Customer Reviews

Letters to a Young Lawyer

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Caution: This book contains some strong language that will offend some. I found it no worse than what is said on television talk shows every day, if you can read lips.
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I highly recommend this book to all those who are thinking of going to law school, are attending law school, or are planning their legal careers. Professor Dershowitz (whose student I have been) tells it like it is about the many flaws in the legal system, the ways that law and personal morality come into conflict, and the flagrant abuses of power that occur.

His purpose is to prepare you for what is coming, so that you can make a good decision about where practicing or teaching law fits the balance of professional challenge and personal integrity that makes sense to and for you.

He also warns against those who give advice, noting that most describe how you can become like them . . . or repeat all of their mistakes because they have never learned from those experiences.

Law is "ethically ambiguous terrain." Then, section by section, he describes those moral ambiguities, especially as they occur in the criminal justice system. Although not everyone will agree with his advice, you will certainly see the terrain clearly. Perhaps the most interesting argument is that "the truly moral person . . . does the right thing without . . . reward or . . . punishment." In making this case, he moves to a notion of morality that is beyond religious ethics.

I could see myself again traveling down the road of disillusionment that Professor Dershowitz describes. First, we find a legal hero. What we don't realize is that this hero also has human flaws of which we will not approve. When we find out about those flaws, our sense of the idealism of the law is diminished. Then, we experience the rude shock of realizing that the process of law is about disposing of disputes, rather than creating "blind justice." Your job as a lawyer is to go to the ethical limits on behalf of your client, even if you hate the client and her or his cause. Can such a "hired gun" emerge with honor? Professor Dershowitz argues "yes" but indicates that one's personal conscious will often be left bruised in the process. If you don't want to deal with that, many areas of the law aren't for you. He tells you which ones to avoid. He also tells you to find out what's coming, rather than to whine about it when it arrives. I agree wholeheartedly with that advice.

I wish I had had this book to read as a young law student. I certainly intend to give it as a gift to young people who are thinking about or are beginning their legal studies or careers. Pay particular attention to the advice to balance what you are good at doing with what feels good to you.

What should a profession provide in the way of satisfactions, opportunities, rewards, and challenges?

Seek to be the professional whom you would like to hire for yourself!

For some reason this book caught my eye -- perhaps because I find Alan disarmingly candid on TV. I like people who are intelligent that can get straight to the heart of an issue -- Alan is one of those all too rare people. This book is a surprisingly caustic look at the American lawyers and their weaknesses and criminal and unethical behavior -- bravo! The book also provides some insight in to the weaknesses of the American legal system. This book was written before the Enron and Worldcom crisis we now find American in. I read yesterday that seven ImClone executives and a lawyer were off-loading ImClone stock a few weeks before the final government turn-down of their new ill-researched supposed-wonder drug -- this book will help you understand how the lawyer managed to be part of this shameful affair. Yes this book would be a wonderful present for a young law student -- I would go as far as to say a "must read".

Although some parts of this book contain useful advice, I am somewhat disappointed in it. First, Dershowitz too often uses this book as a sound board to express his political views about topics such as.. defense lawyers, judges, politics, etc. He comes off sounding arrogant and wastes the time of a reader who, like me, was looking for practical advice and lessons based upon his vast experience as an attorney, rather than his defense of his personal views of politics, law, and life in general. Second, this book is largely geared towards criminal law. I understand that this is what Dershowitz has spent his career practicing, but far too many chapters only apply to those who are interested in pursuing careers in criminal law. The book would be more aptly titled "Letters To A Young Criminal Lawyer." That is why I believe this book is not appropriate for everyone. There must be books written by well-known attorneys that dispense far better advice than this one.

For a Harvard law professor with extensive practical experience this book is disappointing. Mr. Dershowitz relies heavily on quotations from his previous books (sometimes quoting sections twice) and at times dispenses trivial advice. For those (like me) who have read some of his other books, Letters is repetitive and the non-repetitive portions are insubstantial. Ironically Mr. Derschowitz includes a chapter on how professors should publish without peer review and not be reluctant to get less-than-perfect writing out to the public. He followed his own advice a little too literally with this hastily drafted book. For an introduction to Dershowitz, I recommend his other books.

Candid, real world view of "the system," from a very personal place. Objections to the Dersh's political views miss the point. They are absurd really, as if New Journalism never was.

If you are in the law, here is a chance to see things through the eyes of a Seasoned, Old salt. Don't pass it up because you you may not agree with everything he says.

He does not appear to be trying to brainwash anyone.

This is one of those books that makes me wish we could grade on a 10-star scale instead of 5, because I'd really like to give it 7 out of 10 stars instead of 4 out of 5. In reality, it's probably not quite a 4, but better than a 3. I agree with the complaints below that Professor Dershowitz sometimes comes off as more grinding an axe than giving advice, but the problem isn't pervasive enough to ruin the book (it probably didn't hurt that I agreed with his attacks). I also agree with the comment that it is heavily geared towards people who want to practice criminal law as oppposed to civil litigation or transactional law. However, my suspicion is that civil litigators and transactional lawyers face many of the same ethical dillemmas that criminal lawyers face, and it's worth thinking about them no matter what kind of law you (want to) practice. Professor Dershowitz's closing chapter on why you should be good was particularly strong and may be worth picking up the book for alone. Also, even if you end up hating the book, it's a very quick read, so at least you won't have wasted a lot of time.

This tried and true essential written by Alan Dershowitz, America's renowned civil liberties lawyer and Harvard Law School Professor, is at once fascinating and informative.

The book bears the hallmark of a great teacher writing a book to "...share the insights gained..in the hope that some may benefit from my mistakes...to encourage others to learn from my successes and failures, from my correct decisions and my erroneous ones." Like a true teacher, Dershowitz is not content with just giving monologue advice. He even leaves us with his address and email to encourage interactive conversations and discussions which is indeed a privilege to us all.

Any reader will benefit from Dershowitz's great wealth of experiences, the passion of his beliefs and tried and true advice as well as exploring the fundamental question of whether a good lawyer can be a good person. This thought-provoking book is here to stay.

This is one of a series of books written by different writers aimed at mentoring a range of groups from young conservatives to golfers. The format is to talk about skills which can be of use for those starting out.

Dershowitz's book is rather pessimistic. It suggests that university courses are seldom of much use and there is no attempt to important skills such as that of advocacy. Most young lawyers have no real notion of what advocacy is about and often assume that it is about presentation and appearance. He goes on to debunk a few heroes of the legal profession by showing their clay feet. Clarence Darrow used to bribe witnesses and jurors. Oliver Wendell Holmes was a believer in eugenics and the killing of the weak and the mentally disabled.

He goes on to suggest that the system of justice in the United States is anything but, at least in criminal law. To be appointed judges have to either be elected or to attract the notice of politicians. They do this by trying to lock up as many criminals as they can rather than operating within the true meaning of the justice system and the US constitution. Prosecutors are perhaps the most important players in the system and according to Dershowitz they routinely abuse their position by failure to make proper disclosure or by concealing matters favorable to the accused. The court system refuses to properly supervise prosecutors and when they become aware of breaches they develop legal doctrines to excuse it. He thinks that the Supreme Court does not really operate as a traditional court. Generally a court is meant to hear argument and be swayed by it. He says that the Supreme Court selects from a large number of cases a few that interest it and that they make up their minds of what will happen prior to the hearing and any advocacy before it is pointless or in effect a puppet show. What he seems to be suggesting is that the Supreme Court is more of a legislative body than a judicial one.

Dershowitz's advice taken over all is that one should never assume that the system will bring about fair outcomes. To be a lawyer one has to develop toughness a sense of realism and skills to be able to work against a system which will almost automatically result in conviction. (Except maybe in civil cases. Judgments in civil cases are not likely to prevent a person ascending to a judicial position or moving forward in the system whilst a position of being pro-defendant is a sure fire career killer )

I recommend Letters to a Young Lawyer and consult it frequently. Highly recommended.

I have not read "Common Sense Rules of Advocacy for Lawyers" by Keith Evans, but I would caution potential readers to ignore its reviews. It's clear that some underground marketing is taking place as similar reviews of the book are prevalent in almost all legal advice book reviews that I've seen on Amazon. This is quite deceitful and turned me off to the extent that I will not read the book. Please be aware of this practice.

I was initially discouraged by the low rating "Letters..." received, but I've read sections of the book and feel that its current rating should be much higher. A 5 star review (from an established Amazon critic who uses many specific details and comments) is being dragged down by two duplicate anonymous single star reviews. It's a shame, and I urge those who have read the book to write reviews to balance out the malicious (and to my mind unfounded) panning this book got at the hands of a reader with an agenda.

So far, by the way, I have found the "ethical core" section excellent, and base my review on that.