From Publishers Weekly
In this nihilistic memoir, the author, creator of the Philadelphia Lawyer blog, addresses both the bankruptcy of the American legal system and his own predilection for substance abuse. His pseudonym, he says, refers both to the city where the author practiced and to a disparaging term for an unscrupulous lawyer. A former frat boy, the author entered law school for lack of better ideas only to find that the material bored him and his studies interfered with getting drunk. Still, he persisted, and his quest for big money led him through criminal law, civil litigation and personal injury law. Although he never gets rich, he is able to ingest large quantities of drugs in the company of equally debauched friends. The author writes with intermittent brio, and his critiques of his profession are pointed and astute. However, the endless tales of sleazy sex and drunken escapades might go over well with bar-stool buddies, but on the page they make a depressing blur. Other people barely seem to exist for him: of his future wife we learn little more than that she has a dancer's ass and amazing nipples. With a lot more empathy and self-awareness, the author might have created a devastating portrayal of the current debasement of the American professional classes.
(Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"The Philadelphia Lawyer leaps off the printed page like a seersuckered superhero -- a literary lothario Hunter S. Thompson would have been proud to call 'Counselor.'" (Mark Ebner, co-author of Hollywood Interrupted )
"A rollicking, booze-fueled joyride through the dark underbelly of the American legal system." (Frank Kelly Rich, author of The Modern Drunkard )
"I was fired from my first legal job within a month, and this book explains why it was the best thing to ever happen to me." (Tucker Max, author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell )
"Takes sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll deep into the bowels of modern law. If justice is blind, then The Philadelphia Lawyer is the pop culture's new canine guide for the visually impaired...intensely insightful." (Kirkus Reviews )
"Raucous, hilarious, and disturbing in all the right ways. I got drunk just reading this book." (A.J. Baime, Executive Editor, Playboy )
"Drinking, drugging and the ungallant pursuit of the female form...the author serves up some raucous fun and boozy amusement -- just like any happy hour." (Cleveland Plain Dealer )
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