However, later chapters seem somewhat unfocused. The author adds interesting tidbits unrelated to the topic and outside the time of Lincoln's practice. I had hoped that a ten year research project would focus more extensively on his actual practice. Still, this is a good reference for scholars and Lincoln "buffs."

A. Lincoln Esquire: A Shrewd, Sophisticated Lawyer In His Time by Allen D. Spiegel (Professor of Medicine and Community Health, State University of New York Health science Center, Brooklyn, New York) is a unique study of an often overlooked aspect of the President who saw America through the Civil War. Studying Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer, A. Lincoln Esquire focuses upon his tireless work as a dedicated litigator facing down a tremendous caseload. Exhaustively researched for ten years, filled with legal papers as primary sources and presenting more than sixty of Lincoln's cases, A. Lincoln Esquire is a truly astounding portrait of a great legal mind - whose far-reaching career in the court of law was curtailed only by the higher calling of the nation at large. A. Lincoln Esquire is a seminal, ground breaking Lincoln biography, and a highly recommended addition to academic and community library collections.