Customer Reviews

Legal Briefs

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This review based on the original hardcover - 1998... Though a few years on my shelf, reading a tome of short stories - mysteries in this case, edited by well-known author William Bernhardt - the book titled: LEGAL BRIEFS, gives the avid-reader's mind a change of pace... a slow down to the senses of deep concentration into a longer story or novel.
Advantage number two is the introduction to writers one may not necessarily "pick off the shelf". The short stories in LEGAL BRIEFS introduced me William Bernhardt himself an author (short story in book is "What We're Here For" - a delightful story with a twist and a pat on the back to the attorneys in the story for their humanity.)
Sharing the spotlight are the familiar great writers Phillip M. Margolin; Richard North Patterson; and John Grisham.
An introduction to authors Grif Stockley; Jay Brandon; Michael A. Kahn; Jeremiah Healy; Philip Friedman; and Lisa Scottoline.
My favorite short story in the LEGAL BRIEFS -- "Poetic Justice" by Steve Martini, a story which has that "zing" in the end, and a "gotcha" to the culprit.

I loved almost every story in this collection, with the exception of John Grisham's "The Birthday". I especially liked "The Divorce," by Grif Stockley, "The Jailhouse Lawyer," by Phillip Margolin, and "Stairwell Justice," by Jay Brandon. I will definitely be buying books by the above-mentioned authors...writers that I would have never considered reading before I read their stories in "Legal Briefs." The nice thing about short story collections is if you're bored with one just skip it and move on to the next. Fortunately, I didn't have to do that with this book.

If you expect a lot from this book as a legal thriller, then you sure will be disappointed. However, it's a good collection of short stories written by many writers. Most stories are quite entertaining. The book gives you a glimpse into the writers' different styles and emphases.

I was somewhat disappointed in this collection, as I had not read anything by any of the authors other than Grisham, and was interested to see if there were any others whose novels I might enjoy. But although most of the stories were solid, and kept me insterested until the end, none of them had a very memorable or very satisfying conclusion. Moreover, at least two of the stories seemed to have no ending at all, rather, they just stopped. I wouldn't recommend this unless you already know that you're a fan of one or more of the authors, and even then, I would have to guess that their novels are better than what is found in this collection.

This book sounded so promising when I bought it, that I was terribly disappointed when I actually read it. Most of the stories are devoid of any substance whatsoever. I know that they are short stories, but they should be gripping and compelling just like the novels written by the same authors. They weren't. On the upside, it turned me on to several authors of solid legal thrillers like Steve Martini and Jeremiah Healy. If you buy this book, plan on using it more as a reference for future purchases than a good read immediately.

Having low vision and enjoying legal format, I purchased this. It is very slow as to the story line and a disappointment.

This book is a great read for short story lovers and legal thriller buffs. It is nice to have a respectable collection of short stories in this genre. The stories are fast reads, and are great for bus rides, lunch breaks... Some stories are more entertaining than others, but all in all this is a good compilation. Don't waste time reading author profiles and afterwards. They aren't necessary to enjoy the stories.

This is a great sampler for the legal-thriller reader wishing to branch out from Grisham. (Whose contribution, incidentally, is not up to par). The sincere characters, ranging from a gassy old man to a harried young father, add a welcome human dimension to the legal genre. Some stories, like "Roads," stray too far from courtroom drama to maintain interest, but there are enough page-turners to make "Legal Briefs" a worthy read.

Lots of good flavors all with a legal background. An excellent read for folks who like courtrooms and legal practice with a twist.

Appalling! Abyssmal! The first few stories were so bad that I found myself writing derisive comments in the margins (something I don't generally do). Some of the later stories managed to achieve mediocrity, unremarkableness. But there are no interesting insights into the legal system here, no engrossing courtroom drama, no judicial puzzlers, no treatments of the important legal issues of our time.

The most blameworthy of the stories is a ham-handed political tract, interspersed with awful *poetry* for heaven's sake. You can decide for yourself whether or not you want to be caught dead with a book that contains this:

The President had gotten to Jersey Joe.
Harvey'd been betrayed; a very low blow.
He had many years to think about ethics.
The age-old question: was it social or genetics?

Gag...